Review: The Seven Silences – Anger by approaching Theatre (M1 Chinese Theatre Festival 2017)

Based off a novel by Hong Kong writer Wong Bik Wan, Taiwanese theatre company approaching Theatre presents The Seven Silences: Anger, focusing on the lives of a group of downtrodden members from the lower depths of society as they live out their horrifying, unimaginably painful lives from day to day. The Seven Silences: Anger is a dark, gritty work that scratches at audience members’ skin with its unabashed, … Continue reading Review: The Seven Silences – Anger by approaching Theatre (M1 Chinese Theatre Festival 2017)

Review: Forbidden City by Singapore Repertory Theatre and Esplanade – Theatres on the Bay

Marking its 15th anniversary since its debut in 2002, the Esplanade and Singapore Repertory Theatre have brought back one of Singapore’s best and most well-loved musicals of all time to the stage – Forbidden City. Still as spectacular as when it first premiered, the fiercely Asian Forbidden City brings to life a semi-fictitious history of Empress Dowager Cixi “The Dragon Lady” as American painter Kate Carl is … Continue reading Review: Forbidden City by Singapore Repertory Theatre and Esplanade – Theatres on the Bay

Preview: Forever Young by Sing’theatre

Celebrating their 10th anniversary, Sing’theatre will be bringing Forever Young to the SOTA Drama Theatre this October! In 50 years, a group of actors who used be at the forefront of the Singapore arts scene are now housed in a nursing home. With a tight watch kept on them by non-nonsense nurse Sister Sara, these nonagenarians still have life in them yet, and think they’re limber enough to … Continue reading Preview: Forever Young by Sing’theatre

SIFA 2017: Art Studio by Nine Years Theatre (Preview)

This year, the Singapore International Festival of the Arts (SIFA) opens with local theatre company Nine Years Theatre’s premiere of Art Studio. Directed by Nelson Chia and adapted from Cultural Medallion Winner Yeng Pway Ngon’s 2012 Singapore Literature Prize-winning novel of the same name, Art Studio is an epic performance that spans the 60s to the new millennium. Starting with a young school dropout coerced into becoming … Continue reading SIFA 2017: Art Studio by Nine Years Theatre (Preview)

Review: The Orange Production by The Necessary Stage

Even amidst the madcap restagings and new productions as part of their 30th anniversary, The Necessary Stage has been spending the last few months nurturing and developing new scripts for the stage. This week, The Orange Production is the result of that, presenting two all new plays from writers Nabilah Said with Drip, and Faith Ng with Whale Fall. Check out our review of these new plays below! … Continue reading Review: The Orange Production by The Necessary Stage

SIFA 2017: Dragonflies by Pangdemonium (Preview)

Set in the not so distant future of 2021, where climate change is causing natural disasters all over the world and the political climate is a wreck, with the collapse of the Western world and religious extremism at its peak, the United Kingdom (and other nation), is clamping down on immigration. At the heart of the play is Leslie Chen, whose world is quite literally … Continue reading SIFA 2017: Dragonflies by Pangdemonium (Preview)

Chinese Theatre Festival 2017: The wee Question Mark and the Nameless by The Theatre Practice (Review)

The 2017 Chinese Theatre Festival is back, and besides plenty of new, thought-provoking pieces of high art, The Theatre Practice always ensures that there’s something for everyone…even kids! Enter The wee Question Mark and the Nameless, a fun-filled, interactive family musical and the latest iteration in the Wee Question Mark series. Written by Huang Suhuai and directed by Kuo Jianhong, The wee Question Mark reunites Question Mark (Gloria Ang Xiao Teng), … Continue reading Chinese Theatre Festival 2017: The wee Question Mark and the Nameless by The Theatre Practice (Review)

Review: A Piece of Cake by Toy Factory (The Wright Stuff 2017)

Earlier this week, I watched another play made under Toy Factory’s new writing programme, The Wright Stuff. It was deeply ambitious in its storytelling and had a keen voice on both the personal and the historical. First-time playwright Samantha Chia attempts something quite different from this in her debut play, A Piece of Cake, focusing her lens on a sitcom-esque story about a woman and her new … Continue reading Review: A Piece of Cake by Toy Factory (The Wright Stuff 2017)

Review: Sejarah-ku by Toy Factory (The Wright Stuff 2017)

It is rare to see in short plays the confidence of voice found in Al Hafiz Sanusi’s new work, Sejarah-Ku. It is clear from the start that the authors have done more than their fair share of research into the tale of two Malaccan warriors and more interestingly, how difficult it is to ascertain its historicity. Al Hafiz tells me Sejarah-Ku was first conceived four years ago at university. The playwright … Continue reading Review: Sejarah-ku by Toy Factory (The Wright Stuff 2017)

Review: The Roundest Circle by Theatreworks

The Roundest Circle is a performance created by TheatreWorks Associate Artist Eng Kai Er, in collaboration with fellow dance artists Faye Lim and Felicia Lim. The piece is process-driven and fuelled by the concept of “turn-taking”; the artists have broken away from the conventional structure of having a leader curate, choreograph and direct the process of performance making. Instead, Kai, Faye, and Felicia take turns … Continue reading Review: The Roundest Circle by Theatreworks