Pride and politics. It’s hard to imagine that a Greek play from 429 BC would have any relevance in modern day Singapore, but as Nine Years Theatre has shown time and again, there is good reason why the classics are still read even today. Directed and adapted by Cherilyn Woo (and translated to Mandarin by Huang Suhuai), Nine Years Theare (NYT) opens their 2021 season … Continue reading ★★★★☆ Review: 王命 Oedipus by Nine Years Theatre
Victoria Chen grabs the Bull by its horns in this fast-paced, hard-hitting play about cutthroat workplaces. 2020 has been a tumultuous year, with surging unemployment and mass retrenchment exercises across the world, thanks to the economic recession and restrictions brought about by COVID-19. It seems then, that Mike Bartlett’s Bull is a timely play to stage at this point. Playing as part of Wild Rice’s Directors’ … Continue reading ★★★★☆ Review: Bull by Wild Rice
The Young Company explore promenade theatre and uncover ghosts of the pasts, while revealing a talented cast. In a year where the theatre scene has been forced to change, it makes sense that new productions would attempt to take on new forms and experimentations to adapt to the restricted performance landscape. And so it is for the Singapore Repertory Theatre’s latest batch of The Young … Continue reading ★★★★☆ Review: Ghost Light by SRT’s The Young Company
The kids are alright, as Wild Rice’s inaugural batch of Singapore Youth Theatre showcases what they’re made of. For a number of years now, in addition to their regular productions, Wild Rice has offered programmes for potential child actors (First Stage) and older, more experienced theatremakers in their adulthood (Young & Wild). But there’s never really been a similar platform for teens to go under … Continue reading Review: Schooled by Wild Rice’s Singapore Youth Theatre
The pitfalls of optimism are explored in Young & Wild 2020’s showcase performance. According to playwright Mark Ravenhill, the word ‘optimism’ had only been in use for about 20 years when Voltaire wrote his satirical novella Candide in 1759. And interestingly enough, beyond the idea of hope, the word ‘optimism’ was also born from the idea of the ‘optimal’, where one believes that whatever path one’s … Continue reading ★★☆☆☆ Review: Candide by Young & Wild
Outdoing themselves yet again, Around The World In 80 Days is a great experience, and a lesson in excellence in spite of the odds. For a couple of years now, we’ve been following local immersive theatre company Andsoforth and their works. From our first encounter at the psychedlic The Imaginarium of Disco David back in 2017, to the more recent, Norse-inspired Valhalla and the Chambers of … Continue reading ★★★★★ Review: Around The World In 80 Days – A Book Analysis Workshop by Andsoforth
For a project as big as the upcoming Once Upon A Time On The Orient Express, it requires someone of great experience and fortitude to handle negotiations, including the shipping of two cars from the actual Orient Express, and the nail-biting amount of nerve it takes to press on with it even with a global pandemic going on, adapting as the situation changes. That person is Lydie … Continue reading A Woman of the World: An Interview with Lydie Blandeau, producer of Once Upon A Time On The Orient Express
Even if you’re not a train otaku, you’ve probably at least heard of the Orient Express, one of the world’s most famous passenger trains in history. A legendary train that served as one of the main bridges between East and West during the second half of the 19th century, get ready to experience the train in person this December, as Once Upon A Time On … Continue reading Preview: Once Upon A Time On The Orient Express
Joel Tan’s purgatorial café gets a revival and feels more urgent than before in our very real crisis of 2020. In a year where countless F&B outlets have shut down amidst the coronavirus crisis, and the very real sense of doom continues to hang over our heads as the future remains uncertain, Joel Tan’s play Café seems more relevant than ever, as it receive a revival … Continue reading ★★★★☆ Review: Café by Wild Rice
Much potential in this original performance about homesickness, identity and art. Life as a struggling artist is already hard enough. But for a young Singaporean artist, 6000 kilometres from home and all alone, that situation is enough to compound things to the point one would begin to question’s one’s choice to even pursue such a career choice, and wonder how differently life would have turned … Continue reading Arts Down Under 2020: 落叶归根 (Luò yè guī gēn) Getting Home by Cheryl Ho (Review)
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