Review: Mak-Mak Menari by Bhumi Collective (M1 Singapore Fringe Festival 2020)

★★★★☆ (Performance attended 17/1/20) Poignant docu-drama about sisterhood over a lifelong passion for Malay dance.  In the performing arts world, dancers are notorious for having a short career span, with many retiring before hitting middle-age. But for one group of dance enthusiasts, age is no barrier to their passion, as the makciks of Mak-Mak Menari continue to meet, rehearse, and perform together to this day. … Continue reading Review: Mak-Mak Menari by Bhumi Collective (M1 Singapore Fringe Festival 2020)

Film Fanatic: An Interview with A Land Imagined (幻土) Director Yeo Siew Hua and Composer Teo Wei Yong

When we watched (and reviewed) A Land Imagined last year, it had just made history as the first Singaporean film to win the prestigious Golden Leopard, the highest accolade at the 71st Locarno International Film Festival. Fast forward a year later, and at Taiwan’s 56th Golden Horse Awards (the ‘Oscars of the Mandarin-speaking world’), A Land Imagined received four nominations, for Best Original Screenplay, Best Original Film Score, … Continue reading Film Fanatic: An Interview with A Land Imagined (幻土) Director Yeo Siew Hua and Composer Teo Wei Yong

Review: ATARA – For you, who has not yet found the one by Reut Shemesh (M1 Singapore Fringe Festival 2020)

★★★☆☆ (Performance attended 14/1/19) Finding the means to be who you are in a society that suppresses one’s identity. With some of her closest family members converting to Orthodox Hasidic Judaism 15 years ago, choreographer Reut Shemesh found herself suddenly embroiled in a world of new rules. Men were not allowed to express any physical affection to women with whom they are not married to, preventing … Continue reading Review: ATARA – For you, who has not yet found the one by Reut Shemesh (M1 Singapore Fringe Festival 2020)

Review: The Shadow Curriculum by Jelaine Ng (M1 Singapore Fringe Festival 2020)

★☆☆☆☆ (Performance attended 11/1/20, 2pm) Attempt to satirise motivational speakers unclear in its motives and falls flat.  In Singapore’s results-oriented society, success is everything. So it comes as no surprise that parents will try any ways and means necessary to give their children a leg up in the place that will most likely make or break their future: school. From countless tuition lessons to enrichment … Continue reading Review: The Shadow Curriculum by Jelaine Ng (M1 Singapore Fringe Festival 2020)

Review: Secretive Thing 215 by Secretive Thing (M1 Singapore Fringe Festival 2020)

★★★★☆ (Performance attended 9/1/20) Intricate, introspective experience with only our phones and a mysterious communicator. Going in to a performance of a secretive nature, knowing absolutely nothing about what to expect, feels a little unnerving and very exciting. With Secretive Thing 215, the latest ‘show’ by mysterious collective Secretive Thing, all we know is that we are to come with a phone enabled with WhatsApp, and … Continue reading Review: Secretive Thing 215 by Secretive Thing (M1 Singapore Fringe Festival 2020)

Review: Contemplating Kopitiam and Kampong Wa’Hassan by Oliver Chong and NAFA (M1 Singapore Fringe Festival 2020)

★★★☆☆ (Performance attended 9/1/20) Alfian Sa’at meets Kuo Pao Kun meets the Millennials in this well-directed but conceptually disjointed reflection on belonging and identity.   There’s something incredibly audacious about splicing two unlike plays together in an attempt to better bring out their shared concerns. Where Kuo Pao Kun’s Kopitiam was a naturalistic, three-character work in Mandarin concerning itself with an elderly coffee shop owner struggling to understand … Continue reading Review: Contemplating Kopitiam and Kampong Wa’Hassan by Oliver Chong and NAFA (M1 Singapore Fringe Festival 2020)

Review: A Tiny Country by ATTEMPTS (M1 Singapore Fringe Festival 2020)

★★★☆☆ (Performance attended 8/1/20) Gamification of a hypothetical nation’s destiny has the right idea in mind. While ATTEMPTS’ founder Rei Poh has always been interested in games, with their latest production, ATTEMPTS finally gets a chance to go full on into the genre, with participatory theatre piece and game A Tiny Country, playing as part of the 2020 M1 Singapore Fringe Festival. Directed and designed by … Continue reading Review: A Tiny Country by ATTEMPTS (M1 Singapore Fringe Festival 2020)

Review: Café Sarajevo by bluemouth inc. (M1 Singapore Fringe Festival 2020)

★★★★☆ (Performance attended 8/1/20) Docu-drama in the form of a live podcast reminds us how difficult it is to mend deep-set rifts, and the politicised effects these have on the most ordinary of activities.  Part of the joy of Fringe is how it offers a platform to showcase non-traditional theatre forms of all kinds. Of these, it is bluemouth inc.’s Café Sarajevo that plays around with … Continue reading Review: Café Sarajevo by bluemouth inc. (M1 Singapore Fringe Festival 2020)

In London’s West End 2019: Death of A Salesman at the Piccadilly Theatre (Review)

★★★★☆ (Performance attended 4/12/19) Arthur Miller’s classic play of the collapse of the American Dream feels urgent and racially charged in this new version by the Young Vic. LONDON – For anyone who’s ever studied Death of a Salesman in school, Arthur Miller’s classic play is iconic as a symbol of the American Dream crashing down, with the titular death representing everything wrong with the relentless, … Continue reading In London’s West End 2019: Death of A Salesman at the Piccadilly Theatre (Review)

Arts in Malaysia: An Interview with Johnny Ong, Co-Founder of Hauntu

KUALA LUMPUR – Do you believe in ghosts? If you came to THE LINC KL and looked around a bit, you might just find an attraction that’ll convince you of their existence, with Hauntu.  A portmanteau of the English word ‘haunt’ and Malay word ‘hantu’ (ghost), Hauntu mashes escape room and haunted house for one hell of an experience, as live theatre performance, role play and storytelling come together. … Continue reading Arts in Malaysia: An Interview with Johnny Ong, Co-Founder of Hauntu