M1 Singapore Fringe Festival 2024: An Interview with the creators of Matter.Less’ forum theatre show ‘Here Where You Were’

In the 2020s, suicide rates in Singapore rose to an all-time high. Is it because we live in a fast-paced, high stress nation? Is it that it often feels like there is no way out? And even when a suicide is completed, can we summon up enough courage to go past the shame and guilt surrounding it to talk about the aftermath, and how we … Continue reading M1 Singapore Fringe Festival 2024: An Interview with the creators of Matter.Less’ forum theatre show ‘Here Where You Were’

M1 Singapore Fringe Festival 2024: An Interview with creator Noor Effendy Ibrahim on ‘Motherland’

Amidst even the most brutal of wars, there exists the possibility of love that can be kindled. That’s the central plot point at the heart of Noor Effendy Ibrahim’s Motherland, where two unknown soldiers on opposing sides of a violent war find themselves in love. Unable to do anything beyond hugging tightly at the border, how does one then navigate loyalty to one’s country and … Continue reading M1 Singapore Fringe Festival 2024: An Interview with creator Noor Effendy Ibrahim on ‘Motherland’

M1 Singapore Fringe Festival 2024: An Interview with Karine Ponties, choreographer of absurdist dance ‘SAME SAME’

Does work set us free, or does it chain us? For far too many people, between being bored to death or burnt out, it’s the latter, and the very concept of labour for survival brings to mind questions about absurd routines and the complex relationship colleagues have with each other, from resemblance and dissemblance, domination and submission, superficiality and depth. From Belgian dance company Dame … Continue reading M1 Singapore Fringe Festival 2024: An Interview with Karine Ponties, choreographer of absurdist dance ‘SAME SAME’

M1 Singapore Fringe Festival 2024: An Interview with director Edith Podesta and choreographer Yarra Illeto on ‘THOM PAIN (based on nothing)’

To span the length of the human experience in a single production sounds like an impossibility, but when THOM PAIN (based on nothing) premiered at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 2004, critics remarked that the deceptively simple one-man show about a man and his suffering in life. Now, that show will be performed in Singapore, by students of Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts’ BA (Hons) … Continue reading M1 Singapore Fringe Festival 2024: An Interview with director Edith Podesta and choreographer Yarra Illeto on ‘THOM PAIN (based on nothing)’

M1 Singapore Fringe Festival 2024: An Interview with choreographer J’Sun Howard on ‘aMoratorium’

Starting its journey as a commission by the Art Institute of Chicago, in response to the work of visual artist Charles Wilbert White, Chicago-based dancemaker, poet, writer, curator, and all-around Renaissance artist J’Sun Howard, aMoratorium was born as a way to coalesce White’s exploration of African American history, culture, and lives. Through the dance-theatre piece, Howard explores Black male identity, visibility, temporality, and its absence, and … Continue reading M1 Singapore Fringe Festival 2024: An Interview with choreographer J’Sun Howard on ‘aMoratorium’

Bakchormeeboy Awards 2023: The Year That Returned To Normalcy, A Time For Reflection

In 2023, Singapore’s theatre scene felt fully ready to take risks and pull out all the stops for the first true season following the pandemic years. We saw the return of blockbuster musical and stage productions, and plenty of new, experimental works filling in the spaces in between, be it through long-awaited collaborations or younger companies having their work see the light of day, or … Continue reading Bakchormeeboy Awards 2023: The Year That Returned To Normalcy, A Time For Reflection

★★★★☆ Review: Crazy Christmas – Balls of the Belles by Dream Academy

The epitome of a holiday season variety show and brilliant way to celebrate the end of 2023. Christmas has always been a time for joy and laughter, and one of the most consistent companies bringing that to Singaporeans almost every December is Dream Academy, with their seasonal Crazy Christmas revue, a prime opportunity to show off their artistes and friends onstage, and put on a … Continue reading ★★★★☆ Review: Crazy Christmas – Balls of the Belles by Dream Academy

★★★★☆ Review: Fault Lines by Protagonist Studio and Cocoon Creative Lab

Flurry of issues during a Malaysian family reunion in New York. KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA – Home is where the heart is, but what happens when the home you left behind follows you into a new country? Adding a new play to the Malaysian canon of theatre is Adriana Nordin Manan, with her original script Fault Lines, which follows Malaysian Shereen as she receives a visit … Continue reading ★★★★☆ Review: Fault Lines by Protagonist Studio and Cocoon Creative Lab

★★★★★ Review: FORBIDDEN by Aditi Mangaldas

An affecting one-woman exploration of the origins of the monstrous feminine, and hope thereafter. In multiple cultures around the world, women have always been seen as the meeker sex, expected to be docile and obedient, with virginity and purity placed among the highest of virtues. But the truth is, women are not these paradigms of virtuosity, and should not be held to such impossible standards. … Continue reading ★★★★★ Review: FORBIDDEN by Aditi Mangaldas

★★★★☆ Review: Twin Murder In The Green Mansion by Agam Theatre Lab

Against all odds, the bumbling cast in this play-within-a-play puts a smile on your face and makes you root for them. The beauty of theatre often lies in the suspension of disbelief, where the team will do anything and everything to ensure that you are fully immersed in the world of the play, enraptured and fully taking in every word each character utters. So it … Continue reading ★★★★☆ Review: Twin Murder In The Green Mansion by Agam Theatre Lab