Presented by SIFA
Set to complete its much touted artistic trilogy under current director Ong Keng Sen, the Singapore International Festival of Arts (SIFA) returns to the Lion City from 11 August to 17 September, bringing with it the Festival’s strongest focus yet on new creations.
Following the start of the trilogy in the “past” with the 2014 theme of Legacies, and moving through the Post-Empires “present” in 2015, we now prepare to look ahead to the “future” with 2016’s focus – Potentialities.
Whether all this arty chat makes sense to you or not matters little. When it comes to soaking up some of Singapore’s and the world’s best contemporary artistic endeavors at this independently run festival, all you need is an open mind and a few pointers. We can’t help you with the former, but here are five hot tickets we implore you not to miss at SIFA 2016.
Hamlet I Collage by Robert Lepage
Image: Sergey Petrov
Performed in Russian with English surtitles, Hamlet I Collage by legendary Canadian stage director Robert Lepage is definitely one to watch. If you’re a fan of one man shows and fast changes (who isn’t?) this is going to blow your mind, as Russia’s national artist Evgeny Mironov takes on every character in the famed Shakespeare play within the confines of a huge open-sided cube suspended above the stage.
Representing the prison of Hamlet’s tortured mind, the cube repurposes itself as everything from a mental asylum to a library, helped along by Lepage’s engrossing lighting and video design.
8pm 12 & 13 August, Drama Centre Theatre, SGD40-80, 20% discount for students, NSFs and seniors.
The Last Supper by Ahmed El Attar
Image: Mostafa Abdel Aly
Let pioneering Egyptian independent theatre director and playwright Ahmed El Attar transport you to Cairo in his play The Last Supper. A darkly comedic scene unfolds as a “typical affluent family” gathers around the dinner table to offer each other a series of hollow exchanges masquerading as human connection. We’ve all been there.
While the play is a stinging reflection of what El Attar sees as the state of Egyptian society after the Arab Spring, the feast of apathy and absurdity could well have seen served in any modern city. The Last Supper is performed in Arabic with English surtitles.
8pm, 11, 12, 13 Aug, Victoria Theatre SGD25-45, 20% discount for students, NSFs and seniors.
The Last Bull: A Life In Flamenco by Checkpoint Theatre
Image: Joel Lim @ Calibre Pictures
Whether you think you like flamenco or not, trust us, you will like this guy. The Last Bull: A Life In Flamenco is written about and performed by Antonio Vargas, one of the world’s leading flamenco dancers. Born in Casablanca to a family of French-speaking Spanish Jews, he has since travelled all over the world with his art. Now, at the ripe old age of 75, he resides in our very own Singapore – you can’t knock his taste.
Imagined as a memoir of Vargas’s life – from first seeing his aunt dance when he was five to his acclaimed performance in Baz Lurhamann’s cult classic Strictly Ballroom and stunning choreography in John Woo’s Mission: Impossible II – the show turns the dancer’s own words and interviews with the cast into evocative prose and poetry.
8pm, 25, 26, 27 Aug, SOTA Drama Theatre, SGD35, SGD45, 20% discount for students, NSFs and seniors.
720º by Ron Arad
Image: Asa Bruno
Ron Arad’s 720° is not only going to be awesome, it’s going to be awesome completely free of charge. The open air installation by the pioneering designer, architect and artist will be taking up a perfect circle, 18 meters in diameter, at Singapore’s Gardens by the Bay, from Sept. 2 -17. With 6,000 suspended silicon cords serving as a fluid screen from both inside and outside of a 360º stage, this stunning concept encourages visitors to get their grubby hands out and interact with the artwork.
The epic scale of this eight-meter-high phenomenon is a sight to behold, and the 37 kilometers of swaying rods make for a refreshing platform for contemporary arts projects. Having first debuted as Curtain Call in London in 2011, 720° will showcase the work of film director, video artist and performance-maker Brian Gothong Tan at this year’s SIFA. You have to see it to believe it.
7pm-11pm, 2 – 17 September, The Meadow @ Gardens by the Bay, free admission
Time Between Us by Fernando Rubio
Image: Marino Balbuena
For something altogether off the wall, visit a small wooden house, assembled out of wood fragments from others houses that no longer exist, somewhere in Singapore from Sept. 7-11. Created by celebrated Argentine artist Fernando Rubio, the house, which can be visited 24 hours a day during the performance period, will host Rubio’s acclaimed Time Between Us.
Inside the house lives a man – played by award-winning actor and director Oliver Chong – who decided to leave his home to become a stranger in a solitary time. A story will be repeated four times a day, and scheduled discussions will take place with experts inside the four walls. Besides from that, curious voyeurs can come and go as they please.
5:45pm Storytelling, 7:00pm A Conversation, 8:15pm Storytelling, 9:45pm Storytelling, 7-11 Sept. Tickets for these slots cost SGD10/-. Any other time is free.
Sandaime Richard by Hideki Noda, Ong Keng Sen
Image: Jun Ishikawa
While the whole world is churning out Shakespeare productions to commemorate the 400th year since the Bard’s death, SIFA director One Keng Sen will debut his own comic take on the Richard III-inspired script by revered contemporary Japanese playwright Hideki Noda.
In this imagining, we see Shakespeare put on trial for falsifying history and defaming Richard Sandaime, the Grand Master of Ikebana, by none other than the Maachan of Venice. Who will win in this epic showdown laced with comic turn after comic turn? Performed in Japanese, English and Bahasa Indonesia, with English surtitles.
8pm, 8, 9, 10 September, Victoria Theatre, SGD30-SGD60, 20% discount for students, NSFs and seniors.
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