★★★★★ Theatre Review: Lush Life by Ong Keng Sen / T:>Works, Jacintha & Dick Lee (SIFA 2026)

Icon of Singapore’s music scene tells the story of her three ex-husbands through docudrama and song, in a theatrical concert that captures her verve for love, life and all it offers. There is a word Jacintha Abisheganaden uses early in Lush Life that tells you everything about what kind of evening this will be. Recounting her years performing in Hawaii, where a manager suggested she … Continue reading ★★★★★ Theatre Review: Lush Life by Ong Keng Sen / T:>Works, Jacintha & Dick Lee (SIFA 2026)

★★★★★ Circus Review: A Simple Space by Gravity & Other Myths (Flipside 2026)

Ingeniously simple concept that reminds us of the joy of circus, stripping is back to its essentials and delivering on a rollicking good time. When most people think of circus, they imagine massive spectacle: towering big tops, elaborate costumes, dazzling lighting rigs, and performers transformed into larger-than-life characters. Contemporary circus after all, often leans towards ever-greater scale, bigger stunts, more ambitious concepts, and increasingly elaborate … Continue reading ★★★★★ Circus Review: A Simple Space by Gravity & Other Myths (Flipside 2026)

Theatre Review: Snakes and Ladders! by Dwayne Lau (Flipside 2026)

Theatrical metaphor for how life never progresses in a straight line, but we keep rolling the dice and continue moving forward amidst the ups and downs. Back in June when Snakes & Ladders premiered as a 40-minute work-in-progress at the Esplanade Concourse, it felt like a charming autobiographical cabaret searching for a stronger narrative spine. Now expanded into a full-length production for the Esplanade’s Flipside … Continue reading Theatre Review: Snakes and Ladders! by Dwayne Lau (Flipside 2026)

★★★★★ Theatre Review: Hedda Gabler by National Theater Company of Korea (SIFA 2026)

Lee Hyeyoung delivers a masterclass performance in Park Jung-hee’s hypnotic, sexually charged reimagining of Ibsen’s classic, now transformed into a suffocating psychological thriller of a K-drama. Before we see anything in the National Theater Company of Korea’s Hedda Gabler, we hear a gunshot. It tears through the darkness with such violence that the audience visibly jolts. And from that very first moment, director Park Jung-hee … Continue reading ★★★★★ Theatre Review: Hedda Gabler by National Theater Company of Korea (SIFA 2026)

Flipside 2026: An interview with Guy Waerenburgh on risk, absurdity and the thrill of unpredictability in ‘Der Lauf (The Way Things Go)’

Contemporary circus rarely sits still, but Der Lauf (The Way Things Go) thrives in a state of beautiful collapse. Created by Belgian juggler and performer Guy Waerenburgh, the internationally acclaimed production transforms juggling into something far stranger and more theatrical: part cabaret, part endurance test, part social experiment. Blindfolded performers navigate towering stacks of wine glasses, spinning plates, flying buckets and razor-sharp knives, while the … Continue reading Flipside 2026: An interview with Guy Waerenburgh on risk, absurdity and the thrill of unpredictability in ‘Der Lauf (The Way Things Go)’

Flipside 2026: Lachlan Binns on how ‘A Simple Space’ celebrates human connection, trust, and play

When A Simple Space first premiered in 2013, contemporary circus was undergoing a global shift. Traditional big-top spectacles and variety-style performances were still dominant, shaped in part by the influence of companies like Cirque du Soleil, with their elaborate staging, narrative framing, and theatrical spectacle. But for co-creator and performer Lachlan Binns, the goal was to go in the opposite direction. “We made the show … Continue reading Flipside 2026: Lachlan Binns on how ‘A Simple Space’ celebrates human connection, trust, and play

Flipside 2026: An Interview with Dwayne Lau on rolling with the punches with ‘Snakes and Ladders!’

For actor and musical theatre performer Dwayne Lau, his original work Snakes & Ladders! is a way of re-living, re-framing, and re-negotiating the unpredictable shape of a life that has unfolded very much like the board game at its centre. What began as a 40-minute showcase at the Esplanade Concourse has now grown into a full 90-minute theatrical experience a year later. But for Dwayne, … Continue reading Flipside 2026: An Interview with Dwayne Lau on rolling with the punches with ‘Snakes and Ladders!’

SIFA 2026: Lush Life – An interview with director Ong Keng Sen on making art out of life and legacy

Before streaming platforms, before bedroom recordings, and before Singapore had any real infrastructure for popular music, there were artists like Jacintha Abisheganaden and Dick Lee, figures who carved out creative lives with few precedents and even fewer guarantees. Their songs, relationships and artistic decisions did not just define their own careers; they helped shape what it meant to be a musician in Singapore at all. … Continue reading SIFA 2026: Lush Life – An interview with director Ong Keng Sen on making art out of life and legacy

SIFA 2026: Hedda Gabler – An interview with director Park Jung Hee on Henrik Ibsen’s universal cultural resonance

Few characters in modern theatre are as enduringly enigmatic as Hedda Gabler, a figure suspended between control and chaos, desire and restraint. In this latest staging by Park Jung-hee, Artistic Director of the National Theater Company of Korea, the question is not how to modernise Hedda Gabler, but how to encounter it anew. Rather than imposing a contemporary veneer, Park approaches the work as a … Continue reading SIFA 2026: Hedda Gabler – An interview with director Park Jung Hee on Henrik Ibsen’s universal cultural resonance

★★★★★ Theatre Review: Last Rites by Liu Xiaoyi / Emergency Stairs (SIFA 2026)

Five masters of performance confront mortality and artistic legacy in Liu Xiaoyi’s ambitious, cathartic cross-border work. What has always made theatre so beautiful is its temporality. Every performance exists only once; even repeated over multiple nights, no show will ever look or feel exactly the same again. It is fragile, fleeting, and alive precisely because it disappears the moment it is completed. By extension, the … Continue reading ★★★★★ Theatre Review: Last Rites by Liu Xiaoyi / Emergency Stairs (SIFA 2026)