Huayi Festival 2019: Painted Skin by Singapore Chinese Orchestra (Review)

Western meets Chinese opera in a spectacle to remember. Inspired by the short story of the same name from Pu Songling’s Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio (Liaozhai Ziyi), the Singapore Chinese Opera adapts Painted Skin for the stage as a 100 minute opera in concert. The classic tale follows a Chinese scholar when he comes across a beautiful woman crying in the rain, giving her an … Continue reading Huayi Festival 2019: Painted Skin by Singapore Chinese Orchestra (Review)

Huayi Festival 2019: Love Letters by The Nonsensemakers/Nelson Chia & Mia Chee (Review)

Two melodramatic lives, their destinies intertwined by a flurry of love letters. It’s one thing to be married, or married to your job, but quite another to be married to someone who runs a company with you. Such is the case for both The Nonsensemakers (Hong Kong) and Nine Years Theatre (Singapore), run by partners Rensen Chan and Jo Ngai, and Nelson Chia and Mia … Continue reading Huayi Festival 2019: Love Letters by The Nonsensemakers/Nelson Chia & Mia Chee (Review)

Huayi Festival 2019: That Which Cannot Be Divided (无法被整除) by Bulareyaung Pagarlava & Albert Tiong (Review)

United we stand, divided we fall. Inspired by the concept of prime numbers – numbers indivisible by anything other than themselves and 1 and with no immediately apparent pattern, former Cloud Gate Dance Theatre members Bulareyaung Pagarlava (Taiwan) and Albert Tiong (Singapore) each choreographed a work attempting to unravel the mysteries behind them, showcasing how they may have more application to daily life than we … Continue reading Huayi Festival 2019: That Which Cannot Be Divided (无法被整除) by Bulareyaung Pagarlava & Albert Tiong (Review)

Huayi Festival 2019: The Way of Zhuang Zi (庄子兵法) by Story Works (Review)

Nerve wracking thriller of a play that keeps you guessing every step of the way. Happiness is the absence of striving for happiness. I do not know whether I was then a man dreaming I was a butterfly, or whether I am now a butterfly dreaming I am a man. Of the many Chinese philosophers we grew up learning from our scholar of a Chinese teacher … Continue reading Huayi Festival 2019: The Way of Zhuang Zi (庄子兵法) by Story Works (Review)

Huayi Festival 2019: FOUR FOUR EIGHT (四四八) by Emergency Stairs (Review)

Warning: This review may contain spoilers Journey to the centre of the self…and Liu Xiaoyi. Over the years, Emergency Stairs Artistic Director Liu Xiaoyi has made it abundantly clear that the work he puts out staunchly refuses to conform to theatrical standards, having created work that subverts the norm, be it a piece of anti-theatre deliberately attempting to crush audience expectations or even performing in unusual … Continue reading Huayi Festival 2019: FOUR FOUR EIGHT (四四八) by Emergency Stairs (Review)

Huayi Festival 2019: Dear John by M.O.V.E. Theatre (Review)

A musical soundscape through unorthodox means. When John Cage’s controversial 4’33 premiered in 1952, never might the avant-garde composer have imagined the sheer impact he might have had in the field of music theory. Infamous for being four minutes and thirty three seconds of ‘silence’ as an orchestra stands still onstage, the work reflects Cage’s interests in Zen Buddhism, and his magnum opus epitomizing the theory … Continue reading Huayi Festival 2019: Dear John by M.O.V.E. Theatre (Review)

Huayi Festival 2019: The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark by Li Liuyi Theatre Studio (Review)

Tragedy seems written in the stars in this lengthy production as the cosmos themselves bid our sweet prince goodnight.  Ranking among Shakespeare’s best works, it’s little surprise that Hamlet has seen countless productions and interpretations over the centuries. Opening the Esplanade’s Huayi Festival 2019, director Li Liuyi’s latest production of the piece sees the moody protagonist played by film star Hu Jun (Red Cliff, East Palace West Palace), … Continue reading Huayi Festival 2019: The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark by Li Liuyi Theatre Studio (Review)

Preview: Esplanade presents Huayi Festival 2019

There’s already plenty to get excited about for the 2019’s arts season! Esplanade – Theatres by the Bay, has launched their 2019 Huayi – Chinese Festival of Arts lineup, and we couldn’t be more excited for this 17th edition. Taking place from 15th to 24th February 2019, Huayi 2019 builds on the success of last year’s five new commissioned works, working together with both local … Continue reading Preview: Esplanade presents Huayi Festival 2019

Huayi 2018: Einstein In The Carpark (爱因与斯坦) by Emergency Stairs (Review)

Liu Xiaoyi, in his director’s message for Einstein in the Carpark, poses to the late renowned theoretical physicist Albert Einstein a litany of 33 questions, among them such pithy existential ones as: “What do you think is the most important question of all?” “How do I find simplicity in confusion?” “Why do so many people know you, but so few people understand you?” This thought … Continue reading Huayi 2018: Einstein In The Carpark (爱因与斯坦) by Emergency Stairs (Review)

Huayi 2018: Why We Chat? (聊斋) by Edward Lam Dance Theatre (Review)

Finding love in a hopeless place, with a side of ghosts, graves and a long list of ex-lovers. In Why We Chat?, director Edward Lam and writer Wong Wing Sze reimagine Pu Songling’s classic Strange Tales From A Chinese Studio (聊斋志异) for the times, taking inspiration from its supernatural themes and crafting an all new story about the contemporary horrors of feeling completely, utterly alone within the modern … Continue reading Huayi 2018: Why We Chat? (聊斋) by Edward Lam Dance Theatre (Review)