Huayi Festival 2019: Love Letters by The Nonsensemakers/Nelson Chia & Mia Chee (Review)

Two melodramatic lives, their destinies intertwined by a flurry of love letters. It’s one thing to be married, or married to your job, but quite another to be married to someone who runs a company with you. Such is the case for both The Nonsensemakers (Hong Kong) and Nine Years Theatre (Singapore), run by partners Rensen Chan and Jo Ngai, and Nelson Chia and Mia … Continue reading Huayi Festival 2019: Love Letters by The Nonsensemakers/Nelson Chia & Mia Chee (Review)

Preview: Are You Game, Sau(dara)? by Centre 42 and Five Arts Centre

This March, Singapore’s Centre 42 and Malaysia’s Five Arts Centre unite to present a cross-Causeway double-bill in the form of Are You Game, Sau(dara)? Created by Singapore theatre company Bhumi Collective and Malaysian director Fasyali Fadzly,  Are You Game, Sau(dara)? will be co-presented Centre 42 (Singapore) and Five Arts Centre (Malaysia), in the first collaboration between the two companies, and performed at Kotak @ Five Arts Centre, Kuala Lumpur before heading … Continue reading Preview: Are You Game, Sau(dara)? by Centre 42 and Five Arts Centre

Huayi Festival 2019: That Which Cannot Be Divided (无法被整除) by Bulareyaung Pagarlava & Albert Tiong (Review)

United we stand, divided we fall. Inspired by the concept of prime numbers – numbers indivisible by anything other than themselves and 1 and with no immediately apparent pattern, former Cloud Gate Dance Theatre members Bulareyaung Pagarlava (Taiwan) and Albert Tiong (Singapore) each choreographed a work attempting to unravel the mysteries behind them, showcasing how they may have more application to daily life than we … Continue reading Huayi Festival 2019: That Which Cannot Be Divided (无法被整除) by Bulareyaung Pagarlava & Albert Tiong (Review)

Huayi Festival 2019: The Way of Zhuang Zi (庄子兵法) by Story Works (Review)

Nerve wracking thriller of a play that keeps you guessing every step of the way. Happiness is the absence of striving for happiness. I do not know whether I was then a man dreaming I was a butterfly, or whether I am now a butterfly dreaming I am a man. Of the many Chinese philosophers we grew up learning from our scholar of a Chinese teacher … Continue reading Huayi Festival 2019: The Way of Zhuang Zi (庄子兵法) by Story Works (Review)

Review: Meenah and Cheenah (Rerun) by Dream Academy

The dynamic duo are back again, with tight character work and strong performances that brings the laughs hard and fast. Whether or not you caught the 2016 version, or are curious to see what Dream Academy has in store with this rerun, Meenah and Cheenah is a comedy whose audacious yet relatable jokes can and will stand the test of time. Reuniting theatre extraordinaires Siti … Continue reading Review: Meenah and Cheenah (Rerun) by Dream Academy

Review: The Transition Room by Toy Factory

Waiting rooms can feel like hell.  Over the years, purgatory onstage has taken a great many forms, from the horrific to the mundane. With Stanley Seah’s The Transition Room, the face of limbo takes an absurdist approach towards the middle ground, as we open with four characters finding themselves in a bare, abstract room, each dressed in shades of grey, with no memory or knowledge … Continue reading Review: The Transition Room by Toy Factory

Huayi Festival 2019: FOUR FOUR EIGHT (四四八) by Emergency Stairs (Review)

Warning: This review may contain spoilers Journey to the centre of the self…and Liu Xiaoyi. Over the years, Emergency Stairs Artistic Director Liu Xiaoyi has made it abundantly clear that the work he puts out staunchly refuses to conform to theatrical standards, having created work that subverts the norm, be it a piece of anti-theatre deliberately attempting to crush audience expectations or even performing in unusual … Continue reading Huayi Festival 2019: FOUR FOUR EIGHT (四四八) by Emergency Stairs (Review)

In London’s West End 2018: Harry Potter and the Cursed Child at the Palace Theatre (Review)

The international phenomenon proves perhaps magic truly does exist within the theatre.  LONDON – To the casual outsider, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child feels like an overrated play. After all, following seven (conclusive) books, eight movies (not including the Fantastic Beasts series) and one massive fandom, does J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter franchise deserve yet another addition to the canon? The answer, surprisingly, is a resounding yes. With an … Continue reading In London’s West End 2018: Harry Potter and the Cursed Child at the Palace Theatre (Review)

Huayi Festival 2019: Dear John by M.O.V.E. Theatre (Review)

A musical soundscape through unorthodox means. When John Cage’s controversial 4’33 premiered in 1952, never might the avant-garde composer have imagined the sheer impact he might have had in the field of music theory. Infamous for being four minutes and thirty three seconds of ‘silence’ as an orchestra stands still onstage, the work reflects Cage’s interests in Zen Buddhism, and his magnum opus epitomizing the theory … Continue reading Huayi Festival 2019: Dear John by M.O.V.E. Theatre (Review)

Huayi Festival 2019: The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark by Li Liuyi Theatre Studio (Review)

Tragedy seems written in the stars in this lengthy production as the cosmos themselves bid our sweet prince goodnight.  Ranking among Shakespeare’s best works, it’s little surprise that Hamlet has seen countless productions and interpretations over the centuries. Opening the Esplanade’s Huayi Festival 2019, director Li Liuyi’s latest production of the piece sees the moody protagonist played by film star Hu Jun (Red Cliff, East Palace West Palace), … Continue reading Huayi Festival 2019: The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark by Li Liuyi Theatre Studio (Review)