Review: Private Parts by Michael Chiang Playthings

Michael Chiang’s favourite script rings true even today.  When it first premiered in 1992, playwright Michael Chiang’s Private Parts was groundbreaking for its bold choice to depict transsexuals onstage, not as cheap forms of entertainment or the butt of jokes, but as fully fleshed out characters with their own personal lives and stories to tell. Even today, 26 years on, with plays dealing with the concept of … Continue reading Review: Private Parts by Michael Chiang Playthings

Preview: A Voyage to Nanyang V – Balik Kampong by the Singapore Chinese Orchestra

The Singapore Chinese Orchestra returns this November with SCO Young People’s Concert: Voyage to Nanyang V – Balik Kampong. This time around, they’ll be featuring the beloved “Ah De” in this final episode, played by SCO Resident Conductor Quek Ling Kiong as the orchestra takes audiences on a trip down memory lane! Rediscover Singapore’s old days, where the multicultural and heartwarming kampong spirit is all about, … Continue reading Preview: A Voyage to Nanyang V – Balik Kampong by the Singapore Chinese Orchestra

Review: Cerita Cinta by akulah bimbo SAKTI

The inheritance of violence and despair is on show in a powerful, unusual love story from one of Singapore’s most exciting theatre makers.  If one has never known love, how does one then display it? That is the issue at the core of Noor Effendy Ibrahim’s 1995 play Cerita Cinta, where contrary to its innocent title (literally ‘Love Story’), love manifests itself in perverse, violent ways that leaves … Continue reading Review: Cerita Cinta by akulah bimbo SAKTI

Neon Lights 2018: Final Acts Announced, Including Mantravine, Instigator Afrobeat Orchestra and Preetipls

Neon Lights 2018 is just about ready to rumble when it rolls back into town this week, and joining the likes of Interpol, YUNA, Caribou, Cigarettes After Sex and Peking Duk, get ready for the final lineup of artists to have officially announced their appearance, with Mantravine, Instigator Afrobeat Orchestra, Preetipls and Subhas, and OrkeStar Trio joining the stellar roster. On Friday, get ready for world electronic group Mantravine, best known for their psychedelic rock and Indian Arabic vibrations straight … Continue reading Neon Lights 2018: Final Acts Announced, Including Mantravine, Instigator Afrobeat Orchestra and Preetipls

Review: Provenance by Autopoetics

A well-paced, tightly scripted first outing for Autopoetics. Founded by local arts educators Chelsea Crothers, Laura Hayes and Maiya Murphy, Autopoetics is the latest theatre collective to arrive on our scene, making their bold debut with an original once act play – Provenance.  Written by Hayes, Provenance opens on the home of Alice (Hayes), an obsessive hoarder living in a home filled with all manner of junk and … Continue reading Review: Provenance by Autopoetics

Review: She’s A Great Way To Fly presented by The Substation

A five course meal of in-flight entertainment. Resplendent in her batik sarong kebaya, the Singapore Girl is perhaps one of our nation’s best known and recognizable icons worldwide. The Singapore Girl goes far beyond her status as a simple air stewardess, having come to signify beauty, elegance and is essentially an Oriental fantasy at its peak, whether she’s serving up a glass of orange juice … Continue reading Review: She’s A Great Way To Fly presented by The Substation

Review: The Reunification of The Two Koreas by Theatreworks

Love is the drug, and oh what a terrible, wonderful drug it is too.  For a four letter word, ‘love’, to this day, remains one of mankind’s greatest mysteries. At times absurd, most times frustrating, occasionally uplifting and always messy, it’s no wonder we’re practically obsessed with solving it, unable to live with or without it. In French playwright Joël Pommerat’s The Reunification of the Two … Continue reading Review: The Reunification of The Two Koreas by Theatreworks

Museum Musings: Boedi Widjaja Co-Comissioned For APT9 and Singapore Biennale 2019

Singapore-based Indonesian artist Boedi Widjaja has been co-comissioned by the Singapore Art Museum and Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art (QAGOMA) to produce a two-part architectural and sound installation, to be presented at ‘The 9th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art’ (APT9) in Brisbane, Australia and the Singapore Biennale 2019. This is the first project to be developed from a five-year partnership between the two … Continue reading Museum Musings: Boedi Widjaja Co-Comissioned For APT9 and Singapore Biennale 2019

Preview: Arts In Your Neighbourhood 2018

The National Arts Council’s mission to bring arts for all continues right on the heels of their announcement of Our SG Arts Plan, beginning with the return of Arts In Your Neighbourhood (AYN)! Running from 8th to 25th November, AYN comprises a programme of close to 70 specially curated activities, spread out over 18 locations island-wide including Admiralty, Ang Mo Kio, Bedok, Pasir Panjang, Tampines, Toa Payoh … Continue reading Preview: Arts In Your Neighbourhood 2018

Preview: Serenade with Soyoung Yoon by Singapore Symphony Orchestra

At the tail end of November, the Singapore Symphony Orchestra (SSO) presents young South Korean violinist Soyoung Yoon in her Singapore debut. Considered enormously talented, Soyoung won the prestigious Yehudi Menuhin Violin Competition at the tender age of 17 and has gone on to win at six more competitions, including the Henryk Wieniawski and David Oistrakh Violin Competitions. Conducted by Michał Nesterowicz, one of Europe’s most … Continue reading Preview: Serenade with Soyoung Yoon by Singapore Symphony Orchestra