SIFA 2018: A Dream Under The Southern Bough – The Beginning by Toy Factory (Preview)

Toy Factory is having a busy year, with back to back productions in the form of Sometime Moon and Masters of Comedy in May. In between though, they’ve managed to produce an all new contemporary work for SIFA 2018, in the form of the ambitious A Dream Under The Southern Bough. Directed by Toy Factory artistic director Goh Boon Teck, the play is a modern, contemporary adaptation of … Continue reading SIFA 2018: A Dream Under The Southern Bough – The Beginning by Toy Factory (Preview)

SIFA 2018: Robert Icke and Duncan Macmillan’s 1984 (Review)

  SIFA 2018 opens on a chilling note with this dystopian modern classic.  Considered by many to be George Orwell’s magnum opus, 1984 has become the go to model for a dystopian world, a culmination of everything we should avoid becoming at all costs. Yet this is a warning the world seems to have forgotten to heed, as the chilling reality of a society plagued by surveillance … Continue reading SIFA 2018: Robert Icke and Duncan Macmillan’s 1984 (Review)

SIFA 2018: 0600 by Ground Z-0 (Preview)

Singaporean artist Zelda Tatiana Ng has set up an all new collective, and she’s breaking new ground this April with the premiere of their maiden production: 0600 at the Singapore International Festival of the Arts. 0600 is a mixed-media performance/presentation about the death penalty in Singapore. Through multilingual text based off some of Singapore’s most infamous and grisly crimes, 0600 will have audiences tracing the history of various death penalty … Continue reading SIFA 2018: 0600 by Ground Z-0 (Preview)

SIFA 2018: Jacob Collier (Preview)

At just 23 years old, Jacob Collier has already been hailed as a musical prodigy, not to mention, is already a two-time Grammy Award winner. The multi-instrumentalist makes his local stage debut at the 2018 Singapore International Festival of the Arts at the historical Victoria Theatre this April. Although often referred to as a jazz genius, Collier’s music spans multiple genres and refuses to conform … Continue reading SIFA 2018: Jacob Collier (Preview)

SIFA 2018: Robert Icke and Duncan Macmillan’s 1984 (Preview)

George Orwell’s literary masterpice 1984 remains one of the most iconic depictions of a dystopian society. Despite being written in 1949, the book’s narrative has been shockingly prophetic, raising the idea of a society increasingly under surveillance and cults of personality. Although there’ve been several staged adaptation produced over the years, there’s none you’ll experience quite like the version by award-winning theatremakers Robert Icke and Duncan Macmillan. The … Continue reading SIFA 2018: Robert Icke and Duncan Macmillan’s 1984 (Preview)

SIFA 2018: An Interview with Festival Director Gaurav Kripalani

As the latest person to take up the mantle of Festival Director for the Singapore International Festival of the Arts (SIFA), Gaurav Kripalani has faced his fair share of criticisms and doubts. But if there’s anything to go by, the numbers don’t lie, and this year’s edition of the festival has seen overwhelmingly positive demand, with multiple sold out shows and all around enthusiasm for … Continue reading SIFA 2018: An Interview with Festival Director Gaurav Kripalani

SIFA 2018 Set For Record Crowds Under New Festival Director Gaurav Kripalani

Expect a Grammy-Award winning multi-instrumentalist, dystopian states and even an outdoor circus in the all new 2018 SIFA lineup. Taking on the role of SIFA Festival Director for the next three years, Gaurav Kripalani begins it with a strong lineup that includes acclaimed director Robert Icke’s 1984 and site-specific performances at the Armenian Church and National Gallery. SIFA 2018 looks set to bring in the masses … Continue reading SIFA 2018 Set For Record Crowds Under New Festival Director Gaurav Kripalani

SIFA 2017 Finale: Lizard On The Wall

SIFA 2017 drew to a close last Saturday with the premiere of local film director K. Rajagopal’s (A Yellow Bird) latest film: Lizard On The Wall. But the significance of the film was given far greater gravity when you realise what makes the film so special – most of the extras you see in scenes were actually members of the public who participated in the … Continue reading SIFA 2017 Finale: Lizard On The Wall

SIFA 2017: Trojan Women by Ong Keng Sen and the National Theater of Korea (Review)

One thing that can be said about SIFA Festival Director Ong Keng Sen: whenever he attempts to create a new work, he always aims high and goes all the way, resulting at the very least in an unforgettable theatrical spectacle. With Trojan Women, Ong breathes new life into a centuries old Korean art form by applying it to an ancient Greek play. Based off Euripedes’ … Continue reading SIFA 2017: Trojan Women by Ong Keng Sen and the National Theater of Korea (Review)

SIFA 2017: And So You See… Our Honourable Blue Sky And Ever Enduring Sun… Can Only Be Consumed Slice By Slice… By Robyn Orlin (Review)

South African choreographer Robyn Orlin is known in her home country as ‘a permanent irritation’. The incredibly inventive Johannesburg-born artist has constantly pushed boundaries and bent genres in her multimedia dance work, often favourably compared to the idea of ‘photo collages’, or colourful visual masterpieces that carefully and certainly uniquely address some of the most difficult and complex issues that surround her country’s history and … Continue reading SIFA 2017: And So You See… Our Honourable Blue Sky And Ever Enduring Sun… Can Only Be Consumed Slice By Slice… By Robyn Orlin (Review)