Events

“... resists essentialist notions of Black masculinity by imagining a world where Black pain... is met with Black tenderness, care, and community.”

—Frenzied H(e)avens: African American Post Exilic Realities in J’Sun Howard’s “aMoratorium” by Brianna Alexis Heath

aMoratorium explores Black male identity, visibility, temporality, and its absence, and further examines death as it relates to the Black church and Black spiritual traditions. It is an intimate performance that expresses generous, compassionate, and loving play between Black and Brown men in our current socio-political climate.

aMoratorium was initially commissioned by the Art Institute of Chicago to respond to its retrospective of Charles Wilbert White, a visual artist who powerfully interpreted African American history, culture, and lives over the course of his four-decade career.

Choreographer J’Sun Howard and his collaborator-performers Dedrick “D. Banks” Gray and Timothy “Solomon” Bowser, and DJ Jared Brown, have created a frank and courageous dance-theatre performance. Standing at the intersection between art, activism, education, and social engagement, aMoratorium challenges racial supremacy, police brutality, global anti-Blackness, homophobia, and xenophobia.

“… dancer Dedrick Gray’s courage and vulnerability infused every shake, pounce and stagger.”

—Wendy Perron, Dance Magazine, 2019

“aMoratorium’s Dedrick Gray and Solomon Bowser are amazing, mesmerizing dancers! They are both so powerful/graceful and precise, but their solos truly showcased the delicious distinctions in their embodied storytelling.”

—Felicia Holman, Performance Response Journal, 2020

With support from Mid Atlantic Arts.

Post-show dialogue on 18 January 2024, with speech to text interpretation available upon request. Please email your request to info@singaporefringe.com before 15 December 2023.

Artist Statement

“To dance is to breathe. As a dancemaker, I organize generous, loving, and compassionate play for Black male-identified individuals. In a society that denies play as a possibility for us and does not permit exploring the unknown—because discovery requires a moment of aimlessness, which is deemed criminal in our country—we must be unapologetic in our Blackness. My work intertwines the undeniable gentleness, loveliness, and pain of our play.”

—J’Sun Howard

Issues of racial inequality are as prevalent today as they were 20 years ago. My work speaks to how Black and Brown people need to navigate and negotiate the realities of white supremacy, police brutality, global anti-Blackness, homophobia, and xenophobia. These issues affect my community and the world at large because they reinforce the ideology that Black and Brown people should not exist.

Content warning: themes of grief, depression, suicide, and thoughts of suicide throughout.

A family reels from the sudden loss of Nenek - is it shame or guilt that keeps their grandmother's death shrouded in mystery? When Fadli's pleas to pursue therapy are rejected by his mother, he finds himself treading along an all too familiar path.

This intimate forum theatre work written by Danial Matin and directed by Moli Mohter is a sensitive exploration of mental health, suicide, and grief in the Singapore Malay Muslim community. Join performers Suhaila Binte Mohamed Sanif, Fadhil Daud, and Chng Xin Xuan, and facilitators Adib Kosnan and Chng Yi Kai in this safe exploratory space to navigate these issues together.

Please note that some audience members will be seated on mats on the floor for the duration of the performance. We advise that you dress comfortably for the show. There are a limited number of chairs for those who require them. Please let us know at Front of House if you require seating on a chair.

Powered by the National Youth Council, Youth Action Challenge, and Spark the Next.

Venue support by Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts (a founding member of the University of the Arts Singapore).

Singapore Sign Language interpretation is available for the 8pm performance on 26 January 2024.

Artist Statement

Cultural and religious taboos are important factors to consider when it comes to understanding the source of mental health stigma. Cultural background and upbringing also inform coping mechanisms and help-seeking behaviour.

Even within the same cultural context, cultural beliefs have the potential to bring both harm and benefits to those facing mental health struggles. As such, we aim not to dismiss cultural views and norms, but to look for the possibilities of how to navigate and integrate them in mental health discourses in a manner that capitalises on their benefits.

“What Noor Effendy manages to do with expert skill is keep the edge of his knife right in that sweet spot between pleasure and pain. It is that slash between human/beast and child/adult. And, implicating the audience, the one between witness/accomplice. That slash that simultaneously means ‘and’ and ‘or’.”

—Nabilah Said, Arts Equator on Cerita Cinta (2018)

In a tight embrace above the line that divides the land, two unknown soldiers—deeply in love and with different loyalties—contemplate the inevitable as the night sky above Motherland starts to burn red. When Motherland eventually bleeds and pleads for vengeance, how should the soldier love?

First presented as a work-in-progress at Headlines Act / SIFA-X 2023 Edition by Centre 42 and Singapore International Festival of Arts (SIFA), Motherland examines notions of love as framed between the extremes of loyalty and betrayal. It is a poignant yet searing response to the remembered, forgotten, neglected, and celebrated violent conflicts around the world that continue to develop, evolve, and erupt to this day.

Written and directed by fendy, Motherland is performed by Bada Jabari, Irfan Kasban, Mish'aal, with vocals by Rosemainy Buang and music by Isyraf.

Please note that some audience members will be seated on mats on the floor for the duration of the performance. We advise that you dress comfortably for the show. There are a limited number of chairs for those who require them. Please let us know at Front of House if you require seating on a chair.

Post-show dialogue on 19 January 2024, with speech to text interpretation available upon request. Please email your request to info@singaporefringe.com before 15 December 2023.

Artist Statement

Motherland aims to pursue the examination of the erotic tension felt within tender interracial conversations between two different male bodies connected by inherent and latent, yet tumultuous, shared political memory. This work adds to Effendy’s evolving research examining the sexual, religious, and political vulnerability of the minority body in the contemporary site for performance. The examination aims to contribute to more critical and sincere creation and rehearsal processes to achieve a hyper-realistic conversation between the performance of the minority body and the gaze (of the audience/spectator) in the performance site, contextualized by the architectural and spatial design of the performance space.

“… Oo-Woo follows in the footsteps of Raimi’s earlier work Rindu Di Bulan and captures the complexities of family, particularly the bond between parents and children.”

—Bakchormeeboy on an earlier iteration of Oo-woo at Playwrights’ Cove 2022

Through tender storytelling, Oo-woo unravels the intricate web of caring for an elderly family member with dementia. As the story unfolds, deep secrets and hidden desires come to light, casting doubt on the strength of familial bonds. When their cherished family bird mysteriously disappears, a journey of unsettling discoveries begins, challenging the characters' understanding of duty and love.

Written by Raimi Safari, directed by Mohd Fared Jainal, and starring Dalifah Shahril, Farah Lola, Isabella Chiam and Yazid Jalil, Oo-woo delves into the haunting realm of dementia, blurring the lines between reality and illusion. A single bird brings into question the sacrifices and choices we make when faced with the unknown.

Oo-woo was developed at The Necessary Stage’s Playwrights’ Cove 2022 under the mentorship of Resident Playwright Haresh Sharma.

Post-show dialogue on 25 January 2024, with speech to text interpretation available upon request. Please email your request to info@singaporefringe.com before 15 December 2023.

Artist Statement

“I believe that theatre has the power to create meaningful and transformative experiences within a community. By exploring the theme of taking care of the elderly in a Singaporean context, we shed light on the challenges and sacrifices involved in this deeply personal journey.

“Oo-woo delves into the internal struggles between personal aspirations and familial obligations, resonating with many individuals who face similar dilemmas. By addressing the poignant topic of caring for the elderly with dementia in Singapore, Oo-woo prompts the community to reflect on the importance of familial bonds, the sacrifices we make for our loved ones, and the need for support and compassion in navigating such situations.

“We hope that this play will initiate conversations, spark empathy, and encourage action within the local community. Through collective reflection, we can build a more inclusive and supportive society, where the needs of our elderly are acknowledged, and the challenges faced by caregivers are understood and addressed. Oo-woo aspires to foster greater awareness and compassion for those caring for their elderly family members.”

—Raimi Safari, Playwright

“It doesn’t happen too often that you leave the theatre slightly confused, but with a relaxed smile on the lips and feeling refreshed. Watching someone act foolishly [in SAME SAME] is therapeutic; it helps you not to take yourself so seriously and let some absurdity into your life. Boredom can kill even the most meaningful work.”

—Lucie Kocourková, Taneční aktuality (translated from Czech)

In a world where reason is a nice façade, the bursting in of non-sense makes us face our relationship with normalcy and allows us to be receptive to unexplored paths. Somewhere between burnout and brownout, two women, exposed to each other like a palindrome in a distorting mirror, lose their direction and rekindle their inner wild animals.

Belgian choreographer Karine Ponties, leading Czech creative dancer Tereza Ondrová and theatre director Petra Tejnorová explore the boundaries of subtle humour, irony and absurdity in this award-winning dance-theatre performance. Inspired by silent film actor Buster Keaton whose trademark physical comedy was heightened by his deadpan expressions, SAME SAME moves us with their depth and sincerity despite the hilarity of the form.

Post-show dialogue on 20 January 2024, with speech to text interpretation available upon request. Please email your request to info@singaporefringe.com before 15 December 2023.

Artist Statement

Somewhere between bored out, burnout, and brownout, SAME SAME explores the contemporary issues we face at work and in our lives. The piece highlights the absurdity of repetitive gestures in both public and private spheres while playing with mirror effects to emphasise the complexity of human beings and relationships. In this piece, we also explore resemblance and dissemblance, domination and submission, superficiality and depth. In a world dominated by reason, the interruption of absurdity compels us to confront our relation with normalcy.