Reviving Jit Murad’s Lost Play: An Interview with director Zahim Albakri, and cast members Ghafir Akbar and Sabrina Hassan of ‘ENTOURAGE – Murder Amongst Friends’

It begins, unexpectedly, with a laugh. “I actually think it’s one of his most well-crafted plays,” says Dato’ Zahim Albakri, the director of ENTOURAGE – Murder Amongst Friends, and one of the late Jit Murad’s closest collaborators. “Some of the writing is his best and really quite fabulous. It’s different from his other plays, but it’s definitely him; you recognise the writing.” Then, almost in … Continue reading Reviving Jit Murad’s Lost Play: An Interview with director Zahim Albakri, and cast members Ghafir Akbar and Sabrina Hassan of ‘ENTOURAGE – Murder Amongst Friends’

★★★★★ Dance Review: Nederlands Dans Theater (NDT 2) in Singapore

Triptych of dance work from one of the world’s foremost dance companies firmly establishes each choreographer as an auteur, as they comment on community and belonging. Nederlands Dans Theater (NDT 2), one of the world’s foremost contemporary dance companies, returned to Singapore with a programme that reaffirmed why they occupy such a singular place in the global dance landscape. Whether through their deep choreographic lineage … Continue reading ★★★★★ Dance Review: Nederlands Dans Theater (NDT 2) in Singapore

SWF 2025: Theatremakers Jo Tan and Adib Kosnan revisit past writing with ‘Rewrite My Fire’

by D.Y. Jo Tan brings a new initiative to the Singapore Writer’s Festival (SWF 2025); connecting playwrights and their older works with new dramaturgical support, in hopes of revitalisation. As theatre companies produce season after season, smaller local scripts can slowly fade away from public memory, especially in favour of bigger, flashier productions. This is the problem that local theatremaker, Jo Tan, set out to … Continue reading SWF 2025: Theatremakers Jo Tan and Adib Kosnan revisit past writing with ‘Rewrite My Fire’

SGIFF 2025: An Interview with ‘Silent Friend’ director ldikó Enyedi and star Tony Leung

For Hungarian filmmaker Ildikó Enyedi, her new work Silent Friend began as an instinct, an idea circling her for decades about how humans seek connection with the natural world. “I wrote this script very instinctively,” she says. “These topics were interesting to me for decades.” The film moves across three vastly different eras—1908, 1972, and 2020—each anchored by a centuries-old ginkgo tree and characters whose … Continue reading SGIFF 2025: An Interview with ‘Silent Friend’ director ldikó Enyedi and star Tony Leung

★★★★☆ Theatre Review: Mission Malligapoo by AGAM Theatre Lab

AGAM Theatre Lab ventures into dark comedy with this original wartime epic that balances humour, humanity and heartbreak. Playing as part of the 2025 Kalaa Utsavam – Indian Festival of Arts, AGAM Theatre Lab’s new original work Mission Malligapoo opens with a directive, as the overhead PA announces “Welcome aboard Mission Malligapoo,” and before you know it, the audience is subtly enlisted. It feels as … Continue reading ★★★★☆ Theatre Review: Mission Malligapoo by AGAM Theatre Lab

Review: We Make Spaces Divine ft. Dey by the Esplanade, Pooja Nansi, Shivram Gopinath, Isuru Wijesoma & RAAJ

Pooja Nansi and Shivram Gopinath’s tongue-in-cheek, electric verse meets sick beats to create a profoundly healing experience. In tiny Singapore, it can be all too easy to feel a creeping sense of claustrophobia. Shared third spaces vanish, and opportunities for uninhibited self-expression grow scarce. For poet Pooja Nansi, the solution is not to wait for transformation, but to seize agency: to uncover beauty in the … Continue reading Review: We Make Spaces Divine ft. Dey by the Esplanade, Pooja Nansi, Shivram Gopinath, Isuru Wijesoma & RAAJ

Theatre Review: Temporary Chinese Theatres《当场》by Emergency Stairs and Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts (NAFA)

Wild, absurd work that attempts to make sense of what it means to enter the contemporary Chinese Theatre scene in 2025 and beyond. What does it mean to be a maker of “contemporary Chinese theatre”? Confronting this sharp question head-on, the pioneer cohort of Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts’ (NAFA) BA (Hons) Contemporary Chinese Theatres programme grapples with the industry they are about to enter, … Continue reading Theatre Review: Temporary Chinese Theatres《当场》by Emergency Stairs and Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts (NAFA)

SGIFF 2025: An Interview with Girl 女孩 director Shu Qi, and stars Bai Xiao-Ying and 9m88

When Girl opened the 2025 Singapore International Film Festival at Marina Bay Sands, the theatre was filled to its edges, with filmmakers, industry regulars, influencers, and longtime fans gathered to witness one of Asia’s most beloved stars step into a bold new role. For Shu Qi, who has spent decades defining onscreen charisma, the packed house represented both the reputation she’d built up over the … Continue reading SGIFF 2025: An Interview with Girl 女孩 director Shu Qi, and stars Bai Xiao-Ying and 9m88

★★★★☆ Film Review: Girl 女孩 dir. Shu Qi

Shu Qi’s directorial debut is deeply personal, and teases out the pain and potential of girlhood in ’80s Taiwan. Adolescence is rarely tidy. It’s unruly, bewildering, and often defined by the kind of pain we only learn how to name years later. In Girl, her semi-autobiographical directorial debut, Taiwanese star Shu Qi turns that ache into cinema. Known primarily for her collaborations with Hou Hsiao-hsien … Continue reading ★★★★☆ Film Review: Girl 女孩 dir. Shu Qi

Visual Art: ART SG and S.E.A. Focus Announce Leading Galleries, New Curatorial and Programme Offerings for 2026 Edition

When ART SG opens its doors at Marina Bay Sands in January 2026, the fair will look and feel different from every edition before it. Now in its fourth year, Southeast Asia’s largest international art fair is transforming into a wider cultural ecosystem, one that reflects how rapidly the region’s artistic landscape is developing. Spearheaded by Founding and Lead Partner UBS, ART SG 2026 brings … Continue reading Visual Art: ART SG and S.E.A. Focus Announce Leading Galleries, New Curatorial and Programme Offerings for 2026 Edition