The Studios 2018: An Interview with Edith Podesta (Leda and the Rage)

The Esplanade’s 2018 season of The Studios has been a wild ride, and ends off with Life! Theatre Award winning theatremaker Edith Podesta’s latest play Leda and the Rage. Inspired by the Greek myth of Leda raped by the god Zeus in the form of a swan, Leda and the Rage will see Edith explore the concept of trauma through one woman’s journey of recovery. Performed by both Edith … Continue reading The Studios 2018: An Interview with Edith Podesta (Leda and the Rage)

The Studios 2018: How Did The Cat Get So Fat? (Review)

It’s been 11 years since How Did The Cat Get So Fat? was last staged and its message of a hollow pledge still rings true. Besides literally referring to corpulent felines, a fat cat can of course, also refer to corrupt businessmen and politicians abusing their wealth or power. And in Zizi Azah’s play How Did The Cat Get So Fat?, it is these members of the upper class … Continue reading The Studios 2018: How Did The Cat Get So Fat? (Review)

The Studios 2018: An Interview with Siti Khalijah (How Did The Cat Get So Fat?)

First performed in 2006 to critical acclaim, Zizi Azah’s monodrama How Did The Cat Get So Fat? makes a return this April as part of the Esplanade’s 2018 season of The Studios. In this version, the play will be helmed by The Finger Players Artistic Director Tan Beng Tian, who has injected the performance with her signature blend of puppetry. Siti Khalijah Zainal will once again be … Continue reading The Studios 2018: An Interview with Siti Khalijah (How Did The Cat Get So Fat?)

No Such Thing As Magic: Ugly In The Morning Launches 3rd Album – 3 Or More If You Can Afford It

In this day and age, local bands are a dime a dozen, and far too many come and go in the blink of an eye. It’s a rarity to even release one album, let alone two, which is precisely why funk-rock band Ugly In The Morning’s third release is absolutely significant in the history of Singapore music. 3 Or More If You Can Afford It was officially launched … Continue reading No Such Thing As Magic: Ugly In The Morning Launches 3rd Album – 3 Or More If You Can Afford It

The Studios 2018: I Am Trying To Say Something True (Review)

‘My name is Risa, which means laughter.’ These are the words that start us off on an intense journey of self-reflection into the mind of 28 year old Risa (Ellison Tan) as she speaks to Dr Robert, her $280/hour psychiatrist about her life. Penned by rising star Michelle Tan, who was nominated for a Life! Theatre Award for Best Script in 2017, I Am Trying To … Continue reading The Studios 2018: I Am Trying To Say Something True (Review)

The Studios 2018: An Interview with T. Sasitharan (I am trying to say something true)

In the third week of the Esplanade’s latest season of The Studios, actress Ellison Tan Yuyang will be performing Michelle Tan’s new work I am trying to say something true. The show revolves around the concept of loss, but does not directly address it, instead considering the distance and spaces between people and places, time and everything between what we know and what we feel. We spoke … Continue reading The Studios 2018: An Interview with T. Sasitharan (I am trying to say something true)

The Studios 2018: In The Silence of Your Heart (Review)

Kaylene Tan encapsulates the art of living in the in between in an innovative, sensory experience.  The term ‘between living and dying’ can be interpreted in a great many ways. You could  literally be on the brink of death, fully paralysed and barely breathing, yet still completely alive. Perhaps you’re already dead and gone, but your spirit and memories linger on in the space and … Continue reading The Studios 2018: In The Silence of Your Heart (Review)

The Curious Incident of the Dog In The Night-Time: An Interview with Joshua Jenkins

In the National Theatre’s stellar touring production of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, actor Joshua Jenkins leads the cast as fifteen year old Christopher Boone. A graduate from the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, Joshua’s role as “a mathematician with some behavioural difficulties” is both physically and emotionally demanding, and an unusual one amongst theatre protagonists in that his character … Continue reading The Curious Incident of the Dog In The Night-Time: An Interview with Joshua Jenkins

The Studios 2018: An Interview with Kaylene Tan (In The Silence of Your Heart)

For the second show of Esplanade’s 2018 season of the Studios, spell#7 co-founder and co-artistic director Kaylene Tan returns to Singapore to direct an all new production titled In the Silence of Your Heart. Like Kaylene’s previous works, In The Silence of Your Heart offers an alternative theatre experience, as she subverts and plays with the idea of a monologue. Utilising in-ear audio recordings, audiences become privy … Continue reading The Studios 2018: An Interview with Kaylene Tan (In The Silence of Your Heart)

Ugly In The Morning: 3 Or More If You Can Afford It

It’s a quarter past 11 on a Saturday night and we’re seated on a couch, watching the beautiful chaos that is Ugly In The Morning unfold before us in a small studio at Upper Thomson – drummer Joseph Saleem is running in and out with his ear clasped to the phone, offering us some durian on his way out, and we hear guitarist Noel Ong slightly … Continue reading Ugly In The Morning: 3 Or More If You Can Afford It