In Kuala Lumpur 2019: An Interview with the Creative Team of Gold Rain & Hailstones (The Instant Cafe Theatre Company)

KUALA LUMPUR – Jit Murad is one of Malaysia’s most prominent playwrights, having penned some of the country’s sharpest and most scintillating plays effectively highlighting and presenting the Malaysian identity onstage. Last staged in Malaysia in 2006, it seemed only right that as part of their comeback and 30th anniversary, the Instant Cafe Theatre Company’s 30th anniversary would then stage Jit’s very first professional play: Gold Rain … Continue reading In Kuala Lumpur 2019: An Interview with the Creative Team of Gold Rain & Hailstones (The Instant Cafe Theatre Company)

Review: Are You Game, Sau(dara)? by Five Arts Centre (KL) and Bhumi Collective (SG)

Experimental responses to Leow Puay Tin’s 3 Children still very much cerebral works in progress. KUALA LUMPUR – Cross Causeway arts projects are always to be celebrated, showcasing the keen relationship Singapore continues to share with our closest neighbours. The most recent of these would be Malaysia’s Five Arts Centre and Singapore’s Centre 42 joint collaboration on Are You Game, Sau(dara)?, a double bill of new work from … Continue reading Review: Are You Game, Sau(dara)? by Five Arts Centre (KL) and Bhumi Collective (SG)

Film Review: A Land Imagined (幻土) dir. Yeo Siew Hua

The wilderness of Tuas provides an alien backdrop for this Asian neo-noir about migrant dreams of a better life. Written and directed by Yeo Siew Hua, A Land Imagined emerged a critical favourite at the 71st Locarno Film Festival, an Asian neo-noir following Lok (Peter Yu), a grizzled hardboiled detective as he embarks on an unusual job: tracking down Wang (Liu Xiaoyi) a Chinese migrant worker who … Continue reading Film Review: A Land Imagined (幻土) dir. Yeo Siew Hua

Are You Game, Sau(dara)?: An Interview with Creators Fasyali Fadzly and Soultari Amin Farid, and Dramaturg Grace Lee-Khoo

KUALA LUMPUR – Last weekend, we travelled up to Five Arts Centre, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to catch the cross-Causeway double bill presentation Are You Game, Sau(dara)? Comprising two brand new works created in response to Malaysian playwright Leow Puay Tin’s seminal play 3 Children, we sat down with creators Fasyali Fadzly and Soultari Amin Farid, as well as dramaturg Grace Lee-Khoo, before we caught the show to find out a … Continue reading Are You Game, Sau(dara)?: An Interview with Creators Fasyali Fadzly and Soultari Amin Farid, and Dramaturg Grace Lee-Khoo

Review: Matilda the Musical by Base Entertainment Asia

A celebration of the magic of childhood in musical form.  British author Roald Dahl remains one of the world’s most beloved authors, with countless children around the world having read his novels, each one etched into their childhood. It stands to reason then that one of the most successful adaptations of one of his works concerns a little girl who loves to read, with the … Continue reading Review: Matilda the Musical by Base Entertainment Asia

An Interview with the Cast of BASE Entertainment Asia’s Matilda the Musical

Based off Roald Dahl’s beloved children’s novel of the same name, Matilda the Musical has finally made its Singapore premiere, and is set to stun audiences for the month it plays at the Sands Theatre at Marina Bay Sands with its timeless tale of a misfit schoolgirl standing up for what’s right, and discovering she has a few secrets of her own. At the media call, we … Continue reading An Interview with the Cast of BASE Entertainment Asia’s Matilda the Musical

Huayi Festival 2019: Painted Skin by Singapore Chinese Orchestra (Review)

Western meets Chinese opera in a spectacle to remember. Inspired by the short story of the same name from Pu Songling’s Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio (Liaozhai Ziyi), the Singapore Chinese Opera adapts Painted Skin for the stage as a 100 minute opera in concert. The classic tale follows a Chinese scholar when he comes across a beautiful woman crying in the rain, giving her an … Continue reading Huayi Festival 2019: Painted Skin by Singapore Chinese Orchestra (Review)

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)