Preview: Singapore Fringe Festival 2026 tackles representation across four productions

The Singapore Fringe Festival returns in January 2026, now as a crowdfunded independent festival. Now in its 22nd edition, Fringe 2026 will feature an inspiring and thought-provoking line-up of events by Singapore and international artists that address the theme of Represent, both as an issue explored in the works, as well as a play on the representation of the Fringe. Since its inaugural edition in … Continue reading Preview: Singapore Fringe Festival 2026 tackles representation across four productions

★★★★★ Theatre Review: Final Bow《散戏》by Ming Hwa Yuan Arts and Cultural Group

Heartfelt, hilarious, and profoundly moving, Final Bow is a theatrical triumph that captures the bittersweet beauty of an art form standing at the end of an era and the edge of change. What makes theatre so precious is its transience. Each performance exists only in that instant, where there are no two ever alike, no recording ever truly able to capture the electricity of being … Continue reading ★★★★★ Theatre Review: Final Bow《散戏》by Ming Hwa Yuan Arts and Cultural Group

★★☆☆☆ Theatre Review: Congratulations, Get Rich! by Singapore Repertory Theatre, La Boite Theatre and Sydney Theatre Company

SRT, La Boite Theatre and Sydney Theatre Company’s karaoke-inspired ghost story struggles to find the note. Singapore Repertory Theatre’s Congratulations, Get Rich! arrives with an impressive pedigree, marking a first-time co-production between SRT, Sydney Theatre Company, and Brisbane’s La Boite Theatre. Written by and starring Merlynn Tong, the play promises a raucous blend of karaoke comedy, family tragedy, and ghostly intervention. On paper, it sounds … Continue reading ★★☆☆☆ Theatre Review: Congratulations, Get Rich! by Singapore Repertory Theatre, La Boite Theatre and Sydney Theatre Company

★★☆☆☆ Theatre Review: SG Insecure by The Necessary Stage

TNS’ attempt to subvert the SG60 celebrations is a patchy collection of stories about government surveillance and control that instead reveals its own insecurities. If there’s one thing Singaporeans crave, it’s control, whether over order, and how we’re seen by others. SG Insecure, The Necessary Stage’s (TNS) latest work, sets out to question that national impulse. Framed as a subversive take on the SG60 celebrations, … Continue reading ★★☆☆☆ Theatre Review: SG Insecure by The Necessary Stage

★★★★★ Theatre Review: Dear Evan Hansen by Base Entertainment Asia

Touring production of Dear Evan Hansen brims with talent and emotion, and shows just why it remains one of the best and most beloved modern musicals of today. There are musicals that make you cry, and then there are musicals that quietly hold your hand while you do. Dear Evan Hansen, now playing at the Sands Theatre, Marina Bay Sands, belongs firmly as part of … Continue reading ★★★★★ Theatre Review: Dear Evan Hansen by Base Entertainment Asia

Preview: Temporary Chinese Theatres by Emergency Stairs and Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts (NAFA)

If Chinese-language theatre were to die on the spot before our very eyes, should we scatter flowers or burn incense? With this sharp question, acclaimed local director Liu Xiaoyi joins forces with the inaugural graduating cohort of the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts’ (NAFA) BA (Hons) in Contemporary Chinese Theatres to present their latest work, Temporary Chinese Theatres, from 20 to 23 November at the … Continue reading Preview: Temporary Chinese Theatres by Emergency Stairs and Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts (NAFA)

Preview: Othello by Intercultural Theatre Institute

Intercultural Theatre Institute (ITI) presents Shakespeare’s Othello, directed and adapted by multi-award-winning theatre artist Tang Shu-wing, and performed by the graduating cohort of 2025. This is Tang’s first production in Singapore since 2013. Described as “one of the richest and most wrenching of Shakespeare’s tragedies” (Variety, 2025), the story of Othello was written in 1603 and has been told across film and stage for centuries. … Continue reading Preview: Othello by Intercultural Theatre Institute

Murakami’s ‘Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World’ gets new stage adaptation, led by Death Note/Battle Royale star Tatusya Fujiwara

Haruki Murakami’s visionary imagination leaps off the page and onto the stage in End of the World and Hard-Boiled Wonderland, an ambitious adaptation of his acclaimed 1985 novel Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World. Direct from its world premiere in Tokyo in January at the Tokyo Metropolitan Theatre Playhouse, this highly anticipated production arrives in Singapore next April, for just one electrifying weekend. … Continue reading Murakami’s ‘Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World’ gets new stage adaptation, led by Death Note/Battle Royale star Tatusya Fujiwara

Say his name: ‘Beetlejuice the Musical’ stars Andy Karl and Karis Oka talk about the 2026 Singapore tour

It may still be two months until Singapore officially enters the Netherworld, but Beetlejuice The Musical is already raising the dead. Broadway’s brilliantly bonkers, eight-time Tony-nominated phenomenon will take over the Esplanade Theatre in January 2026. Here on a whirlwind media tour to stir up some trouble are the show’s two leads: Broadway titan Andy Karl (Beetlejuice) and breakout Australian star Karis Oka (Lydia Deetz), … Continue reading Say his name: ‘Beetlejuice the Musical’ stars Andy Karl and Karis Oka talk about the 2026 Singapore tour

An Interview with director Simon Stone on finding the soul of Seoul in Korean adaptation of Chekhov’s ‘The Cherry Orchard’ (벚꽃동산)

“Chekhov was never really writing about Russia; he was writing about us,” says acclaimed director Simon Stone, his voice brimming with intent. “It was always about what happens when the world moves on, and how we’re not ready.” It’s a sentiment that lingers, this idea that Chekhov’s melancholic comedies of inaction, his portraits of ordinary people caught between eras, might still hold the mirror up … Continue reading An Interview with director Simon Stone on finding the soul of Seoul in Korean adaptation of Chekhov’s ‘The Cherry Orchard’ (벚꽃동산)