SIFA 2026: Hamlet – An interview with director Chela De Ferrari on inclusivity and who deserves to be seen onstage

At the heart of Hamlet lies one of the most enduring questions in Western theatre: who has the right to exist, to speak, to be seen. In her radical reimagining of the play, Peruvian director Chela De Ferrari shifts that question off the page and into the bodies of her performers: actors with Down syndrome who take centre stage in a work that refuses both … Continue reading SIFA 2026: Hamlet – An interview with director Chela De Ferrari on inclusivity and who deserves to be seen onstage

★★★★★ Theatre Review: Salesman之死 by Jeremy Tiang and Danny Yeo (SIFA 2026)

A love letter to theatre, translation, and humanity itself. Salesman之死 understands that sometimes the hardest thing to translate is not language; it’s culture, emotion, and perspective. Even someone like Miller, a playwright of immense stature, struggles to grasp even a fraction of the Chinese dialogue — a quiet but telling reminder of how language itself resists ownership, even by those who write it. This becomes … Continue reading ★★★★★ Theatre Review: Salesman之死 by Jeremy Tiang and Danny Yeo (SIFA 2026)

★★★☆☆ Theatre Review: Master White Dragon 白龙王子  by Toy Factory

A distinctly Singaporean fable about about faith and modern spirituality that buries its strongest ideas beneath flat humour and an ending that feels rushed. Few recent local productions have started with a premise as immediately striking as Toy Factory’s Master White Dragon: an ah beng mistaken for the reincarnation of a temple deity, caught between street hustling, spiritual performance and a journalist intent on exposing … Continue reading ★★★☆☆ Theatre Review: Master White Dragon 白龙王子  by Toy Factory

SIFA 2026: Makan Culture – An interview with playwright Jo Tan and director Krish Natarajan on makan, mayhem and making meaning

What happens when theatre stops asking audiences to sit still and instead invites them to eat, speak, and play? At the festival village of the 2026 Singapore International Festival of Arts, new experience Makan Culture unfolds as a lively, unpredictable encounter that sits somewhere between performance and gathering. Created by Jo Tan and directed by Krish Natarajan, the work brings together music, puppetry, and audience … Continue reading SIFA 2026: Makan Culture – An interview with playwright Jo Tan and director Krish Natarajan on makan, mayhem and making meaning

SIFA 2026: Tempo – An interview with choreographer Fernando Melo on twisting and turning time through dance and illusion

Time slips, stretches, and occasionally seems to stand still in Tempo, a dreamlike work presented at the Singapore International Festival of Arts. In this collaboration between director Kalle Nio and choreographer Fernando Melo, falling bodies hover mid-air, actions reverse, and the ordinary becomes quietly uncanny. Rather than treating illusion as spectacle, Melo approaches it as a byproduct of attention, of bodies, space, and time aligning … Continue reading SIFA 2026: Tempo – An interview with choreographer Fernando Melo on twisting and turning time through dance and illusion

SIFA 2026: The Lighthouse – An interview with Patch Theatre artistic director Geoff Cobham on light and children’s theatre

In The Lighthouse, light isn’t something you simply watch, but something you step into. Created by Geoff Cobham for Patch Theatre, the work invites audiences, both young and the young-at-heart, to move through a glowing landscape of shifting rooms, reflections, and surprises, where curiosity leads the way. Presented as part of the 2026 Singapore International Festival of Arts, this immersive experience rethinks what theatre for … Continue reading SIFA 2026: The Lighthouse – An interview with Patch Theatre artistic director Geoff Cobham on light and children’s theatre

SIFA 2026: Salesman之死 – An interview with director Danny Yeo on translating and adapting Arthur Miller

In the spring of 1983, despite not speaking a word of Mandarin, Arthur Miller travelled to Beijing to direct Death of a Salesman with an all-Chinese cast. The encounter, later documented in his memoir Salesman in Beijing, has since become a touchstone of cross-cultural theatre-making. More than two decades later, that improbable collaboration now finds new life in Salesman之死, a multilingual, documentary-inflected work that traces … Continue reading SIFA 2026: Salesman之死 – An interview with director Danny Yeo on translating and adapting Arthur Miller

Preview: Scaredy Kat Presents by Gateway Arts

There’s something quietly powerful about watching your fears play out in front of you—especially when they’re wrapped in story, light, and imagination. This May, Singapore audiences will get exactly that with Scaredy Kat Presents, a new youth theatre production by Gateway Arts. But this isn’t just another stage show, it’s an immersive, multimedia experience that transforms anxiety into something tangible, and ultimately, something hopeful. Inspired … Continue reading Preview: Scaredy Kat Presents by Gateway Arts

Preview: cont·act Dance Festival 2026 (16th edition)

This June, Singapore’s dance calendar welcomes back one of its most transformative festivals, with the 16th edition of cont·act Dance Festival, now with a refreshed identity, a bold international lineup, and an invitation to experience dance beyond categories. Running from 8 to 28 June 2026, the festival unfolds across the iconic Esplanade – Theatres on the Bay and other creative spaces, bringing together artists from … Continue reading Preview: cont·act Dance Festival 2026 (16th edition)

Preview: Flipside 2026 by Esplanade – Theatres on the Bay

Presented by Esplanade – Theatres on the Bay, Flipside 2026 returns from 29 May to 7 June as a bold celebration of risk, play and artistic daring. Known for its vibrant mix of circus, physical theatre, puppetry and comedy, the festival invites audiences into a space where uncertainty becomes part of the experience and the thrill. Flipside has always been a festival built on the … Continue reading Preview: Flipside 2026 by Esplanade – Theatres on the Bay