Talking rice cookers tell of the death and despair in high pressure Korean society. In Jaha Koo’s Cuckoo, one of the main selling points is the Cuckoo-brand rice cookers in the show, programmed to speak and sing on command. But don’t let the quirky gimmick fool you into thinking this is a cute show about talking cooking appliances. The truth is, Cuckoo is a pitch … Continue reading ★★★★★ Review: Cuckoo by Jaha Koo (SIFA 2023)
Intense, high energy production depicting the brutalities of the world cruel world children grow up in. There’s the old saying that ‘tough times don’t last, tough people do’. But shouldn’t we at least try to ensure that the world is in a better place for the next generation, precisely because we don’t want them to suffer in the same way we did? Choreographer Botis Seva … Continue reading ★★★★☆ Review: BLKDOG by Botis Seva (SIFA 2023)
GEORGE TOWN, PENANG – The annual George Town Festival (GTF) returns from 15th to 30th July 2023, promising a spectacular celebration of art, culture, and heritage for all to experience. The 16-day festival presents a myriad of outstanding artistic works by Malaysian and international artists, featuring productions across varied art forms ranging from traditional, contemporary, experimental, and multidisciplinary. This makes George Town Festival 2023 the … Continue reading Preview: George Town Festival 2023
The hell of animal experimentation is keenly felt in this devastating work of puppet theatre. The beauty of puppetry lies in how easily we project our own feelings onto an object, given breath and life through puppeteers. And for animal puppets in particular, there is a dual layer of suspension of disbelief required, where not only do the puppeteers have to create empathy for a … Continue reading ★★★★★ Review: Chimpanzee by Nick Lehane
An attempt to bring robotics into art making proves the human touch still necessary. Touted as a one-of-a-kind performance bringing together visual art, music, performance and technology, Canadian artist Sougwen Chung’s Realm of Silk breaks convention and genre to explore how art can be created using algorithms and robotics. Inspired by the beauty of silk, Realm of Silk is all about transformation and metamorphosis, as art … Continue reading ★★☆☆☆ Review: Realm of Silk by Sougwen Chung (SIFA 2023)
Ever imagined an arts event taking place at an elite club? This May, as part of the 2023 Singapore International Festival of Arts (SIFA), Singapore’s Queen of Burlesque, SUKKI joins forces with performance artists Daniel Kok and Luke George to present LOVE DIVINE, a truly unique performance taking place at the lush CÉ LA VI at Marina Bay Sands. Over the course of the evening, as … Continue reading SIFA 2023: An Interview with SUKKI, Daniel Kok and Luke George, co-creators of ‘LOVE DIVINE’
The black dog of depression very rarely leaves. And for today’s youth, it seems to follow them everywhere, what with having to cope in a world that’s constantly at war, a place that’s seemingly not built for them. Addressing this issue is Botis Seva’s BLKDOG, a hip hop theatre performance that asks us – How do we fight through our vices and inner demons to … Continue reading SIFA 2023: An Interview with ‘BLKDOG’ director/choreographer Botis Seva
Is the strength of one’s faith reliant on the absence of doubt? In their second production of 2023, local theatre company Pangdemonium will be staging American playwright John Patrick Shanley’s Doubt: A Parable, following a stunning production of People, Places and Things in March. Directed by Timothy Koh (Muswell Hill), the award-winning play examines a small religious community in The Bronx in 1964, where the … Continue reading Doubt – A Parable: An Interview with director Timothy Koh and the cast of Pangdemonium’s newest show
In Arthur Yap’s poem ‘there is no future in nostalgia’, the Singaporean poet considers that it is better to leave the past behind, as urbanisation comes into play and continues this exhausting process of erasure, over and over again. In response to this, the resident playwrights of crafted new plays inspired by the poem, and were presented as a staged reading in Studio, part of … Continue reading Review: There is no future in nostalgia – Studio A by Centre 42 (SIFA 2023)
Everyone knows the best part of tragedies are the epic, bloody, melodramatic death scenes. So why not craft an entire show that gives you the best of the best, with an entire series of death scenes one after another? Enter Famous Puppet Death Scenes, where puppets will do just that for you, showcasing gruesome, shocking, silly, and ultimately, cathartic deaths of puppets. Created by Canada’s … Continue reading Flipside 2023: An Interview with Pityu Kenderes, co-artistic director of The Old Trout Puppet Workshop and co-creator of ‘Famous Puppet Death Scenes’
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