This February, Teater KAMi presents new play Kemas. Translating to ‘tidy’ or ‘neat’ in Malay, Kemas explores the myriad meanings of kemas through the stories of three women: Salma, Arah and Juminah. Written and directed by Moli Mohter , as inspired by her experience and interactions with neighbours of her estate, Kemas takes place in a housing estate. Salma is the new neighbour, who lives with a husband that’s … Continue reading Preview: Kemas by Teater KAMi
This weekend, SITFE invites audiences to catch six monologues about stories of celebration. In this second instalment of their Solo/Oray Aal monologue series, SITFE gathers a team of writers, directors and actors to perform these celebrations, which see no need for confetti, champagne or parties at expensive restaurants, for they are deep, personal, soulful, silent and even life changing. No matter how hard life might hit … Continue reading Preview: Solo/Oray Aal 2023 by SITFE
Fragile friendship torn asunder by abstract art. Category Score (out of 10) Direction (Liang Chi-Ming) 10 Script (Yasmina Reza) 9 Performance (Pu Hsueh-Liang, Chu Chung Heng and Tseng Kuo Chen) 10 Stage Design (Nieh Kuang-Yen) 8 Costume Design (Chin Ping-Ping) 8 Lighting Design (Tsao An-Huei) 8 Music Composition/Arrangement (Chen Kao-Hwa) 8 Total 61/70 (87%) Final Score: ★★★★★ No matter how many times we’ve watched ART, … Continue reading ★★★★★ Review: ART by Godot Theatre Company
The paiseh piece – the very last item left on the plate people are afraid to take, for fear of offending everyone else, and looking like a selfish person. As a result, that paiseh piece remains untouched, the sole survivor that is left alone. Could there be such paiseh pieces living among us, in their own lonely existences? That’s the basis and inspiration behind The … Continue reading The Paiseh Pieces: An Interview with writer/director Adeeb Fazah, composer Bennett Bay and lyricist Stephanie Phang
After almost 20 years, The Necessary Stage brings back old friends to present brand new play Old Gaze. Brash, audacious and just rollicking good fun, Old Gaze is the third and final instalment following TNS’ seminal LGBTQ plays Mardi Gras (2003) and Top or Bottom (2004). “This final installment has been written 19 years later. The three main characters played by Hossan, Kumar and Rody … Continue reading Preview: Old Gaze by The Necessary Stage
The Second Breakfast Company (2BCo) is set to produce its first ever musical, The Paiseh Pieces, in February 2023 at Wisma Geylang Serai (WGS). This production, presented in collaboration with WGS, revolves around three young adults, Tobias, Rina and Sara navigating adulthood in Singapore. The three besties on the precipice of adulthood find themselves in difficult situations. Tobias, a struggling theatre actor, can’t seem to … Continue reading Preview: The Paiseh Pieces by The Second Breakfast Company
The most fragile of cultural heritage is often the intangible, lying in customs, traditions and art forms that need to be passed down from generation to generation for survival. And as time goes by, too many of these practices are lost. Taiwanese arts company La Cie MaxMind hopes to preserve at least one of these traditions with the shows they put on. This week, they’re … Continue reading Huayi 2023: An Interview with Lee Yi-Hsiu and Hsu Shu-Hui of La Cie MaxMind
Cloud Gate Dance Theatre is perhaps one of Taiwan’s most well-regarded contemporary arts companies, producing countless quality dance works since being founded in 1973. Combining a plethora of dance and movement forms, from qi gong to martial arts, modern dance to ballet, the company blends the traditional and contemporary as it brings its productions to the world. In their first performance in Singapore since the … Continue reading Huayi 2023: 13 Tongues by Cloud Gate Dance Theatre (Preview)
Big-hearted, honest work about the plight of migrant workers in Singapore. Far too often, migrant workers in Singapore are seen only as cheap expendable labour or worst of all, subjects of crime articles splashed over newspapers. This act of othering migrant workers constantly demeans their humanity, and reduces them to mere statistics. At what point do we begin to treat them with respect as equals, … Continue reading Review: Foreign Bodies by Birds Migrant Theatre
Brilliant dramatic monologue shows ugliness of speciesism and tyranny of society. Category Score (out of 10) Direction (Phala O Phala) 9 Script (Phala O Phala) 8 Performance (Tony Bonani Miyambo) 9 Total 26/30 (87%) Final Score: ★★★★★ A cursory glance at a single human and ape, and you’d swear we were worlds apart. Yet surprisingly, the two species share almost 99% of the same DNA. … Continue reading ★★★★★ Review: Kafka’s Ape by Phala O Phala and Tony Bonani Miyambo
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