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Jun 17, 2010
From 800k to 80k
The drastic drop in this year's Arts Fest attendance - 80,000 from last year's 800,000 - is a result of more stringent calculations by the National Arts Council
<!-- by line -->By adeline chia
<!-- end by line -->
<!--background story, collapse if none-->BEST SHOWS
Y O'clock
This low-key play by Japanese group faifai was a sleeper hit. About a daycare centre teacher who bonds with one of his charges, its inventiveness topped anything else in the festival, with the use of puppets and even two figures on an actor's buttocks to tell the story. It was a magical ride back into childhood and back into the present, making audiences savour the joy of the here and the now.
Those Who Can't, Teach
'The older you are, the more you remember. The younger you are, the more you forget,' says Mrs Phua, a dedicated teacher in this big-hearted play from The Necessary Stage's archive.
The older Singapore's performing history, the more we need to look back while still looking forward. Playwright Haresh Sharma and director Alvin Tan have updated their 1990 work with contemporary references, and the result is a warm, compassionate and hilarious portrait about the relationship between teachers and students, and about being young and growing old.
Academy Of St Martin In The Fields And Joshua Bell
The audience came for two stunning nights of music by the American virtuoso violinist Bell and the celebrated British chamber orchestra and they got what they wanted: a firework display of technical brilliance and sparkling music. Encore, please.
<!--end background story--><!--background story, collapse if none-->WORST SHOWS
Fire Garden
Fire bombed: The festival's opening act, Fire Garden, did not work with Singapore's hot weather. -- PHOTOS: NEO XIAOBIN, SINGAPORE ARTS FESTIVAL
This work by the French troupe Compagnie Carabosse lit up the Empress Place precinct with fire balls and lanterns. It was a sight to behold, to be sure.
But the fumes created such a massive sauna in the already muggy tropical night that visitors had their pores steamed open and sweat pouring down their backs. Children cried in horror and people fled the scene.
To whoever is listening, please do us a favour and programme something involving ice and snow next year.
Football! Football!
Take a director with a good track record, the theme of football during the ongoing World Cup fever and throw in plenty of hot bods. It all sounds like a recipe for a hit arts fest show. But this production was more like a recipe for a gigantic turkey.
The toe-curlingly bad production was directed by Sarajevo-born Haris Pasovic, whose critically acclaimed Class Enemy was a highlight of the 2008 festival.
This time, the plot about a group of soccer-loving gangsters was ridiculous and far-fetched, with random interjections of interpretive dance and music videos. The actors seemed embarrassed to be on stage. Give the coach a red card for this match.
11 And 12
British theatre doyen Peter Brook is spoken of with the kind of hushed reverence reserved for deities, but this play about the religious tensions in the West African country of Mali was pure Snoozeville. Brook sympathisers say that theatre is allowed to be quiet, but quiet theatre can also engage, move or inspire. Sadly, there was very little of this here.
<!--end background story--><!--background story, collapse if none-->Top picks from moi
The Singapore Arts Festival has come to a close, and Fest Pest has had a nourishing and yet exasperating time at the theatres. But it is that time of year again - cue drumroll - to give out my annual Fest Pest awards
BEST ACTRESS: Margaret Chan in Emily Of Emerald Hill
Her Emily Gan had more spunk, warmth and pathos in her little finger than scores of lesser kebaya-clad actresses combined. The gutsy Chan, with years of life experience, gave a rock-solid performance as the feisty bibik and even propped up the creakier aspects of the classic Stella Kon play. Respect.
BEST ACTOR: Tie between Najib Soiman (above) in Those Who Can't, Teach and Scott Shepherd (below) in Gatz
How not to love deadpan Najib, this engineer-turned-actor? In an already hilarious play, he stole the show in three roles: as an entrepreneurial canteen operator, a bumbling sidekick and a snoozing teacher. Top marks for this class act.
As for Shepherd, he had to perform for a marathon six hours and boy, did he deliver. His role as Nick Carraway began as a detached and bemused narration, intensifying into a physical performance and then back to a subdued, melancholy end.
SHOW WHERE TIME STOOD STILL: Tie between Maybe Forever and 11 And 12
Maybe Forever, a dance production by American Meg Stuart and Austrian Philipp Gehmacher, was supposed to be about failed romances, but it was so slow and sedate that people started walking out. British director Peter Brook's 11 And 12, about the conflict in a Muslim community whether to say a prayer 11 or 12 times, was soporific.
MOST BACK-BUSTING PRODUCTION: Gatz
Six hours - that was how long the production by Elevator Repair Service lasted, not counting the two short toilet breaks and a longer dinner break. Some wise members of the audience came with pillows to cushion the effects of the unforgiving Esplanade Theatre Studio benches. Others who did not have the foresight suffered frozen shoulders and aching backs afterwards.
MOST 'BEIJING OLYMPICS' MOMENT: The end of Wind Shadow
This Cloud Gate Theatre piece choreographed by Lin Hwai-Min from Taiwan was a collaboration with Chinese visual artist Cai Guoqiang, who was involved in the Beijing Olympics opening ceremony in 2008.
Wind Shadow closed with a spectacular laser display that created a vortex of green light beyond the stage, while silhouettes of dancers writhed towards it. It was stunningly beautiful while evoking death and destruction. A real coup de theatre.
BEST COSTUME DESIGN: Alexander McQueen in Eonnagata
The show may have been a bit of a let-down, given the weight of its expectations on the superstar collaboration involving French ballet star Sylvie Guillem, Canadian theatre maestro Robert Lepage and British choreographer Russell Maliphant.
But there was no faulting the wonderful androgynous costumes by the late British designer Alexander McQueen, which ranged from space-age body suits and transparent kimonos to soft frock coats and bendy crinolines.
MOST CAMP PRODUCTION: Red Demon
Sequins, getai-esque singing and dancing, melodramatic plot-line - you name it, this Thai dance-drama had it. The production combined Western musical aesthetics with traditional dance and was utterly fabulous.
LONG-SUFFERING AWARD: Actress Seo Joo Hee in Lady Macbeth
In the long lineage of tortured Lady Macbeths, Korean group Theatre Moollee's Joo-hee Seo was the most angst-ridden Lady Macbeth of them all. The actress dunked herself in a pool of water and was whipped by a long piece of dough (which bore an uncanny resemblance to a thick, gigantic strand of udon).
<!--end background story-->
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Wind Shadow is one of the ticketed shows that provided audiences with some stunning visual memories. -- ST PHOTO: MALCOLM KOH
<!-- story content : start -->
THE numbers are a stark contrast. This year, 80,800 people attended the Singapore Arts Festival. It sounds like a drastic drop from last year's 800,000 - the highest attendance since 1986 - and from 2008's 600,000.
But the 33-year-old festival has not run into serious trouble. The drop in numbers is the result of organiser the National Arts Council's decision to be more stringent in calculating the number of people who attended the shows.
This year, the overall attendance was calculated based on tickets sold for the 29 ticketed productions and the people who turned up at the six free events. Even for the free events, care was taken not to include people who were just passing by the venues.
Read the full story in Thursday's edition of the Straits Times.http://www.straitstimes.com/Life%21/LifeArts/Story/STIStory_541230.html
[email protected]
From 800k to 80k
The drastic drop in this year's Arts Fest attendance - 80,000 from last year's 800,000 - is a result of more stringent calculations by the National Arts Council
<!-- by line -->By adeline chia
<!-- end by line -->
<!--background story, collapse if none-->BEST SHOWS
Y O'clock
This low-key play by Japanese group faifai was a sleeper hit. About a daycare centre teacher who bonds with one of his charges, its inventiveness topped anything else in the festival, with the use of puppets and even two figures on an actor's buttocks to tell the story. It was a magical ride back into childhood and back into the present, making audiences savour the joy of the here and the now.
Those Who Can't, Teach
'The older you are, the more you remember. The younger you are, the more you forget,' says Mrs Phua, a dedicated teacher in this big-hearted play from The Necessary Stage's archive.
The older Singapore's performing history, the more we need to look back while still looking forward. Playwright Haresh Sharma and director Alvin Tan have updated their 1990 work with contemporary references, and the result is a warm, compassionate and hilarious portrait about the relationship between teachers and students, and about being young and growing old.
Academy Of St Martin In The Fields And Joshua Bell
The audience came for two stunning nights of music by the American virtuoso violinist Bell and the celebrated British chamber orchestra and they got what they wanted: a firework display of technical brilliance and sparkling music. Encore, please.
<!--end background story--><!--background story, collapse if none-->WORST SHOWS
Fire Garden
Fire bombed: The festival's opening act, Fire Garden, did not work with Singapore's hot weather. -- PHOTOS: NEO XIAOBIN, SINGAPORE ARTS FESTIVAL
This work by the French troupe Compagnie Carabosse lit up the Empress Place precinct with fire balls and lanterns. It was a sight to behold, to be sure.
But the fumes created such a massive sauna in the already muggy tropical night that visitors had their pores steamed open and sweat pouring down their backs. Children cried in horror and people fled the scene.
To whoever is listening, please do us a favour and programme something involving ice and snow next year.
Football! Football!
Take a director with a good track record, the theme of football during the ongoing World Cup fever and throw in plenty of hot bods. It all sounds like a recipe for a hit arts fest show. But this production was more like a recipe for a gigantic turkey.
The toe-curlingly bad production was directed by Sarajevo-born Haris Pasovic, whose critically acclaimed Class Enemy was a highlight of the 2008 festival.
This time, the plot about a group of soccer-loving gangsters was ridiculous and far-fetched, with random interjections of interpretive dance and music videos. The actors seemed embarrassed to be on stage. Give the coach a red card for this match.
11 And 12
British theatre doyen Peter Brook is spoken of with the kind of hushed reverence reserved for deities, but this play about the religious tensions in the West African country of Mali was pure Snoozeville. Brook sympathisers say that theatre is allowed to be quiet, but quiet theatre can also engage, move or inspire. Sadly, there was very little of this here.
<!--end background story--><!--background story, collapse if none-->Top picks from moi
The Singapore Arts Festival has come to a close, and Fest Pest has had a nourishing and yet exasperating time at the theatres. But it is that time of year again - cue drumroll - to give out my annual Fest Pest awards
BEST ACTRESS: Margaret Chan in Emily Of Emerald Hill
Her Emily Gan had more spunk, warmth and pathos in her little finger than scores of lesser kebaya-clad actresses combined. The gutsy Chan, with years of life experience, gave a rock-solid performance as the feisty bibik and even propped up the creakier aspects of the classic Stella Kon play. Respect.
BEST ACTOR: Tie between Najib Soiman (above) in Those Who Can't, Teach and Scott Shepherd (below) in Gatz
How not to love deadpan Najib, this engineer-turned-actor? In an already hilarious play, he stole the show in three roles: as an entrepreneurial canteen operator, a bumbling sidekick and a snoozing teacher. Top marks for this class act.
As for Shepherd, he had to perform for a marathon six hours and boy, did he deliver. His role as Nick Carraway began as a detached and bemused narration, intensifying into a physical performance and then back to a subdued, melancholy end.
SHOW WHERE TIME STOOD STILL: Tie between Maybe Forever and 11 And 12
Maybe Forever, a dance production by American Meg Stuart and Austrian Philipp Gehmacher, was supposed to be about failed romances, but it was so slow and sedate that people started walking out. British director Peter Brook's 11 And 12, about the conflict in a Muslim community whether to say a prayer 11 or 12 times, was soporific.
MOST BACK-BUSTING PRODUCTION: Gatz
Six hours - that was how long the production by Elevator Repair Service lasted, not counting the two short toilet breaks and a longer dinner break. Some wise members of the audience came with pillows to cushion the effects of the unforgiving Esplanade Theatre Studio benches. Others who did not have the foresight suffered frozen shoulders and aching backs afterwards.
MOST 'BEIJING OLYMPICS' MOMENT: The end of Wind Shadow
This Cloud Gate Theatre piece choreographed by Lin Hwai-Min from Taiwan was a collaboration with Chinese visual artist Cai Guoqiang, who was involved in the Beijing Olympics opening ceremony in 2008.
Wind Shadow closed with a spectacular laser display that created a vortex of green light beyond the stage, while silhouettes of dancers writhed towards it. It was stunningly beautiful while evoking death and destruction. A real coup de theatre.
BEST COSTUME DESIGN: Alexander McQueen in Eonnagata
The show may have been a bit of a let-down, given the weight of its expectations on the superstar collaboration involving French ballet star Sylvie Guillem, Canadian theatre maestro Robert Lepage and British choreographer Russell Maliphant.
But there was no faulting the wonderful androgynous costumes by the late British designer Alexander McQueen, which ranged from space-age body suits and transparent kimonos to soft frock coats and bendy crinolines.
MOST CAMP PRODUCTION: Red Demon
Sequins, getai-esque singing and dancing, melodramatic plot-line - you name it, this Thai dance-drama had it. The production combined Western musical aesthetics with traditional dance and was utterly fabulous.
LONG-SUFFERING AWARD: Actress Seo Joo Hee in Lady Macbeth
In the long lineage of tortured Lady Macbeths, Korean group Theatre Moollee's Joo-hee Seo was the most angst-ridden Lady Macbeth of them all. The actress dunked herself in a pool of water and was whipped by a long piece of dough (which bore an uncanny resemblance to a thick, gigantic strand of udon).
<!--end background story-->
<!-- end left side bar -->
<!-- story content : start -->
THE numbers are a stark contrast. This year, 80,800 people attended the Singapore Arts Festival. It sounds like a drastic drop from last year's 800,000 - the highest attendance since 1986 - and from 2008's 600,000.
But the 33-year-old festival has not run into serious trouble. The drop in numbers is the result of organiser the National Arts Council's decision to be more stringent in calculating the number of people who attended the shows.
This year, the overall attendance was calculated based on tickets sold for the 29 ticketed productions and the people who turned up at the six free events. Even for the free events, care was taken not to include people who were just passing by the venues.
Read the full story in Thursday's edition of the Straits Times.http://www.straitstimes.com/Life%21/LifeArts/Story/STIStory_541230.html
[email protected]
