“The lights on myself, the suspension of time as I move, the applause or criticisms after – for all the world to witness. I am likened to Shiva on stage. But how much of that matters off stage? Who am I really when the lights are gone?” Following successful premieres in Chennai, India in February 2017 and Singapore in May 2017, FAÇADE is set to … Continue reading Preview: FACADE – Two Parallel Lives by Bhaskar’s Arts Academy
The Stage Debut Awards have announced the nominees for its annual awards ceremony, celebrating the finest emerging talent in UK theatre. This year’s 44 nominations across eight categories celebrate a diverse array of individuals from across the industry making their professional or West End debuts. Among the highlights of this year’s nominations is the fiercely contested Best West End Debut Performer category—the only award decided by public vote. … Continue reading Arts of the UK: The Stage Debut Awards 2024 Nominees Announced
Look beyond the ‘romance’ and you’ll find a scathing criticism of war and the pain it leaves in Schönberg and Boublil’s classic tragedy. Miss Saigon is often considered one of Broadway and the West End’s biggest legacy musicals, with a beautiful score composed by the duo that made smash hit Les Miserables, show stopping special effects and choreography that leave you breathless with its theatrics, … Continue reading ★★★★★ Review: Miss Saigon by Base Entertainment Asia
While most students in Singapore are better known as hardcore bookworms constantly preparing for exams to hit their elusive 4.0 GPA, students at Singapore Management University (SMU) are able to do all that and more. Being management students specifically, there’s that careful balance of work and play, the latter of which takes centrestage at this year’s SMU Arts Fest, aptly dealing with the theme of, … Continue reading An Interview with SMU Arts Fest 2024 Festival Directors and producers on student development and the power of collaboration
Performance-lecture on biased historiography and hidden knowledge urges us to critically reconstruct our interpretations to formulate our own version of the truth. The Malayan Emergency in the late 1940s continues to remain a traumatic memory for many Chinese Malaysians, where families would recall relatives hurriedly leaving the country, or worse – hauled away for questioning over suspected Communist relations, and never seen again, at least, … Continue reading ★★★☆☆ Review: One Day We’ll Understand 有那么一天 by Sim Chi Yin
Balls to the walls – literally, as play about cyst-ers in PCOS goes wilder and more personal in its reboot. While its title and promo image may look more or less identical to its 2022 version, Impromptu Meetings’ new staging of Lotus Root Support Group is in fact, a completely different incarnation that sees creators Shannen Tan and Miriam Cheong shedding the characters they devised … Continue reading ★★★★☆ Review: Lotus Root Support Group (2024) by Impromptu Meetings
Located in the heart of the city, in the midst of the Bras Basah.Bugis precinct, Singapore Management University has long been a landmark of the city centre, thronging with student life or sometimes, just a convenient location for people to meet and gather. And this August and September, SMU is once again lighting up the campus with a series of performances with their annual SMU … Continue reading Preview: SMU Arts Fest 2024 – PLAY
Two-hander pitting professor against student in battle of allegations, yet lacking in power. While revered as among the most dramatic in theatre, David Mamet’s plays have never been easy to stage, often requiring seasoned actors with a certain aura to carry both the weight and length of his dialogue. As such, younger theatremakers tend to struggle to deliver the full extent of the material onstage, … Continue reading ★★☆☆☆ Review: Oleanna by Major Minor Encounters and The Windland Collective
In the ongoing run of blockbuster musical Miss Saigon over at Marina Bay Sands’ Sands Theatre, there’s something very special about the cast that’s to be celebrated – the presence of not one but two Singaporean cast members who take to the stage and show that there is indeed a future for Singaporean performers, if you dream big and work hard for it. In that … Continue reading Miss Saigon: An Interview with Singaporean stars Louisa Vilinne and Shannon Cheong
A deeper look at USA-China relations and their respective histories through a musical lens. The relationship between China and America has always been a fraught one, due to their inherent competition as fellow superpowers vying for influence, and their opposing ideologies. But it is when no compromise can be made that softer approaches come into play, that is, through means such as sports and the … Continue reading ★★★★☆ Review: Rhapsody in Yellow by Ming Wong
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