Review: 7 Sages of the Bamboo Grove 竹林七贤 by Toy Factory (Huayi 2020)

★★★☆☆ (Performance attended 31/1/20) Allegorical tale of a dystopian surveillance state preaches the value of the arts, but loses itself in a myriad of subplots along the way. During the rule of the Three Kingdoms, the seven sages of the bamboo grove were a group of scholars and artists who chose to counter the bureaucracies and corruption of the time in the only way they knew … Continue reading Review: 7 Sages of the Bamboo Grove 竹林七贤 by Toy Factory (Huayi 2020)

Review: Prism of Truth 眾相 by Ground Z-0 (Huayi 2020)

★★★☆☆ (Performance attended 31/1/20) Modern rework of Rashomon allows audience to play jury in a multimedia social experiment.  In the field of conspiracy theory, so long as a claim cannot be disproven, the possibility of it being true exists, allowing the idea of multiple relative ‘truths’ to exist simultaneously without conforming to an absolute. Perhaps one of the earliest versions of this comes in the form … Continue reading Review: Prism of Truth 眾相 by Ground Z-0 (Huayi 2020)

Music Is: SSO Babies’ Proms by the Singapore Symphony Orchestra (Preview)

Join presenter William Ledbetter and conductor Tianyi Lu for the annual SSO Babies’ Proms. Over four performances on Saturday 23rd and Sunday 24th May (2pm & 4pm), William, Tianyi and the SSO will take the audience on a fun and fantastical journey of discovery for parents and children. The hour-long concert is aimed at children aged 6 and below and will include classical works by … Continue reading Music Is: SSO Babies’ Proms by the Singapore Symphony Orchestra (Preview)

Preview: Fika & Fishy by Patch and Punnet

Local theatre company Patch and Punnet rings in 2020 with a brand new show, following their two productions of their original work The Adventures of Abhijeet  in 2019. Now under W!ld Rice’s inaugural Company-in-Residence programme, the fledgling collective has been enjoying free access to rehearsal space, dramaturgical support and arts management advice since August 2019. All of this has resulted in the upcoming Fika & Fishy, their first … Continue reading Preview: Fika & Fishy by Patch and Punnet

Music Is: VCHpresents Baroque Festival – Orpheus of Rome by the Singapore Symphony Orchestra (Preview)

This April, the Singapore Symphony Orchestra celebrates a golden age of music: the Baroque era. Leader of the famous Academy of Ancient Music, Bojan Cicic, directs this year’s Baroque Festival, which takes place on 11th and 12th April. Across two concerts he and musicians of the Singapore Symphony Orchestra will perform works by familiar names like Vivaldi and Corelli alongside works by composers whose music … Continue reading Music Is: VCHpresents Baroque Festival – Orpheus of Rome by the Singapore Symphony Orchestra (Preview)

Art What!: Singapore Biennale 2019 – Every Step In The Right Direction

Singapore Biennale 2019 (SB2019) returns for its sixth edition, with 77 artists and art collectives from 36 countries and territories. Titled “Every Step in the Right Direction”, the international contemporary art exhibition invites the public to engage with the act of artistic exploration, drawing on the importance of making choices and taking steps to consider the conditions of contemporary life and the human endeavour for … Continue reading Art What!: Singapore Biennale 2019 – Every Step In The Right Direction

Music Is: Another Journey Begins! – Debut Concert of the Concordia Quartet (Preview)

Resound Collective, Singapore’s first professional chamber ensemble, has announced the launch of a new string quartet – the Concordia Quartet. Comprising four prize-winning musicians – Edward Tan, Kim Kyu Ri, Matthias Östringer and Theophilus Tan, the quartet will be making their debut on Saturday, 1st February at the new Ngee Ann Kongsi Theatre @ W!ld Rice. Widely regarded as the pinnacle of Western chamber music, … Continue reading Music Is: Another Journey Begins! – Debut Concert of the Concordia Quartet (Preview)

Preview: The Son by Pangdemonium!

Ass-kicking theatre company Pangdemonium! is back this February to start their 10th anniversary on the scene with Florian Zeller’s The Son (translated by Christopher Hampton). Following on from their sold-out production of Zeller’s The Father in 2018, The Son shifts the focus from mental illness in the aged to mental illness in the young, much like how they started with Late Company in 2019, which dealt with a teenage suicide. … Continue reading Preview: The Son by Pangdemonium!

Huayi 2020: An Interview with Kwok Wing Hong, Playwright of HKRep’s Principle, and Anthony Chan, Artistic Director of HKRep

When a new principal joins a school, she establishes her power with a host of new rules and an authoritarian leadership, forcing everyone to go strictly by the book. In contrast, her vice-principal stands as an advocate for compassion. As gossip swirls about the brewing tension between the two top dogs, a campus crisis is set to erupt as students and parents add to the … Continue reading Huayi 2020: An Interview with Kwok Wing Hong, Playwright of HKRep’s Principle, and Anthony Chan, Artistic Director of HKRep

Music Is: The Genteel Horn of Mr Han by the Singapore Symphony Orchestra (Preview)

On Friday 13th March, the Singapore Symphony Orchestra celebrates its Principal Horn, Han Chang Chou, who is retiring from the orchestra this season. And to mark the occasion, they’ll be playing Mozart’s sparkling Horn Concerto No. 2. This much-loved Mozart work is sandwiched between two works inspired by Molière’s 1670 satire, Le Bourgeois gentilhomme. The play tells the story of Monsieur Jourdain, a middle-class man … Continue reading Music Is: The Genteel Horn of Mr Han by the Singapore Symphony Orchestra (Preview)