Since its inception in 2008, Jean Tay’s Boom has become a seminal text keenly representing our country’s insatiable thirst for fancy new things and our forgotten heritage, told through the parallel stories of a property agent and his mother, and a civil servant and a literal unidentified corpse. Weaving in Hokkien with English, past with present, and a touch of magical realism, Boom is a poignant, powerful work that … Continue reading Review: Boom by (aside)
Staging new scripts can be daunting, and even more so when these scripts mark their writers’ stage debuts. But in The Second Breakfast Company’s second outing, they’re going big and presenting an ambitious double bill of two completely new plays, both of which tackle mature topics beyond their young writers’ ages, and are promising starts should they choose to continue down this route in the future. The … Continue reading Review: Lemmings and The Wedding Pig by The Second Breakfast Company
There’s always something innately exciting about watching a collaborative devised work. Providing fertile ground for seeding new ideas and pushing collaborators beyond their creative comfort zones, there was plenty of hype surrounding The Necessary Stage’s latest collaboration, this time with young Japanese theatre company HANCHU-YUEI with their newest work: Sanctuary. Ending off their 30th Anniversary season with Sanctuary in many ways feels appropriate for TNS. The eponymous title … Continue reading Review: Sanctuary by The Necessary Stage and HANCHU-YUEI
Benjamin Millepied’s L.A. Dance Project presented at Esplanade’s da:ns Festival was a riveting performance of perfection, and left audiences in awe throughout the 80 minute show. The show opened with a sequence of three duets from the documentary A Dancer’s world: Martha Graham. Performed on a bare stage, the no-frills presentation of the dance brought the audience’s attention to the detail and shape of the dancers’ bodies, emphasizing the sharp lines … Continue reading da:ns Festival 2017: Benjamin Millepied’s L.A. Dance Project (Review)
It’s 2017, and witch hunting is still alive and well. At least, in certain parts of South Africa. In her debut feature film, Wales based writer/director Rungano Nyoni explores the unusual topic of witch hunting with a deft hand, wry humour and surreal shots of Zambia. Opening with a scene of tourists visiting a ‘witch camp’, snapping photos and kids pointing excitedly at the seated … Continue reading Perspectives Film Festival 2017: I Am Not A Witch dir. Rungano Nyoni (2017)
This Halloween, prepare yourselves for a film that’s straight out of The X-Files. There’s a strange combination of ghoulish pleasure and horror as we witness a woman screaming in agony in the opening scenes of Liberami. As a wizened old priest touches her forehead, she lets loose a primal howl of pure pain, gnashing her teeth and growling like a feral animal. It’s precisely the sort of … Continue reading Review: Deliver Us (Liberami) dir. Federica di Giacomo
What a weekend blast! Urban Ventures returned to the street scene with an electrifying 7th edition of their street party! Themed Express Yourself, the party ran from 4pm – 1030pm along Keng Saik Road, and there was plenty of fun to be had for hours on end amidst the dozens of flea market stalls, creative writers and live music. Although initially slow, an increasing number of visitors … Continue reading Review: Urban Ventures Street Party 7 – Express Yourself
The inaugural Asian Youth Theatre Festival kicked off at *SCAPE on Friday, and we sat through FIVE of the ten short, one act plays that were presented at the festival today! Tasked to perform plays that riffed on themes of cultural identity, these youth groups from both the international theatre scene and Singapore certainly delivered on the theme, some more successfully than others, and proved … Continue reading Review: Asian Youth Theatre Festival Day 1
Mental illness has long been the subject of fascination in theatre. From depression to obsession, theatremakers have consistently been attempting to find the best way to sensitively represent mental issues onstage. Perhaps then, Ramesh Meyyappan has stumbled upon something truly special in attempting to weave in an element of (dark) comedy and his signature style of physical theatre to give the issue a new, accessible … Continue reading Review: Off Kilter by Ramesh Meyyappan (Presented by Theatreworks)
If you ever needed proof that Hogwarts is a real place, then look no further than Neasa ni Chianain and David Rane’s School Life. Only instead of spells being slung back and forth, this Irish boarding school lays claim to enchantment of a different kind: the magic of education. In School Life, viewers are introduced to senior teachers and couple John and Amanda, teaching legends who’re absolute favourites … Continue reading Review: School Life dir. Neasa ni Chianain and David Rane
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