Urban Kulit

We've moved!

Sun, 07 Oct 2012 01:56:59 -0400

Find us at http://urbankulit.org for more theatre goodness!

Visit http://typeandcasted.eventbrite.com for more details or to...

Mon, 30 Jul 2012 13:06:12 -0400

Visit http://typeandcasted.eventbrite.com for more details or to register!

La Cage Aux Folles interview with the inimitable Hossan Leong...

Mon, 16 Jul 2012 12:06:00 -0400

La Cage Aux Folles interview with the inimitable Hossan Leong (who plays the maid). Also, sneak peeks at the glamorous Cagelles and Ivan Heng dippy dancing!

Can Singaporeans do Shakespeare?Can young Singaporean talent...

Wed, 09 May 2012 06:37:00 -0400

Can Singaporeans do Shakespeare?
Can young Singaporean talent take on old timers?

Shane Mardjuki talks about acting, Shakespeare and gasp.. girls kissing!

Directed by Bruce Guthrie, Associate Director of the Bridge Project’s Richard III, SRT’s Twelfth Night reimagines Shakespeare’s classic comedy amidst bars, cocktails and the gorgeous great outdoors.

Twelfth Night runs from now to 20th May at Fort Canning Park. Tickets available from www.sistic.com.sg

Twelfth Night

Now to 20 May 2012
Show starts at 7:30pm
Fort Canning Park

Tickets available from Sistic

Thespis

Sat, 21 Apr 2012 07:22:06 -0400

Our friends at Thespis are looking for people for upcoming show, Conversation with a Dying Whale:

We are a small theatre outfit, Thespis, comprising both NUS students and alumni who are currently looking to build a production team for our upcoming production of Conversation with a Dying Whale by Kenneth Chong. This team will be the driving force behind the production as a whole and will be essential for the success of the production and all members will be critical in shaping the production into its final incarnation. As such, we are looking for passionate individuals with a strong interest in the theatre and the ability to commit their time and energy to the production.

Thespis has put up various productions over the years, most notably Re: Almost Left Behind, which was featured under Platform Campus for the Singapore Arts Festival 2011.

Positions available include:

·         Producer – Co-Head of the production along with the Director. Is in charge of the more practical aspects of the production including funding, licensing and planning.

·         Production Manager – Manages and coordinates the various branches of the production, channelling important information and funds to wherever they need to be.

·         Marketing Manager – Manages and coordinates production collateral, ticketing, publicity and outreach. S/he is ultimately the crucial link between the show and its audience.

Timeline:

We hope to show at end August, with auditions beginning in May.

The rehearsal period will be for 3 months from June to August.

Notes:

This is by no means an exclusively NUS production, the only criteria are passion and commitment. Thespis has often worked with, and indeed enjoys working with, individuals outside of NUS from all different walks of life.

We are also looking for individuals who are interested in contributing in other roles not outlined above.

Unfortunately as we are a non-profit with no money, the only remuneration we are able to promise is the joy of the theatre.

This is not an audition call, an audition call will be sent out at a later date.

Please contactconversationswithawhale@gmail.com for more information and if you wish to express your interest in joining us in this endeavour.

Freud’s Last Session: Samantha Scott-Blackhall Summoned to...

Sun, 08 Apr 2012 22:00:00 -0400

Freud’s Last Session: Samantha Scott-Blackhall

Summoned to Freud’s study as England enters WWII, C. S. Lewis finds himself sparring with Freud about God, love, politics, and the meaning of life. Two weeks later, Freud takes his own life.

Part existential debate, part biopic, this profound and deeply moving play brings together two great men who address life’s greatest questions.

Under the deft directorial touch of Samantha Scott-Blackhall, Mark St Germaine’s landmark play, Freud’s Last Session, is reimagined on the Singapore stage.

Sam, who’s brought madness and danger to the stage with plays like Das Experiment, Lord of the Flies and Agnes of God, talks to us about the 20th Century’s most iconic figures.

Freud’s Last Session

11-15 April 2012
Wed - Thu, 8:00pm
Fri, 8:00pm & 10:00pm
Sat - Sun, 3:00pm & 8:00pm
Sat, 10pm
Esplanade Theatre Studios

Tickets available from Sistic

Jacob Rajan: The passion behind the mask

Fri, 16 Mar 2012 21:05:00 -0400

“From the moment I put a mask on and saw the mask’s power to transform other people, I was hooked.”

It is often said that passion is the driver of success. But what happens when we are ambivalent about where we are headed? Jacob Rajan, founder of Indian Ink, one of New Zealand’s most successful touring theatre companies, tells Urban Kulit about how he found his sweet spot.

Born to Indian immigrant parents, Rajan’s parents had intended for him to become a doctor. “When it became painfully apparent that I wasn’t bright enough to do medicine, my parents were still adamant that I do something useful,” says Rajan who ended up obtaining a degree in microbiology and a teaching diploma.

While in teachers’ college, Rajan started gravitating towards the drama department. It was around this time that he attended a mask workshop run by John Bolton. “From the moment I put a mask on and saw the mask’s power to transform other people, I was hooked,” explains Rajan. This marked the turning point in his career. A year later, he found himself auditioning for the New Zealand Drama School and was accepted.

“By this stage, I’d worn my parents down and, to their credit, they just wanted me to be happy. Of course there was still a fair amount of trepidation at seeing me trot off to drama school because it was such an unknown world,” says Rajan. “I think for my friends too, who knew me as a very shy kid, it was quite a leap but it all seems to have worked out in the end.”

To date, Indian Ink has won two Fringe First Awards from its two trips to Edinburgh. The company is also known for using laughter to open the audience to deeper themes. “It’s a philosophy we call ‘the serious laugh’: using laughter to open up your mouth and mind in order to slip something serious in,” he describes. “Laughter is a great way to warm up an audience to you and from there you can far more readily take them into deeper territory.” However, Rajan is quick to note that he doesn’t like exploring issues in his work. “That’s more for journalists,” he says. “I guess the themes I’m interested in are buried inside me and only come to surface when I find a subject I’m curious about.”

In Krishnan’s Dairy, a solo performance that debuted in 1997, Rajan was moved by the story of one of the immigrant shopkeepers he interviewed. He also loved the story of the building of the Taj Mahal. Thus, in the course of writing Krishnan’s Dairy, he wove these two stories together. “It was only after I’d completed the play and performed it several times that I discovered in reality it was a tribute to my own parents and played out the debate of growing in love versus falling in love,” he notes. “It’s a wonderful thing for your own work to surprise you and speak to you and in that way, I think you avoid work that is didactic and condescending.”

His family, his work in theatre, music, cinema, art, nature, and science are some of the things that feed Rajan’s soul. He is also inspired by other passionate people but playwrights are not among them. “To my shame, I really don’t read a lot of plays. I align myself with being a theatre maker rather than a playwright,” he says. “I’m also an actor and I tend to write plays that give me most of the lines! I work on the principal that if auditions were held for any of my plays then I should be at a serious advantage of getting the part.”

Krishnan’s Dairy
21-31 Mar 2012
Mon - Sat, 8.00pm
Sat (31 Mar), 4.00pm
DBS Arts Centre

Tickets available from Sistic

By Amy Tan

March Shows

Fri, 02 Mar 2012 18:36:00 -0500

March is jam packed with productions. Here’s a comprehensive list:

The Illusionists (to 4 March), MBS
Wicked (to 22 Apr), MBS
Girl Talk (to 4 March), Jubilee Hall, Raffles Hotel
The TENG Ensemble, Su Abode (4 March)
Cooling Off Day (to 11 March), SOTA
Three Little Pigs (to 15 April), DBS Arts Centre
Mosaic Music Festival (9-18 March), Esplanade
Kuo Pao Kun Festival (check The Theatre Practice’s website)
Sonnets For An Old Century (only 3 March, 8pm), Palawan Beach, Sentosa
Sing to the Dawn (5-19 March), Drama Centre Theatre
Guru of Chai (6-17 March), DBS Arts Centre
NUS Arts Festival (9-25 March), Various
Krishnan’s Dairy (21-31 March), DBS Arts Centre
Drama Box Bus Stop (15-17 March), Goodman Arts Centre
The Masseur and the Thief (16-17 March), SOTA
BudsTheatre From Scratch (15-118 March), Drama Centre Black Box. Tickets from Buds Theatre.
The Three Big Bullies (mandarin, 21-24 March), SOTA
Lanterns Never Go Out, (22-25 March), Drama Centre Black Box. Tickets from Gatecrash.

Tickets available from Sistic unless otherwise stated.

And over in London, Platform 65’s The Coffin Is Too Big For The Hole (2-4 March), Tickets here)

Sonnets for an Old Century Catch this poignant look at the...

Thu, 01 Mar 2012 19:25:00 -0500

Sonnets for an Old Century

Catch this poignant look at the afterlife.
One show only, 3 March 2012.

BYO picnic by the beach (Palawan, Sentosa). Doors open at 6pm. Show starts 8pm.
Tickets available from www.quintaproductions.com

The TENG Ensemble: A harmonious blend of cultural experiences

Thu, 01 Mar 2012 16:37:00 -0500

“We do not treat our instruments according to its history and traditions, but to its diversity as a device that can create various sounds. As such, we hope to turn attention away from what is usually expected of Chinese musicians and just play music.” - Samuel Wong, Artistic Director

Chinese instrumental music is commonly viewed as boring and practised mainly by students as part of their co-curricular activity in schools. In fact, The TENG Ensemble had its beginnings in Anglo-Chinese School (Barker Road)’s Chinese Orchestra where they became close friends.

“Often times when we told people that we are Chinese musicians, we were immediately stereotyped or categorised as being uninteresting as compared to western music, and in some cases, we were even asked if we play at funerals,” says Samuel Wong, artistic director, The TENG Ensemble.

Taking the Chinese art form beyond its cultural boundaries, The TENG Ensemble combines its experiences outside of Singapore with its experiences within multi-cultural Singapore to create what is essentially a Singaporean sound. “Growing up in a country of such varied cultures, travelling widely and listening to a wide range of music has, in many ways, influenced the way we choose to conceptualise and create our music,” says Wong. As such, the ensemble tends to look out for composers who understand the range of their instruments and are able to cater to their diversity.

On 4 March, The TENG Ensemble will perform a concert at the Esplanade Recital Studio. Titled 宿 Sù – Abode, the performance will pay homage to the concept of home with newly commissioned works by Beijing-based composer Wang Si and The TENG Ensemble’s Composer-in-Residence, Lim Yi Benjamin.

Lim has written soundtracks for short films such as Loo Zihan’s Threshold, the title song for Wee Li Lin’s Forever, and the accompaniment music for a T.H.E. Dance Company production; while Beijing-based composer Wang Si frequently writes music for TV. Through a long process of discussions and sending samples to each other, The TENG Ensemble ended up with 8 pieces that borrowed elements from different cultures and music genres.

“Audiences can expect something very different from what they would see at a typical chamber music performance, because while we each play with traditional instruments, we are essentially a band like any other professional rock or pop groups,” says Wong.

To make their music accessible, the ensemble uses their instruments purely as sound creating devices.

“We do not treat our instruments according to its history and traditions, but to its diversity as a device that can create various sounds. As such, we hope to turn attention away from what is usually expected of Chinese musicians and just play music,” notes Wong.

In addition, The TENG Ensemble leaves out the graceful gestures which are a staple in playing Chinese instruments.

“We certainly wish to break these stereotypes of Chinese music and to transcend the barriers of culture and language,” says Wong. “But beyond that, we want to create a musical identity that is truly Singaporean because we are all Singaporeans and we also happen to be professional musicians.”

宿 Sù - Abode
4 March, 2012, 4pm & 7:30pm
Esplanade Recital Studio
Tickets available from Sistic

*Tickets for all shows are sold out. Leave your name at the Esplanade Box Office for the waitlist.

By Amy Tan

This week, Urban Kulit travelled to London and caught Platform...

Tue, 28 Feb 2012 20:32:00 -0500

This week, Urban Kulit travelled to London and caught Platform 65’s director Cui in the heat of rehearsal.

Platform 65, formerly Singapore Playhouse London stages Kuo Pao Kun’s seminal piece, The Coffin Is Too Big For The Hole, 2-4 March 2012 at the Camden People’s Theatre, as part of The Theatre Practice’s Kuo Pao Kun Festival.

Now an “independent cultural arts company”, Platform 65 has grown from a tiny amateur theatre group to a respected arts group making waves in the vibrant London scene. Beyond theatre, the company has also embraced multidisciplinary art forms to create works that resonate with British and Singaporean audiences.

Cui tells us more about her vision for Platform 65.

The Coffin Is Too Big For The Hole
When: 2 - 4 March, 2012, 7:30pm
Time: 7:30pm
Where: Camden People’s Theatre
Tickets: £10 (£8 concession) available here or call the 24-hour box office number at 08444 77 1000 (UK).

For additional enquiries, please email cui@platform65.org.

*All performances will be followed by a short Q&A/feedback session.

Melissa Lim, Festival Manager

Thu, 16 Feb 2012 05:21:00 -0500

M1 Singapore Fringe Festival: Melissa Lim’s faith in the arts

“I see the interaction between art and faith as one that can hopefully engender new forms of communication and understanding that will allow us to reach a common ground – one that is tolerant, progressive and compassionate.”

Over the years, the M1 Singapore Fringe Festival organised and curated by local theatre group, The Necessary Stage has become synonymous with cutting-edge and sometimes controversial independent works of art.

What often goes unnoticed, however, is the commitment and sheer effort needed to put together the festival. Melissa Lim tells Urban Kulit about her role as festival manager and her faith in the arts.

There is never a typical day in the life of a festival manager. Running on a very small outfit, The Necessary Stage only has 6 full-time staff.

Joining The Necessary Stage in 2005, Melissa has been the festival manager of the Fringe since its 2006 edition. Her responsibilities cover such a wide span of area that one might think you can throw her on stage and her impromptu act will not fail to impress.

Melissa’s job entails selecting works for the festival, sorting out accommodations and air tickets, perusing technical riders, having meetings with sponsors and venues, discussing works-in-progress with artists, designing marketing collaterals, handling media queries, running social media campaigns, juggling tight budgets, the list goes on but well, you get the idea.

“There’s plenty of work at any point in time, but we all love what we do – and that is a really important aspect of why we keep doing what we do,” says Melissa.

Keeping an open mind to new ideas, being candid but compassionate at all times are some of the important things that has kept her going. With a to-do list like Melissa’s, it is hard to imagine that one would have time for much else.

On the contrary, Melissa somehow manages to make time to play the guitar and bass. She also used to sing and play the guzheng. If she were not working in the arts, she would have been involved in an NGO dealing with animal welfare. Passionate about the arts, Melissa is interested in “interdisciplinary and interactive work, especially work that, on the surface, appear whimsical, playful and simple, yet carry with them a deeper theme or inquiry.”

Thus, if she were ever to contribute a piece to the Fringe Festival, it would be one that “involves collaboration between music/sound, video and performance art, and which allows for audience participation and creation.”

On this year’s festival theme of Art and Faith, Melissa believes that faith transcends the boundaries of religious tenets and encompasses systems, beliefs, societal trends.

“Faith is a positive thing: being able to place your belief in something larger than yourself is something to be celebrated. However, ironically, faith can sometimes result in dogmatism and the refusal to accept alternative practices and beliefs,” says Melissa. She considers art as the bridge between the alternatives.

“I see the interaction between art and faith as one that can hopefully engender new forms of communication and understanding that will allow us to reach a common ground – one that is tolerant, progressive and compassionate,” she adds.

This year’s festival will feature 17 works from 11 countries of which 11 are live performances and 6 are visual art. Melissa highly recommends INRI by Italian dance company Cie. Zerogrammi, which presents a wonderful, tongue-in-cheek choreography with two dancers with a lot of physical chemistry and comic timing, exploring rites and rituals in religion.

A brand new Fringe commission, Tongues by Sean Tobin and Jason Wee, is another work that Melissa believes audience should look out for. It is a confessional and lyrical contemporary performance that deals with issues pertaining to faith and sexuality. She is also particularly fond of Iraq is Flying by Jamal Penjweny, a simple yet uplifting photographic series that reminds the world there is a lot of hope and positivity in the Iraqi people, despite the media’s focus on it being a war-torn, ravaged nation. The M1 Singapore Fringe Festival runs from 15-26 February 2012. Tickets are available through Sistic.

INRI, Cie. Zerogrammi (Italy)
23- 24 February 2012, 8pm
Esplanade Theatre Studio
$30 / $19 Advisory: Brief nudity

Black Square Van Huynh Company (Hong Kong)
25 -26 February 2012, 8pm
Esplanade Theatre Studio
$30 / $19

Tongues, Sean Tobin & Jason Wee (Singapore)
16 – 18 February 2012, 8pm 18 & 19 February 2012, 3pm
Gallery Theatre, National Museum of Singapore
$30 | $19

By Amy Tan

Parental Guidance

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 00:47:00 -0500

[Arts People] is the first in a series of feature profiles of the people who make the performing arts happen! This week, we catch up with Adrian and Tracie Pang who are hard at work minding a rosy brood of young, upcoming actors in Spring Awakening.

“Parents, talk to your children.”

Says actor Adrian Pang, who is starring and producing the blockbuster musical, Spring Awakening in Singapore.

“Listen to them, don’t forget you were once there.”

Pangdemonium’s version of this much acclaimed Broadway musical opens February 3rd, 2012 at the Drama Centre Theatre after a massive lead-up, beginning with the auditions held at the end of 2010 that first sparked a flurry of interest in the show.

Spring Awakening is a coming-of-age rock musical adaption based on the German play of the same name. It takes on themes like sexuality, shame, parenting, teenage pregnancy and more, as eleven adolescents find themselves in the throes of self-discovery.

For a production that deals with topics even adults eschew, the Media Development Authority (MDA) has issued a ‘16-years and above advisory’. An advisory is merely a recommendation for parents to guide their children in productions that have mature themes and content, and not a strict legal restriction.

The Pangs recount a momentous encounter with a student still in uniform who appeared at their office clutching a three-page letter.

Sam, a secondary three schoolgirl, had written a letter that told them how important the story was to her, how it gave her a voice, and how important it was that they were doing it.

The unexpected visit of the girl to their Ubi doorstep gave them further impetus to ensure the production remained accessible to younger audiences.

They decided not to make just a simple standard application to the MDA, but visit them in person to make a presentation about the musical.

“I told them as honestly as I could,” says Tracy, “I can assure you that it is not going to be titillating or gratuitous. It (the scene) is going to be an honest moment.”

The MDA subsequently issued the current advisory that makes the musical accessible to persons of all ages, even below the age of 16, when accompanied by an adult.

Off-stage, the local adaptation has another coming-of-age story of its own.

Sourcing young talents, Pangdemonium held a gruelling audition process and made actors go through two full days of eight-hour long singing, acting and dancing workshops.

The cast were also given… homework!

Director Tracie Pang gave each actor thematic research based on the 1890s. Subjects included Sex Education, Art and Literature, Legal Rights, Homosexuality and Women’s Rights. Before treading the boards, the actors presented what they had learned.

The result is a “nuanced team” of “very specific individuals” who were able to bring not only their thinking caps to the table but that rare gem, the x-factor, described by Tracie as a certain “indefinable quality”.

Adrian and Tracie, who are married, have two young boys on the cusp of teenagehood. Young as they are, the Pangs do not shy away from difficult topics.

“They are always around,” he says, gesturing at the rehearsal space, “They’re good friends with the cast… they’re very much part of this company”

Personally Tracie feels it is suitable for ages 13 up.

“It depends on the maturity of the kid. I know 13 year olds who aren’t ready and i know 13 year olds who are.”

“I think teenagers should be treated with enough regard that they should be informed,” says Adrian.

Then he adds,

“Fifteen and sixteen year olds will want to see this. Parents need to see this.”

Spring Awakening runs from 3^rd to 26^th February at the Drama Centre Theatre. Tickets are available from Sistic.

Never before staged in Singapore, Edward Albee’s classic...

Fri, 20 Jan 2012 04:09:00 -0500

Never before staged in Singapore, Edward Albee’s classic American work Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolfmakes its debut at this year’s Huayi - Chinese Festival of Arts.

Albee’s use of complex language and scintillating insights into human behaviour have made him the darling of the theatre world. Characters, often damaged by deep emotional and psychological scars lash out at each other with unexpected brutality and careless abuse. As one of America’s most renowned playwrights, Albee has exposed the underbelly of upper middle-class America to the world. But how does that translate to a Mandarin version?

Emilie Oehler’s speaks with Nelson Chia about putting together this seminal piece for a local audience.

Don’t miss this classic American play!

Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf
When: 27-28 Jan, 2012
Time: Friday 8pm, Sat 3pm & 8pm
Where: Esplanade Theatre Studio
Tickets: $35 from www.sistic.com.sg

*There will be a post-performance talk in Mandarin and English for both evening performances.

For more information, visit Huayi - Chinese Festival of Arts

[Update] We’ve got news that tickets are completely sold out! Put your name on the Esplanade Box Office waitlist.

Our nutty host Lady O’Gaga breaks into the Chestnuts...

Sun, 15 Jan 2012 21:47:00 -0500

Our nutty host Lady O’Gaga breaks into the Chestnuts dressing room and gets roasted by a startled Ivory Low Ai Kiu!

Don’t miss our interview with super funny people, Judee Tan and Jonathan Lim.

iChestnuts 15

Date: 5 - 21 Jan, 2012
Time: Tues-Fri 8pm, Sat and Sun 3 & 8pm
Venue: Jubilee Hall, Raffles Hotel
Tickets: $62, $52, $42 (Tickets available from Sistic)

Starring Jonathan Lim, Judee Tan, Rodney Oliveiro, Judee Ngo and Dwayne Lau!

[Workshop] "CAUTION" Performance art workshop by Sinéad O'Donnell

Sun, 08 Jan 2012 22:00:02 -0500

“CAUTION” Performance art workshop by Sinéad O’Donnell (Ireland)

Date: 26th and 27th January 2012
Time: 11am to 5pm daily (See below for more details)
Venue: The Substation, classroom 2
Address: 45 Armenian Street

For registration or enquiries, please contact Jason: leejiasheng[ AT]yahoo. com

CAUTION (Words and Boundaries) is a two days intensive performance art workshop for artists who are already working in live contexts and those who are interested in developing their work within a live framework.

Participants will explore and investigate language and writing as practice- and body-based work and examine questions of boundaries. The maximum number of participants will be limited to 10 persons. Participation of both workshops will be free of charge but donations are welcomed and it will go towards the fee for the artist conducting the workshop.

At the end of both workshop sessions, participants are expected to present a short 10 minutes performance each. Wider Context CAUTION is a two year Unlimited commission led by Sinéad O’Donnell. Unlimited is a project celebrating disability, arts, culture and sport on an unprecedented scale as part of the London 2012 Cultural Olympiad. CAUTION brings together six visual and performance artists from around the world to collaborate directly and remotely through a series of meetings, residencies, actions and correspondences taking place across continents.

The project explores notions of identity, similarity and difference through journeys, actions and performance in real-time and online, culminating in an exhibition at Golden Thread Gallery, Belfast as part of the London 2012 Festival from 24th August to 29th September 2012. The CAUTION performance art workshop has developed out of Sinéad’s experience of artistic journey and making work with participating artists Mariel Carranza (Peru), Paul Couillard (Toronto), Sylvette Babin (Montreal), Poshya Kakl (Iraq) and Shiro Masuyama (Japan). The discourse and format of the workshops have been devised to amplify the issues that have come up within these artist-to-artist exchanges.

The CAUTION workshops will take place at R.I.T.E.S performance art event in Singapore (January), School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (February) and Univeristy of Ulster Belfast, Northern Ireland (March) in the run-up to the CAUTION exhibition at Golden Thread Gallery in August/September 2012. Material developed in the workshops will form part of the CAUTION process. It is anticipated that workshop participants will continue to engage with CAUTION and the six participating artists after the workshops and that they will have some input to events and discussions around the exhibition at Golden Thread Gallery through internet interface.

The workshops will play an integral part in how the show manifests itself for the duration of six weeks, claiming as much artistic territory as possible for performances artists to engage globally.

Workshop Program “Words”, Day 1, Session 1, 11am - 1pm: The artist will introduce CAUTION project. Participants are expected to introduce themselves through a Pecha Kucha presentation ( a presentation methodology whereby 20 images will be shown for 20 seconds each). Participants must have the image documents sent in a zip file to R.I.T.E.S by 10th January 2012. 1pm - 2pm: Lunch Break “Words”, Day 1, Session 2, 2pm – 5pm: Sinéad O’Donnell introduces her art practice and, in particular, her devising of work based on identifying as a disabled artist. Participants are then invited to make a performance task based on language/writing. The task will be to write about a performance idea that one had never made before. The artist is open to the fact that one may or may not use regular words to think thoughts out for performance art so sound and instruments can be used if people want to bring them along. The participants will be contacted by the artist closer to the time regarding the details of their proposed materials for the workshop.

“Boundaries” Day 2, Session 1 11am - 11.30am: Warm up exercise. 11.30 – 1.30pm: Participants will work in pairs (duos) with a task to use a piece of glass between them (65 cm x 75cm glass with a thickness of 3 or 5mm). The only request is not to break the glass. 1.30pm – 2.30pm: Lunch Break “Boundaries” Day 2, Session 2 2.30 – 5pm: A Tango instructor will give the group basic lessons in Tango dance. This is because working with the glass and using the upper torso of the body to balance is very like the basic principles of Tango.

[For more information of CAUTION project; please see the artist’s website, http://www.sineadod onnell.com/ caution/project]

[Audition Notice] Square Moon

Sun, 08 Jan 2012 00:22:35 -0500

Audition Call for Square Moon

Function 8 would like to invite you to come to an audition of a play directed by Lim Siauw Chong, a co-founder of Theatreworks, and written by Wong Souk Yee, formerly from Third Stage.

Date: Sat. 14 Jan, 2012
Time: 2 to 4 p.m.
Place: The Muse gallery, 22 Marshall Road (off East Coast Road, near Katong Shopping Centre)

Title of Play: Square Moon
Genre: Political Farce
Presenter: Function 8
Dates of performance: second half of August 2012
Venue: To be confirmed
Cast: 8 Actors

Synopsis

The play is inspired by the incident of an alleged terrorist’s escape from prison in Singapore in 2008. In the following year, the escapee, Mas Selamat, was caught by the Malaysian Special Branch in a village in Johor, Malaysia. Except for these two events, the rest of the plot, characters and setting of the play are fictional.

After Sid Fajardo has escaped from prison, the Homeland Security Department attempts to cover up their security faux pas. But when Fajardo’s lawyer, Kristina Allende, comes calling to take instruction from her client about his habeas corpus writ, the deputy director of the department threatens and coerces one of his detainees, Borgie Xavier, to stand in for Fajardo. To disguise Borgie as Fajardo, Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Solo injects Borgie with a potent drug such that Borgie breaks out in a disfiguring rash and would therefore be unrecognisable.

At her meeting with her “client”, Allende falls for the disguise but, given the horrible rashes, also believes that Fajardo has been tortured. Her suspicion is confirmed when Borgie, in disguise as Fajardo, tells her that he wants to withdraw his writ of habeas corpus and to discharge her as his lawyer.

That night, Allende talks on the phone with a foreign journalist in her home about her plan to bring the detention conditions of Fajardo to the International Court of Jurists (ICJ). Before Allende could finish the conversation, police from the Homeland Security Department comes to arrest her in order to stop her from sabotaging the country’s application to the International Monetary Fund for a $5-billion loan to bail out the economy.

In the midst of Allende’s interrogation by the deputy director of the Homeland Security Department, the director comes into the room, takes his deputy aside and tells him that Fajardo has been caught by the Thikaka Special Branch, their political rival from across the border. In their desperate attempt to save their red faces and to excuse their blunders, they hatch a plot to put all the blame on Allende and the “loopholes” in the Homeland Security Act. Under the harsh conditions of interrogation, the deputy director succeeds in forcing Allende to write statements to incriminate herself.

Six months later, the Liberal Socialist Party, with which Borgie is associated, wins the general election and Borgie is about to be released. Before he leaves the prison, he promises Allende that he would fight for her release. But Allende is sceptical knowing that parties in power rarely deliver on the promises they make when in opposition.

Characters

Borgie Xavier: a 30-something male, any physical type and ethnicity, a realist in party
u 2politics with some idealistic pretension

Kristina Allende: a human rights woman lawyer, any age and built, feisty but buckle under pressure

Minister for Homeland Security: any gender, age and ethnicity, the stereotypical bullying, conniving, self-serving politician.

Director of Homeland Security Department: A clueless, self-important yet sycophantic bureaucrat.

Deputy Director of Homeland Security: a wily, hardened rogue police officer who hatches all the hare-brained plots for his director of homeland security. Also the hatchet man of the Homeland Security Department.

Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Solo: Male, in his late 40s to 50s. Having seen many political detainees come and go (or perish), he sometimes reveals his more humane side, but then, he could be just playing the good guy in the good-guy-bad-guy charade.

Woman Police Constable (WPC) & Reporter (on video)} possible doubling as the reporter. Any age, built and ethnicity.

Sergeant Labad: a sometimes-robotic, sometimes-human lackey of the system.

We are also looking for technical crew and volunteers in:

Lighting
Sound
Stage design
Stage management
House management

Function 8 is a non-profit social enterprise incorporated late 2010. Due to budget constraints, we can pay only a token fee to each cast and crew member.

For further information, please contact Wong Souk Yee at soukyee@hotmail.com
or Lim Siauw Chong at freurmine@yahoo.com.sg

Happy Holidays!

Tue, 27 Dec 2011 06:49:41 -0500

Happy holidays! Urban Kulit is off for the year but will be back next year with more interviews and theatre love!

Till then, Merry Christmas!

Final part of our interviews with the Wicked (Singapore)...

Mon, 19 Dec 2011 03:09:00 -0500

Final part of our interviews with the Wicked (Singapore) cast!

We caught the Witches earlier, now we’re off to see David Harris (Fiyero), Bert Newton (The Wizard), Anne Wood (Madame Morrible), Elisa Colla (Nessarose) James D. Smith (Boq) and Glen Hogstrom (Dr Dillamond) in the Land of Oz.

Venue: Marina Bay Sands Grand Theatre
Dates: Now to Feb 26
Time: Tues-Friday 7:30pm; Sat-Sun 1:30pm and 7:30pm
Tickets: $250, $165, $145, $125, $95, $55
from www.sistic.com.sg (+65 6348 5555)
or www.marinabaysands.com/ticketing (+65 6688 8826)

Singaporeans are in for a massive treat this Christmas an new...

Sun, 18 Dec 2011 07:02:00 -0500

Singaporeans are in for a massive treat this Christmas an new Year! Wicked has been a phenomenal smash hit on Broadway, the West End and on the road. The Singapore run comes straight from the Australian tour which also played to sold out houses in Melbourne, Sydney, Perth and Brisbane.

Watch Part 1 of our interview with the Wicked cast (above)!

We speak with Jemma Rix (Elphaba) and Suzie Mathers (Glinda) from the international touring cast of Wicked about satay, Singapore and turning green.

And click here to catch Part 2 of our interview with the Wicked cast.

If there’s one show you need to catch this year, it’s Wicked. Don’t miss this Broadway spectacular.