Preview: Esplanade presents The Studios 2018 – Between Living and Dying

The Esplanade’s 15th Anniversary celebrations aren’t letting up anytime soon, and their annual The Studios season returns this March and April with four all new works and one reworked production by some of the brightest talents working in Singapore today. Themed Between Living and Dying, the works invite audience members to probe deeper about issues of life, death and everything in between. Opening the season on 29th March is … Continue reading Preview: Esplanade presents The Studios 2018 – Between Living and Dying

Huayi 2018: Blood & Rose Ensemble by Shakespeare’s Wild Sisters Group (Review)

The Taiwanese theatre group ramp up the soap opera potential in Shakespeare through their farcical and madcap adaptation of the Bard’s history plays.  Think it’s hard keeping up with the Kardashians? Shakespeare’s Wild Sisters Group will have you know that they’ve got nothing on the House of Plantaganet. Directed by Wang Chia-Ming, the entirety of the War of the Roses is charted in a loose, 2-hour adaptation of … Continue reading Huayi 2018: Blood & Rose Ensemble by Shakespeare’s Wild Sisters Group (Review)

Huayi 2018: Blood & Rose Ensemble by Shakespeare’s Wild Sisters Group (Preview)

East meets West in the Esplanade’s 2018 Huayi Festival as Taiwan collaborates with Singapore in an all new adaptation of Shakespeare’s history plays. A co-commission by Esplanade – Theatres on the Bay and The National Theater & Concert Hall, Shakespeare’s Wild Sisters Group reimagines the bard’s Henry VI and Richard III for a fresh, modern audience as they play out the War of the Roses in an all new … Continue reading Huayi 2018: Blood & Rose Ensemble by Shakespeare’s Wild Sisters Group (Preview)

M1 Singapore Fringe Festival 2018: Displaced by Ground Cover Theatre (Review)

Ground Cover Theatre tackles the refugee crisis in an intimate, polished piece brimming with theatrical magic. In Displaced, Ground Cover Theatre boldly tackles the topic of the refugee crisis in a play that tells of three women from different time periods who all escape to Canada. Mary (Jacqueline Block) flees from Ireland’s Great Famine in 1847, Sofia (Anna Mazurik) leaves war-torn Germany in 1947, and Dara … Continue reading M1 Singapore Fringe Festival 2018: Displaced by Ground Cover Theatre (Review)

M1 Singapore Fringe Festival 2018: The Most Massive Woman Wins by Mitchell Productions Inc. & Chopt Logic Productions (Review)

Mudwrestling meets body image issues as this production weighs in on the way society has taught women to be perceived and to perform.  Since the dawn of time, humans have always been obsessed with their bodies, and perhaps, none more so than the female body. Brought up on a steady diet of women’s magazines with stick thin covergirls, constantly told that ladies shouldn’t be eating … Continue reading M1 Singapore Fringe Festival 2018: The Most Massive Woman Wins by Mitchell Productions Inc. & Chopt Logic Productions (Review)

M1 Singapore Fringe Festival 2018: Attempts: Singapore by Rei Poh (Review)

There’s no need for any hints as to how much we enjoyed this impeccably produced participatory theatre experience.  In a world of innovative theatrical experiences, you often come across too many that scrimp on either execution or narrative. That’s not the case for Rei Poh’s Attempts: Singapore, which provided a thoroughly well-planned out participatory ‘game’ as its audience worked together to unravel a mystery, one clue at … Continue reading M1 Singapore Fringe Festival 2018: Attempts: Singapore by Rei Poh (Review)

M1 Singapore Fringe Festival 2018: The Neighbor’s Grief Is Greener by Emanuella Amichai (Review)

Stepford wives from 1950s America get a macabre, surreal twist in this bloody good show.  There are times we find ourselves wondering when exactly the seeds of feminism were sown. In 1940s America, as men were shipped off to become soldiers during the war, the running of the country was left to women, as wives stepped foot into factories and worked for the first time. … Continue reading M1 Singapore Fringe Festival 2018: The Neighbor’s Grief Is Greener by Emanuella Amichai (Review)

Preview: Esplanade presents Huayi Festival 2018

February is fast on our heels and you know what that means? The Esplanade’s annual Huayi Festival is back with a smorgasbord of new productions to feed your spirit and soul with art! There’s a whole range of options available this year, from theatre to music to dance and everything in between, and we’ve summarized what you can expect from this year’s festival, set to be … Continue reading Preview: Esplanade presents Huayi Festival 2018

M1 Fringe Festival 2018: The Immortal Sole by Edith Podesta (Review)

A confident, powerful performance to kick off the 2018 M1 Singapore Fringe Festival. By now, Edith Podesta has firmly established herself as the mistress of just about every performing art form. From her years of experience as a theatre director leading up to the award-winning BITCH, to her stint as a choreographer in RAW Moves’ Indices of Vanishment, Podesta’s breadth of work has grown from strength to strength, … Continue reading M1 Fringe Festival 2018: The Immortal Sole by Edith Podesta (Review)

Review: We, The Singaporeans by The Royal Dance-Off Company

Contemporary dance often has the unfortunate association with descriptors like ‘enigmatic’ and ‘abstract’, and too easily, one fears walking out of the theatre having understood nothing but beautiful movements and choreography. Not so for The Royal Dance-Off Company (TRDOco). Under artistic director Ryan Tan, the company’s 2018 annual production has started off the year’s dance calendar on an incredibly hopeful note, having found a way to … Continue reading Review: We, The Singaporeans by The Royal Dance-Off Company