Review: The Little Child by Short One Player Theater

Puppet theatre often gets saddled with the assumption that it’s meant for children. But at The Little Child, Taiwanese theatre company Short One Player Theater proves that puppetry can tackle some of the most difficult topics and make them accessible to both kids and adults. The Little Child was inspired by director Wei-Chun Chan’s experiences visiting his comatose father in hospital as a child. Using the memory … Continue reading Review: The Little Child by Short One Player Theater

Preview: The Spirits Play by The Finger Players

The Finger Players bring back local theatre legend Kuo Pao Kun’s undying classic The Spirits Play this October as part of their Contemporary Classics season. The Spirits Play follows five Japanese spirits as they attempt to recollect and organize their jumbled memories from their life living and dying in the Second World War. As they slowly recall the atrocities and horrors of war, they become increasingly troubled and shocked by … Continue reading Preview: The Spirits Play by The Finger Players

Preview: Poop! by The Finger Players

“When is life worth living; when is death worth celebrating?” Last staged in 2010, The Finger Players are bringing back Chong Tze Chien’s Poop! as part of their Contemporary Classics season. With a cute title like Poop!, the last thing you’d expect from this play is an incredibly moving reflection and depiction of death and bereavement, as a father commits suicide, his wife grieves, their daughter wonders and his mother laughs. … Continue reading Preview: Poop! by The Finger Players

Preview: On Display – A Musical Cabaret

Musical theatre fans, you’re in luck this September, as performers Matheus Ting and Valerie Choo produce and star in an all new, one day only musical theatre revue! The LaSalle musical theatre graduates have come a long way since appearing on the local theatre and tv scene, and it’s always heartening to see young up and coming local talent strike it out on their own … Continue reading Preview: On Display – A Musical Cabaret

SIFA 2017: Art Studio by Nine Years Theatre (Review)

Based off Yeng Pway Ngon’s 2012 Singapore Literature Prize-winning novel of the same name, Nine Years Theatre once again has a real winner on their hands with their theatrical adaptation of Art Studio, undoubtedly one of the biggest, most anticipated new works this year.   Following the myriad lives of a group of artists over the course of fifty years, Art Studio is a sprawling, epic piece that takes … Continue reading SIFA 2017: Art Studio by Nine Years Theatre (Review)

SIFA 2017: Becoming Graphic by Sonny Liew and Edith Podesta (Review)

Sonny Liew initially seems like an odd choice to put onstage as part of an international arts festival. After all, the 42-year old Eisner Award winning comic artist has close to no experience in theatre. But if there’s anyone who can be counted on to bring out the drama of comics and adapt it for the stage, it’s his collaborator and Life! Theatre Award winning … Continue reading SIFA 2017: Becoming Graphic by Sonny Liew and Edith Podesta (Review)

Review: The Seven Silences – Anger by approaching Theatre (M1 Chinese Theatre Festival 2017)

Based off a novel by Hong Kong writer Wong Bik Wan, Taiwanese theatre company approaching Theatre presents The Seven Silences: Anger, focusing on the lives of a group of downtrodden members from the lower depths of society as they live out their horrifying, unimaginably painful lives from day to day. The Seven Silences: Anger is a dark, gritty work that scratches at audience members’ skin with its unabashed, … Continue reading Review: The Seven Silences – Anger by approaching Theatre (M1 Chinese Theatre Festival 2017)

Review: Forbidden City by Singapore Repertory Theatre and Esplanade – Theatres on the Bay

Marking its 15th anniversary since its debut in 2002, the Esplanade and Singapore Repertory Theatre have brought back one of Singapore’s best and most well-loved musicals of all time to the stage – Forbidden City. Still as spectacular as when it first premiered, the fiercely Asian Forbidden City brings to life a semi-fictitious history of Empress Dowager Cixi “The Dragon Lady” as American painter Kate Carl is … Continue reading Review: Forbidden City by Singapore Repertory Theatre and Esplanade – Theatres on the Bay

Preview: Forever Young by Sing’theatre

Celebrating their 10th anniversary, Sing’theatre will be bringing Forever Young to the SOTA Drama Theatre this October! In 50 years, a group of actors who used be at the forefront of the Singapore arts scene are now housed in a nursing home. With a tight watch kept on them by non-nonsense nurse Sister Sara, these nonagenarians still have life in them yet, and think they’re limber enough to … Continue reading Preview: Forever Young by Sing’theatre

SIFA 2017: Art Studio by Nine Years Theatre (Preview)

This year, the Singapore International Festival of the Arts (SIFA) opens with local theatre company Nine Years Theatre’s premiere of Art Studio. Directed by Nelson Chia and adapted from Cultural Medallion Winner Yeng Pway Ngon’s 2012 Singapore Literature Prize-winning novel of the same name, Art Studio is an epic performance that spans the 60s to the new millennium. Starting with a young school dropout coerced into becoming … Continue reading SIFA 2017: Art Studio by Nine Years Theatre (Preview)