M1 Singapore Fringe Festival 2018: If there’s not dancing at the revolution, I’m not coming by Julia Croft (Review)

An unusually moving neo-burlesque reflection on film and pop culture’s influence on women.  One of the key theories any film studies student learns early on is the concept of the male gaze and visual pleasure, coined by seminal film critic Laura Mulvey. In short, it’s a concept that discusses how Hollywood films are essentially born from an unconscious patriarchal desire to derive pleasure from voyeurism … Continue reading M1 Singapore Fringe Festival 2018: If there’s not dancing at the revolution, I’m not coming by Julia Croft (Review)

M1 Singapore Fringe Festival 2018: Step Outta Line by Thong Pei Qin (Review)

Thong Pei Qin summons the old guard of feminist artists for a new generation. If Step Outta Line was anyone’s first introduction to playwright Ovidia Yu, they’d probably come away with the impression that this was one angry woman. And rightfully so. Yu was one of the most outspoken and prominent female local playwrights of the 90s, with seminal plays that dared rebel against the patriarchy, pushed … Continue reading M1 Singapore Fringe Festival 2018: Step Outta Line by Thong Pei Qin (Review)

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)

M1 Fringe Festival 2018: Hayat by Pink Gajah Theatre (Review)

The transformative power of pain is on full display in a moving work from Pink Gajah. Hayat may be a word that means life, but in Pink Gajah’s newest work of the same name, it begins with a death. Specifically, the memory of the death of performer Ajuntha Anwari’s mother, a trigger to reflect upon her life and begin her journey of grief, not only for her mother, … Continue reading M1 Fringe Festival 2018: Hayat by Pink Gajah Theatre (Review)

A Tale of Two Cities: Open Waters by Tan Shou Chen and Jaturachai Srichanwanpen

It has to be said that of the many potential cross-country collaborations out there, Singapore doesn’t often feature many Thai ones. So when Singaporean theatremaker Tan Shou Chen met Thai artist Jaturachai Srichanwanpen (Chuan) one day at the Substation, it seemed the perfect opportunity for pioneering a brand new collaborative project, and one that would reflect on their own perspectives of their own and each other’s … Continue reading A Tale of Two Cities: Open Waters by Tan Shou Chen and Jaturachai Srichanwanpen

Preview: The Brothers Size by Young Vic and Actors Touring Company

The stunning Moonlight may have taken all the thunder as Best Picture at the Academy Awards back in 2017, but writer Tarell Alvin McCraney is set to continue making waves in January with an all new staging of his play The Brothers Size. Directed by the acclaimed Bijan Sheibani, The Brothers Size follows two African-American brothers Ogun and Oshoosi after a spell in prison, reuniting through the power of … Continue reading Preview: The Brothers Size by Young Vic and Actors Touring Company

M1 Singapore Fringe Festival 2018: Reflecting on Life with Pink Gajah’s Hayat (Preview)

“Pink Gajah is a company where everyone becomes family,” Sharda Harrison, Artistic Director of Pink Gajah Theatre muses, while sipping on her drink. “I’m quite picky about the people I work with, because I need them to be comfortable with themselves, and be able to be raw and open with one another. I can’t have people who are trying to plaster themselves onto me or … Continue reading M1 Singapore Fringe Festival 2018: Reflecting on Life with Pink Gajah’s Hayat (Preview)

Waning, Waxing: ION Art Gallery Presents 22 Local Visual Artists

In the heart of Singapore’s most commercial district, ION Orchard has surprisingly enough, always been extremely supportive of the local arts scene. We’re talking about ION Art Gallery of course, and for the last few days, they’ve been displaying the works of 22 local visual artists based around the theme of change and fluctuation. Titled Waning, Waxing, any of these contemporary pieces would seem perfectly at home … Continue reading Waning, Waxing: ION Art Gallery Presents 22 Local Visual Artists

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

Review: Gun Shy dir. Simon West

In the world of movies, there are good films and there are bad films. And then, there are bad films that simply don’t care, and seemingly go all out to make just about every other film look good by comparison. And Gun Shy? Well, it wears its outrageous mess of a plot proudly on its sleeve, and revels in it at just about every imaginable moment. Directed … Continue reading Review: Gun Shy dir. Simon West