Preview: Singapore International Festival of Arts 2025 – More Than Ever

The annual Singapore International Festival of Arts (SIFA) returns from 16 May to 1 June with the theme More Than Ever. Organised by Arts House Limited (AHL) and commissioned by the National Arts Council (NAC), this 2025 edition of Singapore’s pinnacle performing arts festival presents a dynamic line-up that spotlights Singapore’s cultural vitality and boldness in defining its present and its vision for the future. … Continue reading Preview: Singapore International Festival of Arts 2025 – More Than Ever

Esplanade’s The Studios 2024: An Interview with artist Ming Wong on music, nationalism and diplomacy in ‘Rhapsody in Yellow’

If human relationships are complicated, then geopolitical ones are manifold more, particularly when it’s between two global superpowers. Such is the nature of the rising tensions between the USA and China, who have never had an easy time navigating their complex differences, rivalry and connections, playing hot and cold. It may seem like a heavy topic, but one Singaporean artist has found inspiration in the … Continue reading Esplanade’s The Studios 2024: An Interview with artist Ming Wong on music, nationalism and diplomacy in ‘Rhapsody in Yellow’

Preview: Singapore Night Festival 2024 – Art of Play

The Singapore Night Festival (SNF) returns to the Bras Basah.Bugis (BBB) precinct for its 15th edition this year, bigger than ever! Happening from 23 August to 7 September 2024, the festival will take place over three weekends for the first time. Organised by the National Heritage Board (NHB), and supported by Lead Sponsor Samsung Singapore, Singapore’s largest nocturnal experience takes festival-goers on a journey to … Continue reading Preview: Singapore Night Festival 2024 – Art of Play

Esplanade’s The Studios 2024: An Interview with Adib Kosnan, Kok Heng Leun and Zulfadli Rashid on Drama Box’s restaging of ‘Air’

While certainly not as common as its film counterpart, documentary theatre often has the same aim of presenting accurate and factual information about an interesting subject matter, shedding light and revealing new perspectives on it. For theatre company Drama Box, they successfully pulled it off in 2019 with verbatim theatre piece Air (Malay for ‘water’), as part of a two-part double bill Tanah•Air, which shone … Continue reading Esplanade’s The Studios 2024: An Interview with Adib Kosnan, Kok Heng Leun and Zulfadli Rashid on Drama Box’s restaging of ‘Air’

★★★★★ Review: Sun & Sea by Rugilė Barzdžiukaitė, Vaiva Grainytė & Lina Lapelytė

Intrusive thoughts during a beach holiday at the end of the world. In our modern world of stresses and being constantly online, how much can we say we can truly detach ourselves from work and take a relaxing holiday? For Lithuanian artists Rugilė Barzdžiukaitė, Vaiva Grainytė and Lina Lapelytė, it seems that any vacation will be bound to be filled with intrusive thoughts, and unexpectedly, … Continue reading ★★★★★ Review: Sun & Sea by Rugilė Barzdžiukaitė, Vaiva Grainytė & Lina Lapelytė

★★★★☆ Review: REFUGE by The Observatory

Multisensory journey transporting audiences to Perak’s Lenggong Valley, in all its natural and mystical beauty. Modern Singapore rarely leaves much space or opportunity for truly connecting with nature. As much as we tout ourselves as a garden city, green spaces are often integrated into the urban landscape, rather than allowed to simply grow amok, or we lack older geological formations teeming with life. So if … Continue reading ★★★★☆ Review: REFUGE by The Observatory

Preview: Esplanade – Theatres on the Bay’s The Studios 2024 – Fault Lines

The world today is a fractured, volatile place, with rising tension, isolationism and unrest all about, whether it’s in terms of wars, the climate crisis, or simply the growing stresses of everyday living. One could even say it’s the emergence of new fault lines that seem to be increasingly determining the way we live and interact with each other – why then do we continue … Continue reading Preview: Esplanade – Theatres on the Bay’s The Studios 2024 – Fault Lines

★★★☆☆ Review: Wilful Machine by Genevieve Chua

Pondering a future of machine self-awareness, as it reflects on humanity. If machines could talk, what might they say of humans – their makers? Genevieve Chua’s new work Wilful Machine imagines and brings that to life, using a combination of architecture, multimedia and dance, as it premiered at the Singapore International Festival of Arts 2024. Situated at Artspace @ Helutrans at Tanjong Pagar Distripark, audiences … Continue reading ★★★☆☆ Review: Wilful Machine by Genevieve Chua

★★★★☆ Review: Leonardo! A Wonderful Show About A Terrible Monster by Manual Cinema

Demystifying the sorcery of cinema while capturing the magic of puppetry and animation. In a world where kids are almost constantly glued to the screen – how does one keep them entertained in the theatre? By bringing the screen to the stage of course. That is the modus operandi of American company Manual Cinema, who creates films live onstage for their audiences, and in an … Continue reading ★★★★☆ Review: Leonardo! A Wonderful Show About A Terrible Monster by Manual Cinema

★★★★☆ Review: SUARA / Oro Rua by Safuan Johari and Eddie Elliott

Unearthing the voices of a distant past. Safuan Johari is a musician and composer from Singapore. Eddie Elliott is a dancer and choreographer from New Zealand. While the two artists’ practices seem rather distant, there is a link that makes them surprisingly good collaborators with each other – their shared respect for their own cultural inheritance, and a keen interest in the land we walk … Continue reading ★★★★☆ Review: SUARA / Oro Rua by Safuan Johari and Eddie Elliott