Lest the demons get to me. Written by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe in the early 1800s, there is a timelessness to the narrative and themes discussed in Faust that have led to it becoming an inspiration for countless other works of art, and its regard as one of the greatest works of German literature. To stage it in a new capacity then, is certainly a challenging … Continue reading Review: FAUST/US (浮世/德) by Nine Years Theatre
This March, Nine Years Theatre (NYT) opens their 2019 season with what is now their signature style of adapting a Western text into Mandarin, this time around having selected Goethe’s Faustus, the quintessential ‘deal with a devil’ story of a scholar who sells his soul in exchange for his wildest dreams. But in Nine Years Theatre’s FAUST/US, not only will protagonist Faust be receiving a gender swap; for … Continue reading Dealing with the Devil: An Interview with Performer Mia Chee and Director Cherilyn Woo of Nine Years Theatre’s FAUST/US (浮世/德)
“I often feel like there are two souls living in me. One with an overwhelming zest with love for life, desperately clinging onto the world and all its wonders, the other is immensely yearns to fly above the dust, and into the light.” The classic tale of a deal with the devil gets the Nine Years Theatre (NYT) treatment as the company presents FAUST/US this March. … Continue reading Preview: FAUST/US (浮世/德) by Nine Years Theatre
There is more than a passing similarity to Shakespeare’s King Lear and a certain recently deceased leader from our very own country. Besides being former heads of a nation and possessing three children, Lear, when translated to Mandarin, also happens to begin with the Chinese character 李, or ‘Lee’. Appropriately enough then, for their very first Shakespeare adaptation, local Mandarin theatre company Nine Years Theatre … Continue reading Nine Years Theatre’s Lear Is Dead 李尔亡: An Interview with Nelson Chia and Timothy Wan
“We used to think power is our life’s goal, forgetting that wisdom is what our lives are founded upon.” Following their reimagination of Strindberg’s Miss Julie earlier this year, Nine Years Theatre will present their third and final production of the season with another reimagination of a theatre classic: Shakespeare’s King Lear. For Nine Years Theatre, while no stranger to adapting classic works into Mandarin, Lear … Continue reading Preview: Lear Is Dead (李尔亡) by Nine Years Theatre
Strindberg’s classic is re-appropriated to complicate issues of identity and the mutability of class in this new adaptation. In watching Nelson Chia’s adaptation of August Strindberg’s Miss Julie, there’s a scene from late animator Satoshi Kon’s film Paprika that came to mind: in the opening sequence, we see the title character’s reflection split across multiple mirrors, each displaying a different expression. In a similar way, Nelson has made the unusual choice … Continue reading Review: Pissed Julie (茱莉小解) by Nine Years Theatre
Fresh from a successful premiere at the 2018 Macau Arts Festival, Nine Years Theatre (NYT) is flying back to Singapore to present their newest production Pissed Julie. Initially proposed by artistic director Nelson Chia as an interesting project to embark on with Macau and performed in both cities, Pissed Julie went from a festival commissioned play featuring Macanese actors directed by Nelson, to an all new co-production between … Continue reading Preview: Pissed Julie (茱莉小解) by Nine Years Theatre
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