A new cast member and a tighter script keeps Chinatown Crossings as rewatchable and poignant as ever. When we watched Chinatown Crossings last year, little did we expect it to end up becoming one of our favourite productions of 2018. With a sold out run, it was heartening to hear that Drama Box had managed to bring it back again this year so more audience … Continue reading Review: Chinatown Crossings 2019 by Drama Box
After seven years of work, Drama Box and ArtsWok Collaborative’s Both Sides, Now is finally coming to a close as the community engagement project ends with an art installation and carnival at Telok Blangah. What started in 2013 as an exploration into end of life issues and how they’re tackled in Singapore has gone on a journey, reaching out to various communities across the island as Both … Continue reading Both Sides, Now: An Interview with Drama Box/ Both Sides, Now Artistic Director Kok Heng Leun
The third iteration of community engagement project Both Sides, Now comes to a close this year with an immersive arts experience at Telok Blangah this July. Presented by Lien Foundation, Ang Chin Moh Foundation, Drama Box and ArtsWok Collaborative, the project focuses on presenting end-of-life (EOL) issues in an accessible way to the public, and this year, has focused on the NOW – how one can learn … Continue reading Preview: Both Sides, Now – Immersive Arts Experience by Drama Box and ArtsWok Collaborative
A terrace house in Holland Village becomes the site of haunting for childhood trauma. Growing up, we often don’t think too much of the things we experience as children. After all, kids will be kids, and most people still turn out alright in adulthood, no matter what, right? In Drama Box’s latest production however, that childhood innocence is put under the magnifying glass, as FLOWERS takes audience members … Continue reading Review: FLOWERS by Drama Box
Coming to the stage this May, Drama Box kicks off their 2019 season with an all new show – in a house! Conceptualised by Han Xuemei, FLOWERS reunites the Drama Box resident artist with playwright Jean Tay, who worked on last year’s MISSING: The City of Lost Things, in an experiential installation where audiences explore a terrace house in Chip Bee Gardens, and in turn, discover the hidden issues of patriarchal … Continue reading Drama Box’s FLOWERS: An Interview with Creators Han Xuemei and Jean Tay
Drama Box returns to kick off their 2019 season with a brand new show from resident artist Han Xuemei, creator of last year’s MISSING: The City of Lost Things. Titled FLOWERS, the experiential installation is set to take place in a terrace house in Chip Bee Gardens, dealing with issues of patriarchal violence and its effects on others, regardless of gender, and invites audience members to (re)consider their lived experiences … Continue reading Preview: FLOWERS by Drama Box
In 2018, local theatre company Drama Box has created some of the most poignant productions both in and out of the conventional theatre space. From reflections on death to a self-directed return to one’s past, a collaboration with The Necessary Stage to a surprisingly powerful theatrical tour of Chinatown, 2019 will see the company continue to develop some of the themes raised in 2018 through brand new … Continue reading Season in Preview: Drama Box 2019 Season
Following a successful participatory theatre experience back in March, Drama Box and ArtsWok Collaborative’s Both Sides, Now project returns this September. A community engagement project aiming to share and facilitate within communities what it means to live and leave well, this new edition of the project will be a participatory performance entitled Last Dance. Last Dance will see a departure from previous editions of Both Sides, Now, going for a … Continue reading Both Sides, Now: Last Dance and Closer by Drama Box and ArtsWok Collaborative
A melancholic trip down memory lane that effectively harnesses the history and geography of the place once known as Kreta Ayer. If you had a chance to look at photos of Chinatown in the 70s and 80s, it would virtually be unrecognizable from the same bustling tourist district of today. There are so many aspects of Chinatown that have changed over the years, and with Chinatown … Continue reading Review: Chinatown Crossings by Drama Box
We’re at Drama Box’s home on Trengganu Street in Chinatown, interviewing Drama Box artistic director Koh Hui Ling and writer Jean Tay, when Hui Ling suddenly recalls: “We were talking to the uncles and aunties living in the area, and a common thing we heard from them was how so many of them said ‘Chinatown doesn’t belong to us anymore; it belongs to the tourists.’” … Continue reading Taking Back Chinatown: An Interview with Koh Hui Ling and Jean Tay of Drama Box’s Chinatown Crossings
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