GEORGE TOWN, PENANG – Taking place over 10 days from 19th to 28th July 2024, the 15th iteration of George Town Festival (GTF) is set to take the iconic festival in a brand new direction. Organised by Kerson Media Global Sdn Bhd, GTF 2024 takes on the theme ‘Here & Now’, and invites all to embark on a journey of reflection and reimagination into George … Continue reading Preview: George Town Festival 2024 – Here & Now
Bringing this year’s cont·act Contemporary Dance Festival to a close is Elusive — a double bill by T.H.E Dance Company. Playing at the DBS Foundation Outdoor Theatre, the work comprises two brand new choreographies from acclaimed international artists. The first of these is Chorales by Kim Jae Duk (South Korea), who is also T.H.E’s Resident Choreographer. Chorales focuses on Kim’s perspective of the body and its beauty, while … Continue reading Preview: Elusive — a double bill by T.H.E Dance Company
Back in 2018, new theatre company Autopoetics, founded by Chelsea Crothers, Laura Hayes and Maiya Murphy, made their professional stage debut as a company with original script Provenance, showing off core tents of what the company stood for – rich visuals, a tight script, and powerful physical theatre. Six years on, and the company are back with another new work, this time focusing on the … Continue reading Preview: no there there by Autopoetics
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
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
‘Toxic’ may be one of the many buzzwords of this generation, but it’s certainly not a new concept, one that can apply to relationships and people dating back decades and beyond. One of the most significant examples of that in theatre is none other than Edward Albee’s 1962 play Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, which examines the interactions and exchanges between two couples over a … Continue reading Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?: An Interview with star Pinky Amador and director Timothy Koh on staging Edward Albee’s magnum opus
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
Glimmers of terrible beauty amidst a savage, age-old battle of man versus nature. The beauty of a novel like Moby Dick has always lain in how open to interpretation it is, where everything from the tumult of the sea, to the conversations between crewmates, to the chase for the elusive white whale itself becomes a metaphor for whatever one might be going through in life … Continue reading ★★★★☆ Review: Moby Dick by Plexus Polaire (SIFA 2024)
Ekamatra’s take on Nusantara classic emphasises modern sensibilities and brings joy to the stage. If it’s one thing Teater Ekamatra knows how to do best, it’s to produce theatre that knows exactly what it wants to achieve and the emotions it hopes to evoke in its audiences. In its latest, sold out production, the powerhouse local theatre company adapts the classic Nusantara folktale of Bawang … Continue reading ★★★★★ Review: Bawang Putih Bawang Merah by Teater Ekamatra
“Only connect the prose and the passion, and both will be exalted, and human love will be seen at its height.” Such was the way English author E.M. Forster wrote of the importance of using both head and heart in Howard’s End, to connect both critical thought and deep emotion that we can achieve the full potential of humanity itself. Inspired by this quote and … Continue reading SIFA 2024: An Interview with director Haresh Sharma and playwright Chong Tze Chien on Forster-inspired ‘The Prose and the Passion’
