Preview: The Esplanade presents The Studios 2020 – Lost & Found

Life is a lost & found box. At least, that’s how the Esplanade sees it come 2020, with their latest season of The Studios come March and April. Dealing with the experience of loss and all the complicated emotions that come with it, a loss often results in an empty void we then have to fill, therefore goading and motivating us into finding something to … Continue reading Preview: The Esplanade presents The Studios 2020 – Lost & Found

The Studios 2019: My Grandfather’s Road (RHDS) (English Version) by Neo Kim Seng (Review)

Return to Neo Pee Teck Lane. Neo Kim Seng’s My Grandfather’s Road is back, this time as part of the Esplanade’s 2019 season of The Studios. While overall following the same plot and arc as the last time we watched it. Now taking place in the Esplanade Theatre Studio, our experience begins even before we step into the performance space, where Kim Seng has set up … Continue reading The Studios 2019: My Grandfather’s Road (RHDS) (English Version) by Neo Kim Seng (Review)

The Studios 2019: An Interview with Playwrights Neo Kim Seng, Gary Tang and Tan Cher Kian of My Grandfather’s Road (RHDS)

Neo Kim Seng’s My Grandfather’s Road has had a wild journey since it was first created in 2015 for Cake Theatrical Productions’ Running with Strippers. The biographical work was based on the history of his actual grandfather Neo Pee Teck, which had a side road in Pasir Panjang named after him, and has gone on not only to become published as a book, but also a Cantonese version … Continue reading The Studios 2019: An Interview with Playwrights Neo Kim Seng, Gary Tang and Tan Cher Kian of My Grandfather’s Road (RHDS)

The Studios 2019: Mergers and Accusations (Review)

The ties that bind us are frayed in this revival of a Singaporean LGBTQ classic. Written by Eleanor Wong in 1993, 16 years on, Mergers and Accusations remains one of Singapore’s most seminal queer theatrical works. Dripping with sarcastic wit and rapid fire legal jargon, the play remains relevant even today for its unabashed portrayal of citizens afraid to come out of the closet for fear of the impact … Continue reading The Studios 2019: Mergers and Accusations (Review)

The Studios 2019: An Interview with Director Chen Yingxuan and Performer Oon Shu An of Mergers & Accusations

Eleanor Wong is sometimes better known for her position as a law professor at NUS’ Faculty of Law. But to most of the arts community, she is perhaps best known for her seminal Invitation to Treat trilogy of plays, narratively linked by their protagonist, Ellen Toh. Set in the 90s, Ellen is a lawyer who realises she is a lesbian. But coming out, both to society and … Continue reading The Studios 2019: An Interview with Director Chen Yingxuan and Performer Oon Shu An of Mergers & Accusations

The Studios 2019: Miss British by The Art of Strangers (Review)

Post-colonial blues from the personal stories of three minority actresses.  With a title like Miss British, it’s easy to assume that the second show of the Esplanade’s 2019 The Studios Season is all about British identity. It’s a misnomer, and in fact, deals primarily with the impact, trauma and legacy that British colonialism has left behind on minorities. Directed by Felipe Cervera, Miss British comes at a timely … Continue reading The Studios 2019: Miss British by The Art of Strangers (Review)

The Studios 2019: An Interview with Felipe Cervera, Director of Miss British

As the Esplanade’s 2019 seasons of The Studios roars into its second week, The Art of Strangers presents a brand new show – Miss British. Based off an original idea by Sharon Frese, who stars alongside Grace Kalaiselvi, Rebekah Sangeetha Dorai and Riduan Zalani, Miss British is a devised, multi-disciplinary work questioning the British identity, thinking about issues of both the monarchy and slave trade. What then are the prejudices and social hierarchies left behind … Continue reading The Studios 2019: An Interview with Felipe Cervera, Director of Miss British

The Studios 2019: Rubber Girl On The Loose by Cake Theatrical Productions (Review)

Antigone gets schooled. School is a tragedy. Specifically in Cake’s case, it’s a Greek tragedy. Opening the Esplanade’s 2019 season of The Studios, Cake presents Rubber Girl on the Loose, a brand new adaptation and reinterpretation of Sophocles’s Antigone, except this time, set within the tyranny of a formal education system. The titular ‘rubber girl’ is of course, Antigone, wearing rubber bands all over her body and refusing … Continue reading The Studios 2019: Rubber Girl On The Loose by Cake Theatrical Productions (Review)

The Studios 2019: An Interview with Natalie Hennedige, Director of Rubber Girl On The Loose

so This week, the Esplanade’s new season of The Studios returns, presenting a lineup of intimate, powerful theatre shows playing at both the Theatre Studio and Annexe Studio. Kicking off the season is Cake Theatrical Productions with their hotly anticipated new production Rubber Girl On The Loose.  Based off Sophocles’s Antigone, this new interpretation of the Greek classic carries on in Cake’s tradition of reworking Greek plays (following … Continue reading The Studios 2019: An Interview with Natalie Hennedige, Director of Rubber Girl On The Loose

Preview: Esplanade presents The Studios 2019 – The Weight Of A Stone In A Pocket

Esplanade – Theatres on the Bay returns with another season of intimate performances with The Studios 2019. This year, the programme takes on the theme The weight of a stone in a pocket, referring to the concept of how stones in one’s pocket are often forgotten, yet the moment one reaches in to touch and feel it, one is triggered to remember the reason for its presence … Continue reading Preview: Esplanade presents The Studios 2019 – The Weight Of A Stone In A Pocket