Latest news with #StrayGods
Straits Times
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- Straits Times
Sifa 2025: Natalie Hennedige's swansong embraces diversity and accessibility without dumbing down
Stray Gods, which opened on May 30 as part of the Singapore International Festival of Arts (Sifa), is a live concept album by musician weish. PHOTO: MOONRISE STUDIO SINGAPORE – Straightforward celebrations can make for boring art. In the year of SG60, the heavy duty fell upon Singapore International Festival of Arts (Sifa) director Natalie Hennedige to programme a three-weekend-long festival that could imbue official patriotism with the necessary complexity. Hennedige, known for her meta-theatrical, highbrow aesthetic, responded with innovation for her fourth festival. Her 2025 commissions – including a record 15 works from local groups – expanded inclusivity and accessibility while remaining true to Sifa's mandate to push artistic boundaries, in part by taking her erudition down a notch. Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Straits Times
31-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Straits Times
Arts review: Musician weish taps an ancient well of feelings in live concept album Stray Gods
Stray Gods, which opened on May 30 as part of the Singapore International Festival of Arts (Sifa), is a live concept album by musician weish. PHOTO: MOONRISE STUDIO
Straits Times
01-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Straits Times
Celebrate home-grown talent at Singapore International Festival of Arts 2025
Over three weeks till June 1, there will be varied shows on offer. PHOTOS: DAHLIA KATZ, MARC GABRIEL LOH, LIM YAOHUI, GIN TAY SINGAPORE – Singapore International Festival of Arts (Sifa) 2025 is director Natalie Hennedige's final year at the helm. She has commissioned a record-breaking number of home-grown works – 15 – for her last hurrah. With the theme of More Than Ever, the tentpole performing arts festival organised by Arts House Limited will kick off in classic Hennedige multidisciplinary style at Bedok Town Square on May 16. For the first time in Sifa's history, the opening act is a free event at a neighbourhood site compared with the usual glitzy affair at an indoor arts venue. Over three weekends till June 1, there will be varied shows on offer, from crowd-pleasing comedy headlined by ever-popular actor Hossan Leong and family-friendly fare at Little Sifa to Drama Box's participatory theatre piece Hello Is This Working? and the more intimate Japanese Occupation-era tale A Thousand Stitches. The Straits Times takes a closer look at some of the must-see shows. Ramesh Meyyappan reimagines King Lear as war veteran and without Shakespeare's language Glasgow-based theatremaker Ramesh Meyyappan returns to Singapore with an adaptation of Shakespeare's Lear. PHOTO: DAHLIA KATZ At the end of a lively interview with Ramesh Meyyappan, the local theatremaker makes a request. Signing via an interpreter over the Zoom call, he says to refer to him as a deaf man rather than hearing impaired, a term not widely used in the deaf community as impaired suggests there is something wrong with the person. 'I've never considered myself hearing. I was born deaf. I don't consider that there is anything wrong with me,' he says. The 51-year-old has turned what some consider a disability into a strength, having built a thriving career as a physical theatre performer, writer and director. Nominated for five Straits Times Life Theatre Awards for Best Actor, he has won twice, for Gin & Tonic (2008) and Snails & Ketchup (2012). READ MORE HERE Musician weish conjures 'ancient Hakka-Greek' world in live concept album Performers in Stray Gods include (from left) Ian Lee, weish, Hee Suhui (Anise), Rosemainy Buang, Joanna Dong and Sushma Soma. PHOTO: MARC GABRIEL LOH Forgotten Hakka mountain songs and an ancient Greek tragedy about mania are the two unlikely ingredients Singaporean indie musician weish will blend to create her live concept album concert, Stray Gods, at the Singapore International Festival of Arts (Sifa). It all started when she was invited by a Melbourne-based artist to record a song in her mother tongue for an exhibition, which collected songs from across the world. 'I realised quite embarrassingly that I had no connection to my Hakka heritage – and it felt wrong to look for a Mandarin song.' Then, she struck melodic gold and unearthed over 50 fragments of Hakka ditties and melodies in a university archive in Hong Kong. One song, Bright Moon – about a nomadic girl asking her mother where home is – stayed with her so deeply that she began singing the melody in her sleep. READ MORE HERE The Sea And The Neighbourhood transforms Bedok Town Square with music, dance and art Christina Chan is the choreographer for Pact Of Water. The performance will be part of The Sea And The Neighbourhood, the opening show for Singapore International Festival of Arts. ST PHOTO: LIM YAOHUI A bustling neighbourhood square surrounded by a train station, a bus interchange and a busy food centre is not the first venue one associates with the Singapore International Festival of Arts (Sifa). But come May 16, Bedok Town Square will host Sifa 2025's opening performance, The Sea And The Neighbourhood, an ambitious festival commission which brings together kinetic sculpture, dance and music. The bustle of everyday life will be the dynamic backdrop, even a part of, the work. As choreographer Christina Chan, 37, observes: 'It's a visually chaotic space.' After her first site visit, she recalls saying to composer Philip Tan, 52: 'But this is already a show.' READ MORE HERE The Finger Players' gruesome Animal Farm features 13 life-size puppet beasts Animal Farm's set designer and puppet-maker Loo An Ni (left) and director-playwright Oliver Chong. ST PHOTO: GIN TAY 'All animals are equal' – so goes one of the famed seven commandments in English novelist George Orwell's classic Animal Farm, after a group of animals rebel against their human farmer to create a free and equal society. But speak to puppet designer and lead puppet-maker Loo An Ni and she will tell you that is not true. While making the 13 puppets – from pigs to hens to donkeys – one puppet made her job especially difficult. She is creating the creatures for The Finger Players' (TFP) production of Animal Farm, which opens at the Singapore International Festival of Arts (Sifa) on May 16. Loo and her team of six had already been given a challenging brief by director Oliver Chong – to have one puppeteer steer one life-size puppet. READ MORE HERE Book it/Singapore International Festival of Arts 2025 Where: Various venues When: May 16 to June 1, various timings Admission: Free and ticketed Info: Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Straits Times
30-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Straits Times
Celebrate home-grown talents at Singapore International Festival of Arts 2025
Over three weeks till June 1, there will be varied shows on offer. PHOTOS: DAHLIA KATZ, MARC GABRIEL LOH, LIM YAOHUI, GIN TAY SINGAPORE – Singapore International Festival of Arts (Sifa) 2025 is director Natalie Hennedige's final year at the helm. She has commissioned a record-breaking number of home-grown works – 15 – for her last hurrah. With the theme of More Than Ever, the tentpole performing arts festival organised by Arts House Limited will kick off in classic Hennedige multidisciplinary style at Bedok Town Square on May 16. For the first time in Sifa's history, the opening act is a free event at a neighbourhood site compared with the usual glitzy affair at an indoor arts venue. Over three weeks till June 1, there will be varied shows on offer, from crowd-pleasing comedy headlined by ever-popular actor Hossan Leong and family-friendly fare at Little Sifa to Drama Box's participatory theatre piece Hello Is This Working? and the more intimate Japanese occupation era tale A Thousand Stitches. The Straits Times takes a closer look at some of the must-see shows. Ramesh Meyyappan reimagines King Lear as war veteran and without Shakespeare's language Glasgow-based theatremaker Ramesh Meyyappan returns to Singapore with an adaptation of Shakespeare's Lear. PHOTO: DAHLIA KATZ At the end of a lively interview with Ramesh Meyyappan, the local theatremaker makes a request. Signing via an interpreter over the Zoom call, he says to refer to him as a deaf man rather than hearing impaired, a term not widely used in the deaf community as impaired suggests there is something wrong with the person. 'I've never considered myself hearing. I was born deaf. I don't consider that there is anything wrong with me,' he says. The 51-year-old has turned what some consider a disability into a strength, having built a thriving career as a physical theatre performer, writer and director. Nominated for five Straits Times Life Theatre Awards for Best Actor, he has won twice, for Gin & Tonic (2008) and Snails & Ketchup (2012). READ MORE HERE Musician weish conjures 'ancient Hakka-Greek' world in live concept album Performers in Stray Gods include (from left) Ian Lee, weish, Hee Suhui (Anise), Rosemainy Buang, Joanna Dong and Sushma Soma. PHOTO: MARC GABRIEL LOH Forgotten Hakka mountain songs and an ancient Greek tragedy about mania are the two unlikely ingredients Singaporean indie musician weish will blend to create her live concept album concert, Stray Gods, at the Singapore International Festival of Arts. It all started when she was invited by a Melbourne-based artist to record a song in her mother tongue for an exhibition, which collected songs from across the world. 'I realised quite embarrassingly that I had no connection to my Hakka heritage – and it felt wrong to look for a Mandarin song.' Then, she struck melodic gold and unearthed over 50 fragments of Hakka ditties and melodies in a university archive in Hong Kong. One song, Bright Moon – about a nomadic girl asking her mother where home is – stayed with her so deeply that she began singing the melody in her sleep. READ MORE HERE The Sea And The Neighbourhood transforms Bedok Town Square with music, dance and art Christina Chan is the choreographer for Pact Of Water. The performance will be part of The Sea And The Neighbourhood, the opening show for Singapore International Festival of Arts. ST PHOTO: LIM YAOHUI A bustling neighbourhood square surrounded by a train station, a bus interchange and a busy food centre is not the first venue one associates with the Singapore International Festival of Arts (Sifa). But come May 16, Bedok Town Square will host Sifa 2025's opening performance, The Sea And The Neighbourhood, an ambitious festival commission which brings together kinetic sculpture, dance and music. The bustle of everyday life will be the dynamic backdrop, even a part of, the work. As choreographer Christina Chan, 37, observes: 'It's a visually chaotic space.' After her first site visit, she recalls saying to composer Philip Tan, 52: 'But this is already a show.' READ MORE HERE The Finger Players' gruesome Animal Farm features 13 life-size puppet beasts Animal Farm's set designer and puppet-maker Loo An Ni (left) and director-playwright Oliver Chong. ST PHOTO: GIN TAY 'All animals are equal' – so goes one of the famed seven commandments in English novelist George Orwell's classic Animal Farm, after a group of farm animals rebel against their human farmer to create a free and equal society. But speak to puppet designer and lead puppet-maker Loo An Ni and she will tell you that is not true. While making the 13 puppets – from pigs to hens to donkeys – one puppet made her job especially difficult. She is creating the creatures for The Finger Players' (TFP) production of Animal Farm, which opens at the Singapore International Festival of Arts (Sifa) on May 16. Loo and her team of six had already been given a challenging brief by director Oliver Chong – to have one puppeteer steer one life-size puppet. READ MORE HERE Book it/Singapore International Festival of Arts 2025 Where: Various venues When: May 16 to June 1, various timings Admission: Free and ticketed Info: Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Straits Times
30-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Straits Times
Sifa 2025: Musician weish conjures ‘ancient Hakka-Greek' world in live concept album
weish's Stray Gods will blend forgotten Hakka mountain songs and an ancient Greek tragedy at the Singapore International Festival of Arts. PHOTO: JUHARDI MOHD SINGAPORE – Forgotten Hakka mountain songs and an ancient Greek tragedy about mania are the two unlikely ingredients Singaporean indie musician weish will blend to create her live concept album concert, Stray Gods, at the Singapore International Festival of Arts (Sifa). It all started when she was invited by a Melbourne-based artist to record a song in her mother tongue for an exhibition, which collected songs from across the world. 'I realised quite embarrassingly that I had no connection to my Hakka heritage – and it felt wrong to look for a Mandarin song.' Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
