Preview: 25th Singapore International Piano Festival presented by SSO

The Singapore Symphony Orchestra is having a big celebration this year – they’re marking the 25th anniversary of the annual Singapore International Piano Festival! Helmed by Lionel Choi in his final year as artistic director, the festival returns once again to celebrate the biggest and brightest talents in piano today, and marks its silver jubilee with its grandest edition yet. This year, they’re  bringing in … Continue reading Preview: 25th Singapore International Piano Festival presented by SSO

SIFA 2018: An Enemy of the People by Schaubühne Berlin (Review)

A contemporary version of Ibsen’s play effectively brings out its newfound urgency and relevance in our crazy, messed up modern world. Henrik Ibsen’s An Enemy of the People was initially considered one of his minor works in his lifetime. But in recent years, the play has seen an increasing number of stagings and new interpretations, and come to represent a disturbingly prescient rallying cry for the uncertain, messy … Continue reading SIFA 2018: An Enemy of the People by Schaubühne Berlin (Review)

SIFA 2018: An Enemy of the People by Schaubühne Berlin (Preview)

An Enemy of the People is perhaps one of Henrik Ibsen’s most recognizable plays, following the tale of Dr Stockmann, a man who discovers that the drinking water in his spa town has been contaminated by industrial waste. A classic story of one against the mob, Stockmann finds himself under fire for attempting to reveal the inconvenient truth, and put the town’s  and the persecution he faces … Continue reading SIFA 2018: An Enemy of the People by Schaubühne Berlin (Preview)

Preview: And Suddenly I Disappear – The Singapore ‘d’ Monologues

The word ‘disabled’ has never meant anything more than ‘differently abled’ and this May, a number of award-winning artists from Singapore and the UK will prove just that  as they present the world premiere of a brand new, unique theatrical performance: And Suddenly I Disappear. Described as ‘an international theatrical dialogue of difference, disability, and what it is to be human’, And Suddenly I Disappear is inspired by … Continue reading Preview: And Suddenly I Disappear – The Singapore ‘d’ Monologues

SIFA 2018: The Blues Project by Dorrance Dance (Review)

Tap meets blues in an unlikely but effective collaboration. Is tap dance merely all show and no soul? Or is it possible that given the right music, tap can be a genre catapulted far beyond its stereotypical impression, into a form that seethes with expression and aches with emotion? Furious, rhythmic tap and slowed down, soulful blues might appear to be strange bedfellows at first, … Continue reading SIFA 2018: The Blues Project by Dorrance Dance (Review)

SIFA 2018: Octavia E. Butler’s Parable of the Sower (Review)

Afro-futurism is given a musical touch in a stirring work of speculative fiction. Toshi and Bernice Johnson Reagon’s Parable of the Sower is a genre defying work that, if it were to be summed up, would simply be a powerful musical adaptation of one of the most seminal works of Afro-futurism. Parable of the Sower was originally written as a novel by award-winning author Octavia E. Butler, and is … Continue reading SIFA 2018: Octavia E. Butler’s Parable of the Sower (Review)

SIFA 2018: OCD Love by L-E-V Dance Company (Review)

Mesmerising, muscular bodies tangle with the simultaneous pain and allure of the mental condition.  Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, or OCD for short, is characterised as a state by which a person’s mind is constantly occupied by cycles of intrusive thoughts and compulsive behaviours. It’s an invisible condition that only really becomes evident when you know someone, and is often a lifelong state an afflicted person finds … Continue reading SIFA 2018: OCD Love by L-E-V Dance Company (Review)

EUFF 2018: An Interview with Maikäfer flieg Director Mirjam Unger and Screenwriter Sandra Bohle

We’re on the 24th floor of Parkview Square at the Austrian Embassy, halfway through an interview with Mirjam Unger and Sandra Bohle, director and screenwriter of the opening film of the 2018 European Union Film Festival Maikäfer flieg (Fly Away Home), when Mirjam becomes distracted and gazes out the window at a cumulonimbus of dark clouds and the impending thunderstorm. Compelled by its savage beauty, she excuses herself … Continue reading EUFF 2018: An Interview with Maikäfer flieg Director Mirjam Unger and Screenwriter Sandra Bohle

SIFA 2018: TAHA by Amer Hlehel (Review)

Deceptively simple, Amer Hlehel puts the power of words onstage with a tour de force performance as the eponymous Palestinian poet.  How does one go through countless losses and still come out an optimist? In the eyes and life of Palestinian poet Taha Muhammad Ali (1931-2011), one will find that it is completely possible. Directed by Amir Nizar Zuabi, TAHA is a show with a simple set-up – writer … Continue reading SIFA 2018: TAHA by Amer Hlehel (Review)

SIFA 2018: The Blues Project by Dorrance Dance (Preview)

Created by an all-star creative team consisting of tap dance extraordinaire Michelle Dorrance, acclaimed choreographer Derick K. Grant, genre-busting musician Toshi Reagon, and tap dance maestress Dormeshia Sumbry-Edwards, The Blues Project sees tap dancing break into the modern world set to emotive blues in an explosive fusion of American themes and styles. A multi-genre, multi-medium style performance, The Blues Project unites original live music with raw emotion and dance … Continue reading SIFA 2018: The Blues Project by Dorrance Dance (Preview)