Review: Poop! by The Finger Players

Every so often, a theatrical production that gets just about everything right comes along, enchanting audiences from the opening lines and holding them spellbound till the very end. One of these plays happens to be Poop!, one of The Finger Players’ best, and most alluring plays. As they condensed a deceptively simple plot, captivating puppetry, blacklight theatre and musings on grief and death into an hour, there … Continue reading Review: Poop! by The Finger Players

The Spirits Play: An Interview with Director Oliver Chong and Actor Tay Kong Hui

The second play in their Contemporary/Classics series, the Finger Players will be restaging theatre legend Kuo Pao Kun’s The Spirits Play in the final week of October, in the week immediately following Poop! The Spirits Play is a haunting, anti-war work that follows five spirits in conversation, all killed during World War II as they discuss the enemies that led to their death, both without and within their … Continue reading The Spirits Play: An Interview with Director Oliver Chong and Actor Tay Kong Hui

Poop!: An Interview with Director/Playwright Chong Tze Chien and Actress Janice Koh

As part of their Contemporary/Classics series for their 2017 Main Season, the Finger Players are bringing back Chong Tze Chien’s Poop! this October! Last staged in 2010, this restaging will feature all of the original cast and production team. Masters of applying puppetry in the most ingenuous and creative of ways, Poop! is a heartbreaking, dark fairytale about dealing with grief…but as seen through a child’s eyes. We managed to … Continue reading Poop!: An Interview with Director/Playwright Chong Tze Chien and Actress Janice Koh

SIFA 2017: Trojan Women by Ong Keng Sen and the National Theater of Korea (Review)

One thing that can be said about SIFA Festival Director Ong Keng Sen: whenever he attempts to create a new work, he always aims high and goes all the way, resulting at the very least in an unforgettable theatrical spectacle. With Trojan Women, Ong breathes new life into a centuries old Korean art form by applying it to an ancient Greek play. Based off Euripedes’ … Continue reading SIFA 2017: Trojan Women by Ong Keng Sen and the National Theater of Korea (Review)

SIFA 2017: Trojan Women by Ong Keng Sen and the National Theater of Korea (Preview)

After the marvel that was Sandaime Richard in last year’s edition of SIFA, Ong Keng Sen rounds off his stint as Festival Director with one final hurrah in the form of Trojan Women, a contemporary Asian musical combining K-pop and the Korean traditional genre of musical storytelling – pansori. Taking Seoul by storm at the end of 2016, Trojan Women at SIFA will mark the work’s premiere outside of Korea, and … Continue reading SIFA 2017: Trojan Women by Ong Keng Sen and the National Theater of Korea (Preview)

SIFA 2017: Dragonflies by Pangdemonium (Review)

In a world where Brexit is reality and Trump the president of the United States of America, how could things get any worse? Plenty, as writer Stephanie Street cranks the apocalypse up to eleven with Pangdemonium’s second original script of the year: Dragonflies, presented as part of the 2017 Singapore International Festival of the Arts. Set in a completely plausible version of the near future, the world of Dragonflies is … Continue reading SIFA 2017: Dragonflies by Pangdemonium (Review)

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

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: 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)