Music: Meet the Singapore Symphony Orchestra’s newest musicians Bryan Chong, Martin Peh and Reina Teo

In the hearts of many young Singaporean musicians, performing with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra (SSO) is an aspiration that begins long before they step onto the concert stage. For Bryan Chong, Martin Peh and Reina Teo, that aspiration has now become reality. Horn player Bryan joined in September 2025 after years of performing alongside the SSO as a freelance musician. Violinist Martin joined full time … Continue reading Music: Meet the Singapore Symphony Orchestra’s newest musicians Bryan Chong, Martin Peh and Reina Teo

An interview with artistic director Shaza Ishak and actress Serene Chen on the complexity and social fault lines laid bare in Teater Ekamatra’s revival ‘Charged’

When Charged premiered in 2010, it did something few Singapore plays had dared to do back then. Set over a single night in an army camp during Chinese New Year, Chong Tze Chien’s drama placed one of Singapore’s most enduring fault lines of race within one of its most sacred institutions. The Singapore Armed Forces has long been imagined as a crucible of nation-building, a … Continue reading An interview with artistic director Shaza Ishak and actress Serene Chen on the complexity and social fault lines laid bare in Teater Ekamatra’s revival ‘Charged’

Esplanade’s The Studios 2026: An Interview with Mark Teh on retelling legends of national heroes in Five Arts Centre’s ‘Fragments of Tuah’

Hang Tuah has occupied a singular place in the Malaysian imagination for centuries. The legendary warrior appears in school textbooks, literature, films and political speeches, often held up as the embodiment of loyalty, courage and duty. It is precisely because he is so deeply embedded in the national consciousness that theatre-maker Mark Teh never imagined he would make a work about him. “He’s a mythic … Continue reading Esplanade’s The Studios 2026: An Interview with Mark Teh on retelling legends of national heroes in Five Arts Centre’s ‘Fragments of Tuah’

Turning Audiences Into Accomplices: An Interview with director Tracie Pang, and cast members Coco Wang Ling and Ghafir Akbar on Pangdemonium’s ‘A Mirror’

“It wasn’t intentional that A Mirror was chosen for our final season,” says director and Pangdemonium founder and co-artistic director Tracie Pang. “We had already programmed the season before the decision was made that it would be Pangdemonium’s last. We had maybe five shows planned and moving forward, and then it became a question of which of those we would keep and which we would … Continue reading Turning Audiences Into Accomplices: An Interview with director Tracie Pang, and cast members Coco Wang Ling and Ghafir Akbar on Pangdemonium’s ‘A Mirror’

da:ns focus: An Interview with Kevin O’Hare, Director of the Royal Ballet, on legacy, live performance and reinvention

For Kevin O’Hare, director of The Royal Ballet, the long-awaited return of the world class British ballet company to Singapore this June goes far beyond just another international stop on a touring calendar. More than two decades have passed since the company last performed here, and the scale of The Royal Ballet Gala, part of the Esplanade – Theatres on the Bay’s da:ns focus – … Continue reading da:ns focus: An Interview with Kevin O’Hare, Director of the Royal Ballet, on legacy, live performance and reinvention

Flipside 2026: An interview with Guy Waerenburgh on risk, absurdity and the thrill of unpredictability in ‘Der Lauf (The Way Things Go)’

Contemporary circus rarely sits still, but Der Lauf (The Way Things Go) thrives in a state of beautiful collapse. Created by Belgian juggler and performer Guy Waerenburgh, the internationally acclaimed production transforms juggling into something far stranger and more theatrical: part cabaret, part endurance test, part social experiment. Blindfolded performers navigate towering stacks of wine glasses, spinning plates, flying buckets and razor-sharp knives, while the … Continue reading Flipside 2026: An interview with Guy Waerenburgh on risk, absurdity and the thrill of unpredictability in ‘Der Lauf (The Way Things Go)’

Flipside 2026: Lachlan Binns on how ‘A Simple Space’ celebrates human connection, trust, and play

When A Simple Space first premiered in 2013, contemporary circus was undergoing a global shift. Traditional big-top spectacles and variety-style performances were still dominant, shaped in part by the influence of companies like Cirque du Soleil, with their elaborate staging, narrative framing, and theatrical spectacle. But for co-creator and performer Lachlan Binns, the goal was to go in the opposite direction. “We made the show … Continue reading Flipside 2026: Lachlan Binns on how ‘A Simple Space’ celebrates human connection, trust, and play

SIFA 2026: Lush Life – An interview with director Ong Keng Sen on making art out of life and legacy

Before streaming platforms, before bedroom recordings, and before Singapore had any real infrastructure for popular music, there were artists like Jacintha Abisheganaden and Dick Lee, figures who carved out creative lives with few precedents and even fewer guarantees. Their songs, relationships and artistic decisions did not just define their own careers; they helped shape what it meant to be a musician in Singapore at all. … Continue reading SIFA 2026: Lush Life – An interview with director Ong Keng Sen on making art out of life and legacy

SIFA 2026: Planet [wanderer] – An interview with choreographer Damien Jalet and scenographer Kohei Nawa in search of the body’s place in the world

Strange and bewitching, Planet [wanderer] is a rare theatre production that unfolds like a dream one cannot quite hold onto. Created by choreographer Damien Jalet and visual artist Kohei Nawa, the work brings eight dancers into a shifting terrain of textures and matter, where bodies bend, sway, and reorganise themselves like reeds in the wind, caught in a fragile balance between “power and vulnerability, harmony … Continue reading SIFA 2026: Planet [wanderer] – An interview with choreographer Damien Jalet and scenographer Kohei Nawa in search of the body’s place in the world

SIFA 2026: Hedda Gabler – An interview with director Park Jung Hee on Henrik Ibsen’s universal cultural resonance

Few characters in modern theatre are as enduringly enigmatic as Hedda Gabler, a figure suspended between control and chaos, desire and restraint. In this latest staging by Park Jung-hee, Artistic Director of the National Theater Company of Korea, the question is not how to modernise Hedda Gabler, but how to encounter it anew. Rather than imposing a contemporary veneer, Park approaches the work as a … Continue reading SIFA 2026: Hedda Gabler – An interview with director Park Jung Hee on Henrik Ibsen’s universal cultural resonance