Works, Jacintha & Dick Lee (SIFA 2026)

Icon of Singapore’s music scene tells the story of her three ex-husbands through docudrama and song, in a theatrical concert that captures her verve for love, life and all it offers. There is a word Jacintha Abisheganaden uses early in Lush Life that tells you everything about what kind of evening this will be. Recounting her years performing in Hawaii, where a manager suggested she … Continue reading ★★★★★ Theatre Review: Lush Life by Ong Keng Sen / T:>Works, Jacintha & Dick Lee (SIFA 2026)

bakchormeeboyJune 4, 2026June 4, 2026Leave a comment

Arts, Circus, Comedy, festival, Review, Theatre

★★★★★ Circus Review: A Simple Space by Gravity & Other Myths (Flipside 2026)

Ingeniously simple concept that reminds us of the joy of circus, stripping is back to its essentials and delivering on a rollicking good time. When most people think of circus, they imagine massive spectacle: towering big tops, elaborate costumes, dazzling lighting rigs, and performers transformed into larger-than-life characters. Contemporary circus after all, often leans towards ever-greater scale, bigger stunts, more ambitious concepts, and increasingly elaborate … Continue reading ★★★★★ Circus Review: A Simple Space by Gravity & Other Myths (Flipside 2026)

bakchormeeboyJune 4, 2026Leave a comment

Arts, Circus, Comedy, festival, Review, Theatre

Theatre Review: Snakes and Ladders! by Dwayne Lau (Flipside 2026)

Theatrical metaphor for how life never progresses in a straight line, but we keep rolling the dice and continue moving forward amidst the ups and downs. Back in June when Snakes & Ladders premiered as a 40-minute work-in-progress at the Esplanade Concourse, it felt like a charming autobiographical cabaret searching for a stronger narrative spine. Now expanded into a full-length production for the Esplanade’s Flipside … Continue reading Theatre Review: Snakes and Ladders! by Dwayne Lau (Flipside 2026)

bakchormeeboyJune 4, 2026June 5, 2026Leave a comment

Arts, Dance with Me, festival, Review

★★★★★ Dance Review: Planet [wanderer] by Damien Jalet & Kohei Nawa (SIFA 2026)

Awe-inspiring, hypnotic dance-installation, that takes audiences on an existential odyssey through a world that’s hostile, hauntingly beautiful, and beyond our control. Some performances tell stories, but Planet [wanderer] creates a world. Surreal, unnerving, and at times profoundly unsettling, Damien Jalet and Kohei Nawa’s latest collaboration unfolds less like a dance performance than a waking dream. Playing as part of the 2026 Singapore International Festival of … Continue reading ★★★★★ Dance Review: Planet [wanderer] by Damien Jalet & Kohei Nawa (SIFA 2026)

bakchormeeboyMay 30, 2026May 30, 2026Leave a comment

Arts, festival, Review, Theatre

★★★★★ Theatre Review: Hedda Gabler by National Theater Company of Korea (SIFA 2026)

Lee Hyeyoung delivers a masterclass performance in Park Jung-hee’s hypnotic, sexually charged reimagining of Ibsen’s classic, now transformed into a suffocating psychological thriller of a K-drama. Before we see anything in the National Theater Company of Korea’s Hedda Gabler, we hear a gunshot. It tears through the darkness with such violence that the audience visibly jolts. And from that very first moment, director Park Jung-hee … Continue reading ★★★★★ Theatre Review: Hedda Gabler by National Theater Company of Korea (SIFA 2026)

bakchormeeboyMay 29, 2026May 30, 2026Leave a comment

Arts, Dance with Me, festival, Review

★★★☆☆ Dance Review: Strangely Familiar《熟悉的陌生》 by T.H.E Dance Company (SIFA 2026)

T.H.E toes the line between human and machine in this visually ambitious production, occasionally overwhelmed by technology superseding the very humanity it seeks to explore. Playing as part of the 2026 Singapore International Festival of Arts, before T.H.E Dance Company’s Strangely Familiar even begins, the world of the performance is already quietly consuming us. The soundscape hums through the theatre with an eerie, dystopian distance, … Continue reading ★★★☆☆ Dance Review: Strangely Familiar《熟悉的陌生》 by T.H.E Dance Company (SIFA 2026)

bakchormeeboyMay 29, 2026Leave a comment

Arts, Circus, Comedy, festival, Interview, Preview, Theatre

Flipside 2026: An interview with Guy Waerenburgh on risk, absurdity and the thrill of unpredictability in ‘Der Lauf (The Way Things Go)’

Contemporary circus rarely sits still, but Der Lauf (The Way Things Go) thrives in a state of beautiful collapse. Created by Belgian juggler and performer Guy Waerenburgh, the internationally acclaimed production transforms juggling into something far stranger and more theatrical: part cabaret, part endurance test, part social experiment. Blindfolded performers navigate towering stacks of wine glasses, spinning plates, flying buckets and razor-sharp knives, while the … Continue reading Flipside 2026: An interview with Guy Waerenburgh on risk, absurdity and the thrill of unpredictability in ‘Der Lauf (The Way Things Go)’

bakchormeeboyMay 27, 2026June 4, 2026Leave a comment

Arts, Circus, Comedy, festival, Interview, Preview, Theatre

Flipside 2026: Lachlan Binns on how ‘A Simple Space’ celebrates human connection, trust, and play

When A Simple Space first premiered in 2013, contemporary circus was undergoing a global shift. Traditional big-top spectacles and variety-style performances were still dominant, shaped in part by the influence of companies like Cirque du Soleil, with their elaborate staging, narrative framing, and theatrical spectacle. But for co-creator and performer Lachlan Binns, the goal was to go in the opposite direction. “We made the show … Continue reading Flipside 2026: Lachlan Binns on how ‘A Simple Space’ celebrates human connection, trust, and play

bakchormeeboyMay 27, 2026May 31, 2026Leave a comment

Arts, Circus, Comedy, festival, Preview, Theatre

Flipside 2026: An Interview with Dwayne Lau on rolling with the punches with ‘Snakes and Ladders!’

For actor and musical theatre performer Dwayne Lau, his original work Snakes & Ladders! is a way of re-living, re-framing, and re-negotiating the unpredictable shape of a life that has unfolded very much like the board game at its centre. What began as a 40-minute showcase at the Esplanade Concourse has now grown into a full 90-minute theatrical experience a year later. But for Dwayne, … Continue reading Flipside 2026: An Interview with Dwayne Lau on rolling with the punches with ‘Snakes and Ladders!’

bakchormeeboyMay 26, 2026Leave a comment

Arts, Dance with Me, festival, Interview, Preview, Theatre

SIFA 2026: Lush Life – An interview with director Ong Keng Sen on making art out of life and legacy

Before streaming platforms, before bedroom recordings, and before Singapore had any real infrastructure for popular music, there were artists like Jacintha Abisheganaden and Dick Lee, figures who carved out creative lives with few precedents and even fewer guarantees. Their songs, relationships and artistic decisions did not just define their own careers; they helped shape what it meant to be a musician in Singapore at all. … Continue reading SIFA 2026: Lush Life – An interview with director Ong Keng Sen on making art out of life and legacy