★★★★☆ Review: Demon States by The Observatory (SIFA 2021)

Futurist cyberpunk hellscapes to accompany new songs from The Observatory. Presented as part of the 2021 Singapore International Festival of Arts (SIFA), Demon States is one of this edition’s most unique offerings yet. Produced by The Observatory, the immersive mixed reality experience acts as a preview for the local band’s upcoming album with Koichi Shimizu, and combines their music with set design by Irfan Kasban, … Continue reading ★★★★☆ Review: Demon States by The Observatory (SIFA 2021)

★★★★☆ Review: A Thousand Ways by 600 Highwaymen (SIFA 2021)

Learning to connect again in three parts. After a year of the pandemic, watching dramatic readings on Zoom and pre-recorded archival footage, audience members are hungry for one thing – engagement. And one of the most effective ways of doing that is turning the tables and transforming the audience into the artist. In a way, that’s what 600 Highwaymen have done in A Thousand Ways, … Continue reading ★★★★☆ Review: A Thousand Ways by 600 Highwaymen (SIFA 2021)

★★☆☆☆ Review: Unsolicited Advice From My Ex – A Double Bill by Bored Whale Theatre

Surreal explorations of friendship and self. They say hindsight is 20/20, but no one ever likes to hear someone else tell them ‘I told you so’. Even worse when that person was someone you fell out with, something new theatre company Bored Whale Theatre tackles in their debut production Unsolicited Advice From My Ex, a double bill of new work written and directed by Wisely … Continue reading ★★☆☆☆ Review: Unsolicited Advice From My Ex – A Double Bill by Bored Whale Theatre

Review: Pán 盤 by T.H.E. Dance Company

Using dance to present the converging of cultures and our shared beliefs. Pan, or ‘盤’ is a word that appears across various Asian cultures and vocabularies, from Mandarin to Korean, Japanese to Vietnamese. While its Mandarin character takes inspiration from the Chinese creation myth of the giant ‘Pangu’, the romanized ‘pán’ also holds a variety of meanings, from a serving bowl, to the crouched intensity of … Continue reading Review: Pán 盤 by T.H.E. Dance Company

★★★☆☆ Book Review: The Years of Forgetting by Sofia Abdullah

It takes many moons before one can finally move on. There’s an article I was reading the other day about how a woman who was sexually abused as a child continued to carry this intense trauma inside her into her adulthood. Triggered by seeing her abuser lead a relatively happy life, with no visible guilt, that trauma manifested as an intense desire to kill not … Continue reading ★★★☆☆ Book Review: The Years of Forgetting by Sofia Abdullah

★★★★☆ Review: The Year of No Return by The Necessary Stage (SIFA 2021)

The climate is changing for the worse – so when will we change for the better? The Year of No Return is possibly one of The Necessary Stage’s (TNS) most ambitious productions yet. Bringing together an international cast, the play tackles the expansive topic of climate change and our efforts to stop it, all while dealing with the new restrictions placed on them by the … Continue reading ★★★★☆ Review: The Year of No Return by The Necessary Stage (SIFA 2021)

★★★★☆ Review: The Journey by Scott Silven (SIFA 2021)

Magical storytelling that bringing us closer online. I’m a cynic at heart, and have always known that stage magic is a matter of sleight of hand, misdirection and trickery to pull off an act. And when magic is performed via a digital medium, one cannot help but suspect its ‘authenticity’ even more, given how easy it is to manipulate videos and video feeds. But there’s … Continue reading ★★★★☆ Review: The Journey by Scott Silven (SIFA 2021)

★★★☆☆ Review: As Far As Isolation Goes by Tania El Khoury and Basel Zaara (SIFA 2021)

An encounter with a refugee opens our eyes to the human pain behind the conflict. Moving to a new home can be hard. But it’s especially hard for refugees from war-torn nations finding themselves in a strange new land, reeling from the trauma of the past, adapting to their new life, and resisting strangers’ dirty looks and the creeping fear of feeling completely, absolutely alone. … Continue reading ★★★☆☆ Review: As Far As Isolation Goes by Tania El Khoury and Basel Zaara (SIFA 2021)

★★★☆☆ Review: Three Sisters by Nine Years Theatre and SITI Company (SIFA 2021)

Cross-continent, multilingual hybrid adaptation of Chekhov a valiant effort but flawed in execution. Ideally, collaborations between arts companies should produce work that take the very best of each company’s style and elevate the final production to new heights. It is especially exciting to see cross-border collaborations, where the contrasts in artistic philosophy and culture may lead to surprising results. But collaborations are by no means … Continue reading ★★★☆☆ Review: Three Sisters by Nine Years Theatre and SITI Company (SIFA 2021)

★★★★☆ Review: Jihad Jones and the Kalashnikov Babes by HuM Theatre

How much are your morals worth? Actors have never had it easy. You can choose to be an Artist with a capital A, and continue struggling unless you miraculously become a hit. Or you can dive into the nebulous world of film, take on questionable roles and be labelled a hack or sellout. In HuM Theatre’s newest production, the local company tackles the complications of … Continue reading ★★★★☆ Review: Jihad Jones and the Kalashnikov Babes by HuM Theatre