Interview: Playwright Benedict Lim spills the ‘Beans’ on class, scarcity and taking creative risks

“Maybe because the world is burning and I might as well do the things I want to do.” That’s a statement that feels integral to Singaporean playwright Benedict Lim’s reason for making art. There is humour in the line, but also a sense of practicality: if the circumstances are already uncertain, there is little point waiting for the perfect moment to make the work you … Continue reading Interview: Playwright Benedict Lim spills the ‘Beans’ on class, scarcity and taking creative risks

★★★★★ Theatre Review: ART (2026) by Godot Theatre Company

Godot Theatre’s take on Yasmina Reza’s beloved classic reminds us how art reveals uncomfortable truths about ourselves and how we live in a world of myriad perspectives. Duration: 135 minutes John Berger, in Ways of Seeing, famously writes that “the relation between what we see and what we know is never settled”. It is an idea that applies directly to Yasmina Reza’s ART, a play … Continue reading ★★★★★ Theatre Review: ART (2026) by Godot Theatre Company

★★★★★ Film Review: Once Upon A Time In The Middle East 欢迎来龙餐馆 dir. Wen Muye

From China comes one of the best anti-war blockbuster films in recent history that captures the human cost of senseless conflict, in both body count and morality. Duration: 140 minutes War films are so often constructed around the perspectives of the countries that wage them, making it unusual to see a film so openly interested in the consequences of American intervention in the Middle East … Continue reading ★★★★★ Film Review: Once Upon A Time In The Middle East 欢迎来龙餐馆 dir. Wen Muye

Theatre Review: One Love, A Legacy – Celebrating Joanna & Leslie Wong and Chinese Theatre Circle 《一缕柔情千秋业》

Documentary, biographical theatre tracing Chinese Theatre Circle’s roots, its impact, and the love that’s carried it for 45 years and beyond. For 45 years, Chinese Theatre Circle has been doing something no other company has done for as long and as fiercely as they have: keeping Chinese opera alive in Singapore. And to commemorate that, One Love, A Legacy: Celebrating Joanna & Leslie Wong and … Continue reading Theatre Review: One Love, A Legacy – Celebrating Joanna & Leslie Wong and Chinese Theatre Circle 《一缕柔情千秋业》

Art: Li Huayi – Unity of Man and Nature at Kwai Fung Hin

For Li Huayi, landscape is not a record of a place but an expression of an inner world. As his first solo exhibition in Southeast Asia arrives in Singapore, the artist reflects on tradition, freedom, memory and the enduring possibilities of ink. There are no travellers wandering through Li Huayi’s landscapes. No fishermen, scholars or tiny figures climbing the mountain paths that populate so much … Continue reading Art: Li Huayi – Unity of Man and Nature at Kwai Fung Hin

★★★★★ Theatre Review: Sarah Ruhl’s Eurydice by Jeffrey Cheah Performing Arts Centre

Sarah Ruhl’s retelling of the Orpheus and Eurydice myth comes alive under Ghafir Akbar’s inventive and imaginative staging, and the cast’s deeply sincere performances. Duration: 90 minutes For more than two thousand years, the story of Orpheus and Eurydice has endured as one of Greek mythology’s great stories of love and loss. Orpheus, the gifted musician, travels into the Underworld to retrieve his wife Eurydice … Continue reading ★★★★★ Theatre Review: Sarah Ruhl’s Eurydice by Jeffrey Cheah Performing Arts Centre

The art and creativity behind Resorts World Sentosa’s Festival of Thrills

From neon-lit sea creatures to haunted Singapore legends, RWS is turning Halloween into a showcase of local stories, design and creative craft. There is a lot of work that goes into making something scary. The scream itself is easy enough. The difficult part is everything that comes before it: the story, the characters, the costumes, the lighting, the sound, the sets, the makeup, the food, … Continue reading The art and creativity behind Resorts World Sentosa’s Festival of Thrills

Museums: Sacred Caves – Dunhuang, Buddhism, and the Silk Road at the Asian Civilisations Museum

For centuries, travellers crossing the Silk Road passed through Dunhuang carrying goods, stories, beliefs and artistic traditions from across Asia and beyond. Now, some of the most remarkable traces of that exchange are making their way to Singapore, including four life-size reproductions of the famed Mogao Caves. Opening at the Asian Civilisations Museum (ACM) on 25 September, Sacred Caves: Dunhuang, Buddhism, and the Silk Road … Continue reading Museums: Sacred Caves – Dunhuang, Buddhism, and the Silk Road at the Asian Civilisations Museum

★★★★☆ Theatre Review: The Secret Drawer by Instant Café Theatre Company

New documentary theatre work excavates Malaysia’s buried history one memory at a time. There is a cleverness to The Secret Drawer that becomes apparent almost immediately: the production makes its black-box space feel like somewhere secret. Designed by producer Tan Cher Kian and directed by Jo Kukathas, the stage resembles an underground lair or private archive, with objects and figures surrounding Ling Tang and Lim … Continue reading ★★★★☆ Theatre Review: The Secret Drawer by Instant Café Theatre Company

Art: Reverie – Paintings for the Observer and the Observed – A Survey of Works from 2020–2026 by Justin Lim at The Private Museum

What does home mean when the world outside suddenly becomes uncertain? For Malaysian artist Justin Lim, the answer began taking shape during the long, strange months of the Covid-19 pandemic. Confined to domestic spaces and surrounded by the familiar, he turned his attention towards the rooms, objects and quiet corners of everyday life. What might once have seemed mundane became charged with new meaning, places … Continue reading Art: Reverie – Paintings for the Observer and the Observed – A Survey of Works from 2020–2026 by Justin Lim at The Private Museum