Film Fanatic: Award-winning Actress Zhou Dongyu and Local Director Anthony Chen in Singapore for new movie ‘The Breaking Ice’

Award-winning leading actress Zhou Dongyu, together with award-winning local director Anthony Chen, will be in Singapore at Marina Bay Sands this Sunday to promote their latest movie – The Breaking Ice. At the age of 20, Zhou Dongyu was scouted and cast in reputable director Zhang Yimou’s UNDER THE HAWTHORN TREE 《山楂树之恋》 and has since built a successful acting career. She has won multiple acting awards from her previous feature films including SOUL MATE 《七月与安生》, THIS IS … Continue reading Film Fanatic: Award-winning Actress Zhou Dongyu and Local Director Anthony Chen in Singapore for new movie ‘The Breaking Ice’

★★★★★ Review: Mosaic by Esplanade – Theatres on the Bay (The Studios 2023)

Letting go means learning to leave things in the past. In a small island nation like Singapore, land scarcity has always been an issue, leading to landscapes of constant scaffolding and roadworks to tear down older buildings and built heritage to make way for newer, modern spaces. Often, it seems that there is no time for looking back, only the constant banging of bulldozers as … Continue reading ★★★★★ Review: Mosaic by Esplanade – Theatres on the Bay (The Studios 2023)

Preview: SMU Arts Festival 2023 – POST

Every ending is a new beginning. But what comes after, in the ‘post’? Returning for 6 weeks from 18th August to 24th September, the annual SMU Arts Fest is back to explore the uncertain future with POST. Set against the backdrop of a post-Covid world and what some call the beginning of a post-human era, POST will feature a series of artistic and creative programmes … Continue reading Preview: SMU Arts Festival 2023 – POST

Esplanade’s The Studios 2023: An Interview with director Tan Shou Chen and playwright Joel Tan on ‘Mosaic’

Built in 1979, the iconic Toa Payoh Dragon Playground and its brethren have long been a part of millennials’ memories growing up, eventually becoming key landmarks and cultural symbols in Singapore. Unfortunately, due to safety concerns, many of the other dragons have since been demolished, leaving the Toa Payoh Dragon Playground one of the few still standing, even amidst en bloc redevelopment of the flats … Continue reading Esplanade’s The Studios 2023: An Interview with director Tan Shou Chen and playwright Joel Tan on ‘Mosaic’

Preview: Singapore Night Festival 2023 – Singapore, The Great Port City

700 years ago, the Bugis were among the first settlers to arrive in Singapore to trade which established the street as Bugis Town. Since its founding years, Bugis Town has been extended to the present Bras Basah.Bugis (BBB) precinct which will soon come alive with tales and histories of the past at the Singapore Night Festival (SNF) 2023 connecting stories of Singapore’s beginnings as a trading port with contemporary experiences for … Continue reading Preview: Singapore Night Festival 2023 – Singapore, The Great Port City

★★★★★ Review: Three Years In The Life and Death of Land by The Necessary Stage

Fever dream portrayal of a family in the pursuit of happiness and finding a place in the world. All around us, the cost of living is ever-increasing. For the modern Singaporean person, purchasing and owning any kind of property feels like a far-flung dream, with many resigning themselves to the fact that we’ll likely still be staying with our parents for some time yet. Such … Continue reading ★★★★★ Review: Three Years In The Life and Death of Land by The Necessary Stage

★★★☆☆ Review: Out of the Blue by Silke Huysmans and Hannes Dereere (The Studios 2023)

The more you know, the more fragile things seem to be. “We know more about the surface of the moon than we do about the bottom of the ocean.” That’s the now cliché, but still very true line you’ll hear in almost every documentary about the vast blue sea, and all the mystery that lies beneath it. But in ending off their Mining Trilogy docu-theatre … Continue reading ★★★☆☆ Review: Out of the Blue by Silke Huysmans and Hannes Dereere (The Studios 2023)

★★★★☆ Review: Pleasant Island by Silke Huysmans and Hannes Dereere (The Studios 2023)

A modern parable of man’s insatiable greed and the destruction left in its wake. Marking the second part of their Mining Trilogy series, Pleasant Island turns theatremakers Silke Huysmans and Hannes Dereere’s attention to the tiny island republic of Nauru. Surrounded entirely by water in the middle of Micronesia, Nauru’s fascinating history makes for a riveting case study, literally once being the richest island in … Continue reading ★★★★☆ Review: Pleasant Island by Silke Huysmans and Hannes Dereere (The Studios 2023)

★★★☆☆ Review: Mining Stories by Silke Huysmans and Hannes Dereere (The Studios 2023)

It’s always good to look at the story from a different perspective. The truth is rarely pure and never simple, and often, it takes a medley of voices and points of view to get the full picture. Particularly when living in an internet age, where perspectives are often skewed and we live in echo chambers, it becomes more important than ever to consider events with … Continue reading ★★★☆☆ Review: Mining Stories by Silke Huysmans and Hannes Dereere (The Studios 2023)

Esplanade’s The Studios 2023: An Interview with assistant director Deonn Yang, and the cast of The Necessary Stage’s ‘Three Years In The Life and Death of Land’

Dysfunctional families are a staple in theatre and film, and are often the basis for tension, conflict, and understanding differences. In The Necessary Stage’s (TNS) Three Years In The Life and Death of Land, past pain and trauma are what threaten to tear a multiracial family apart. But in many ways, isn’t that precisely the struggle of the average Singaporean family, as they do whatever … Continue reading Esplanade’s The Studios 2023: An Interview with assistant director Deonn Yang, and the cast of The Necessary Stage’s ‘Three Years In The Life and Death of Land’