Showing 1 - 10 of 21
A taste of art
Life, Amitha Amranand, Published on 25/04/2024
» We were told from the beginning to not think of Street Food Theatre as performing art, but rather an "experience". We were also informed of the belief of the project's creator that art can take place everywhere.
In the presence of others
Life, Amitha Amranand, Published on 14/07/2022
» My experience with Samara Hersch's online version of Body Of Knowledge (At Home), which was part of Germany's Impulse Theater Festival last year, has since got me interested in the question of what it is we do in theatre as audience. In Body Of Knowledge, the audience engaged in conversations with teenagers via WhatsApp, they in their own home, we in ours. The performance made me more attuned to the act of listening -- something we do in theatre without thinking or being asked to.
The Last Supper?
Life, Amitha Amranand, Published on 16/06/2022
» It's no surprise that as Covid restrictions are easing around the world, people are seeking new experiences to pluck themselves from mundanity, and to see, touch, smell and taste things in ways that awaken them. Why sit inside a theatre when you can walk around an art space or a neighbourhood while stories are spoken into your ears? Why only eat in cafes and restaurants when you can do that and watch a scene of a play unfold? Why dine in a restaurant when you can dine in an old airplane and participate in strange, semi-religious rituals?
Strangers, neighbours, others
Life, Amitha Amranand, Published on 09/06/2022
» For me, the word "ritual" evokes tradition and cycle. And there's plenty that is traditional and cyclical at this year's Singapore International Festival of Arts (Sifa). But with a new festival director, Natalie Hennedige, the programme under the theme "Anatomy Of Performance: Ritual" also embraces questions of the future and the digital space.
Performance in the wild
Life, Amitha Amranand, Published on 26/05/2022
» For Kok Heng Leun, memories of Pulau Ubin, an island northeast of mainland Singapore, go as far back as when he was a teenager.
A stroll through nostalgia and hope
Life, Amitha Amranand, Published on 21/04/2022
» After the first Covid lockdown in Thailand in 2020, the first performance that brought Bangkok theatregoers back to the physical space was Fullfat Theatre's Save For Later. At that time, the number of cases in Thailand was at a negligible level, and the idea of physical distancing and other pandemic measures were still a novelty. These inconveniences and constraints inspired and pushed theatre artists to experiment and create. Digital technology had a large presence in live performances back then, even in on-site ones.
Pushing the limits
Life, Amitha Amranand, Published on 05/08/2021
» The first virtual theatre festival that I participated in was "Isra-Drama: International Exposure Of Israeli Theatre 2020". I had never been to Israel and I still have not been to Israel.
Bonds that can't be broken
Life, Amitha Amranand, Published on 29/07/2021
» Some digital theatre productions that I've seen since the pandemic began have tried to make up for the loss of intimacy and sensory experience that live audience participation allows and the sense of connection to the performance and each other. Sometimes our participation makes the show or is the focus of the show. We the audience help tell the story.
The evolution of khon
Life, Amitha Amranand, Published on 22/04/2021
» Choreographer Jitti Chompee's ongoing khon project, which includes Melancholy Of Demon, a dance performance that I reviewed earlier this month, is supported by the Ministry of Culture and departments and offices under its umbrella. This is a surprising level of governmental support granted to a contemporary dance artist who wants to do not-so-genteel things with khon and the character of Tossakan. I still remember how in 2006 the Ministry of Culture reportedly forced Somtow Sucharitkul to change the scene in his opera Ayodhya that depicted the death of Tossakan (Ravan in the opera version) onstage, a practice that is considered a bad omen in Thailand.
Welcome back to space
Life, Amitha Amranand, Published on 28/07/2020
» With a phone in hand and a pre-recorded voice in our ears, we step down a half-turn staircase at the Bangkok Art and Culture Centre (BACC) towards the basement.