It feels like just yesterday that we were still in January 2022, but with 2 months left before the new year, it’s about time to preview 2023’s arts season as we always do with the first major performing arts festival of the year – the annual M1 Singapore Fringe Festival (M1SFF). Organised by The Necessary Stage, 2023’s edition of M1SFF marks the first time in … Continue reading Preview: M1 Singapore Fringe Festival 2023
In the West, Christmas is all about chestnuts roasting on an open fire. But here in Singapore, we’ve been missing those chestnuts for a long time now. No, not gao lak, but beloved parody sketch show Chestnuts, who last put up a show a whole seven years ago. This November, the team are back with a whole new production, with Chestnuts – Sibeh Strange in … Continue reading Preview: Chestnuts – Sibeh Strange in the Multiverse
Curated and produced by Emergency Stairs Artistic Director Liu Xiaoyi, in association with Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts, this November, watch as two productions question the very nature of the various artistic disciplines we practise, learn, and teach, as Singapore prepares itself to welcome the newly founded University of the Arts in 2024. Directed by Ang Gey Pin, with performers from NAFA Diploma in Theatre … Continue reading Preview: Offending The Audience and Dream School by Emergency Stairs and Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts
Forum theatre that touches the heartlands and opens a conversation on difficult end-of-life issues. It’s not every day that you get to see a theatre pop-up happening in your neighbourhood. Following on from their Kata-Kata Kita Variety Show last year, Drama Box and ArtsWok Collaborative came together once again to present the next iteration of their ongoing Both Sides, Now: Mengukir Harapan project, with a … Continue reading Review: Both Sides, Now – Lepaskan Sesalan by Drama Box and ArtsWok Collaborative
Fragments of memory and avant garde performance come together for a singular work that could only be performed by Singapore’s most famous toy pianist. Category Score (out of 10) Performer (Margaret Leng Tan) 9 Composition (Erik Griswold) 9 Direction (Tamara Saulwick) 8 Video (Nick Roux) 9 Lighting (Andy Lim) 8 Costume (Yuan Zhiying) 8 Total 51/60 (85%) Stars ★★★★★ Born in 1945, experimental musician Margaret … Continue reading ★★★★★ Review: Dragon Ladies Don’t Weep by Margaret Leng Tan
Following their latest, critically-acclaimed production of End of the Rainbow, Pangdemonium’s annual Season Ticket is finally making a highly-anticipated return for their 2023 season of theatre, after a three-year-long hiatus. Available from now till the end of the year, the Season Ticket heralds an exciting 2023 season ahead. 2020 to 2022 will likely be remembered as the “wilderness years”, with many of us having spent … Continue reading Preview: Pangdemonium! brings back Season Ticket for 2023 theatre season
Come 17th November, Wild Rice is back with their annual pantomime. This time around, they’ll be taking on Carlo Collodi’s classic tale of Pinocchio, an eye-popping, family-friendly new musical about a puppet who longs to become a real boy. This proudly Singaporean adaptation of the Italian fairy tale is a hilarious, heartwarming celebration of family, friendship and the importance of being true to yourself. Pinocchio … Continue reading Preview: Pinocchio by Wild Rice
Is it duty or love that motivates people to care for their frail, aging parents? As three generations of a family sit together at a rare buffet gathering, the matriarch suddenly makes an announcement that is hard to swallow. When her children—all beset by their own problems—hear their mother’s proclamation, how will they respond? Confrontations, written and directed by HKRep Artistic Director Designate Poon Wai Sum, … Continue reading Arts of Hong Kong 2022: Confrontations by Hong Kong Repertory Theatre
Can we change before climate does? At the beginning of Pulau Ujong, playwright Alfian Sa’at positions himself as the first character to speak, his lines divided across all five cast members (Al-Matin Yatim, Ryan Ang, Koh Wan Ching, Krish Natarajan and Siti Khalijah Zainal). The five Alfians look around the Wild Rice theatre, wondering aloud about the story behind the ‘wayang timber’ used to build … Continue reading ★★★★☆ Review: Pulau Ujong / Island at the End by Wild Rice
Timely, immensely moving play reminding audiences to cherish all we have. What’s in an anniversary? For some people, it’s an arbitrary date in the calendar, used as a good reason to come together and celebrate an occasion with people who matter. For others, it runs much deeper than that, a triumphant acknowledgement of having reached another milestone for every year that goes by, remembrance for … Continue reading ★★★★★ Review: See You, Anniversary by Nine Years Theatre
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