Singapore Theatre Festival 2016 – A Celebration of Local Playwriting

PUBLISHED June 23rd, 2016 07:00 am

From 30 June to 24 July, W!ld Rice’s Singapore Theatre Festival (STF) will transform LASALLE College of the Arts into a buzzing hub of activity. Back for the fifth time, Singapore Theatre Festival (STF) is dedicated to celebrating new local writing. Audiences will have their pick of a diverse line-up of hilarious, heartbreaking, witty, and whimsical works created by some of Singapore’s most exciting and innovative theatre-makers throughout the month-long festival.

Ivan Heng, the Artistic Director of W!ld Rice and of the STF, believes that STF will help to bring the audience in Singapore together. “In today’s world, we’ve become increasingly isolated and polarised because…we’re sitting behind a keyboard, ranting about what annoys us, passing judgment as easily as we are offended. In the shared experience of theatre, audiences are presented with conflicts to think, feel and work through together. Different perspectives jostle and co-exist in the same space. We are encouraged to put ourselves in another’s shoes and, in so doing, glimpse how we can get on with one another. People arrive at the theatre as strangers, but they leave as an audience.”

W!LD RICE’s Resident Playwright Alfian Sa’at, the Festival’s Dramaturg, added, “What is particularly exciting about this Festival is that it provides a platform for Singapore’s next generation of playwrights, some of whom are presenting their first plays.”

The festival will feature the works of nine playwrights, eight directors and four companies. Featuring the stories of contemporary Singapore, the plays give voice to people from all walks of life: the young and the old, the minorities and the marginalised, including members of the LGBT, Teochew, and motor biking communities.

HOTEL, an epic odyssey through a hundred years of Singapore’s history, is the cornerstone production of STF. Presented at the 2015 Singapore International Festival of Arts, HOTEL is directed by Ivan Heng and Glen Goei, and written by Alfian Sa’at and Marcia Vanderstraaten. The production was recently nominated for seven ST Life! Theatre Awards, including Best Direction, Best Original Script and Production of the Year.

As part of the STF’s ongoing commitment to discovering new talent, the season will feature brand-new plays by first-time playwrights – Helmi Yusof’s My Mother Buys Condoms is a heartfelt romantic comedy that puts a cheeky spin on active ageing; and Nessa Anwar’s Riders Know When It’s Gonna Rain takes audiences on an exhilarating ride through the adventures and friendships shared by members of Singapore’s motor biking community. Thomas Lim’s Grandmother Tongue examines the ways in which the concepts of family and identity get lost in translation when younger generations can no longer speak the languages of their forebears.

Complementing the eight plays in the Festival’s main season are the FEST!VITIES – a collection of thrilling events designed to engage and entertain audiences beyond the rise and fall of the curtain. These public forums, cabarets and jam sessions will bring together some of the brightest, boldest talents Singapore has to offer.

LASALLE’s Lowercase Café will be hosting The Art & Life Sessions, featuring prominent public personalities reflecting on the issues of the day in a series of lively forums that are free to the public. Forum speakers include Kok Heng Leun (Artistic Director of Drama Box and Nominated Member of Parliament); playwright Tan Tarn How (Fear of Writing); Daniel Goh (Non-Constituency Member of Parliament, Workers’ Party); graphic artist Sonny Liew (The Art of Charlie Chan Hock Chye) and independent filmmaker Tan Pin Pin (To Singapore, With Love).

Stand Up for Singapore promises a W!LD, wicked night of fun, laughter and comedy. Led by comedian and television host Fakkah Fuzz, a slate of up-and-coming comics – including Sam See and Qamarul – promise to tickle your funny bone as they excavate the lighter side to living in Singapore.

“The theatre is a space that inspires reflections and conversations – some of the best plays are not the ones that offer neat answers but instead raise questions, often about things that society does not question,” says Festival Dramaturg Alfian Sa’at, who personally curated the exciting line-up for most of the FEST!VITIES. “We have organised these parallel events, from forums to cabaret performances, to engage with some of the issues and ideas raised in the Festival’s plays.”

For more information and the full line-up, visit STF’s website. Tickets to some shows are still available at SISTIC.