In today’s world it is all too easy to be overwhelmed by the depressing news of global unrest, growing isolationism and environmental decline. With so much at stake, the arts take a back seat when it comes to world affairs.
However, acting as much more than an escape from reality, theatre can be a tool for reflection, helping audiences understand and make sense of the world around them.
From now to September 7, The Studios, the flagship contemporary theatre platform of Esplanade – Theatres on the Bay in Singapore, presents part two of the Land trilogy, where four artists showcase works reflecting what is going on in the world, touching on both personal and global histories. The performances fall under The Studios’ 2024 theme, Fault Lines.
“There is a sense that we are living amid overlapping fault lines – multiple points of tension that may suddenly erupt – disrupting and displacing the global systems and structures as we know it,” says producer Lynn Yang.
Yang has a particular interest in artistic explorations that reflect the complexities and nuances of the world in which we live: “a world that so often demands immediacy,” she says. “Art reminds us to pause. And it is our immense privilege to work with these artists and to be able to share their work with you.”
Part-documentary, part-memoir
Showcasing the Singaporean artist’s photographic and film work, and a live score by percussionist Cheryl Ong, the performance time-travels through Sim’s family archive, recovering traces left in the wake of the Anti-British National Liberation War.
Based on her 15-year-long project of the same name – which has taken the form of visual art exhibitions, art books and a lecture performance – Sim will perform in a full theatre staging of One Day We’ll Understand for Esplanade’s 2024 season at The Studios.
“The performance draws on all the different chapters of visual artwork I have made and shapes it into a narrative that works for the stage,” she says. “I hope audiences will relate to those in terms of their own family histories and skeletons in the closet, but there are also themes that should have broader, universal resonances.”
The work showcases Sim’s different personas, from artist and researcher to granddaughter and mother. “They are vehicles to explore these broader issues,” she says.
A speculative look at ways to think about the past – and future, One Day We’ll Understand is showing from August 30 to September 1.
A ping-pong double concerto
The musical lecture traces the journey of diplomacy between the United States and China – from table tennis and television to tanks and trade wars. Evoking both an international piano competition and a ping-pong match, two classical pianists collaborate on a unification of sonic regimes.
Referred to as a multidimensional narrative with a “piano battle”, the show was created by Wong in an attempt to uncover the stories of the classical music “heroes” of that period.
“I collaborated with a composer-conductor to devise rearrangements of iconic classical music pieces that have become musical emblems of each country,” he says. “What we find are surprisingly more similarities and synchronicities than expected. Complicated relationships are explored through sound and image, through the art of listening and seeing beyond words.”
In a joint presentation with the Singapore Art Museum, Rhapsody in Yellow charts the ever-changing balance between the two superpowers. The two performances are on August 16 and 17 at the Singtel Waterfront Theatre at Esplanade.
As part of the range of events at The Studios, the main productions are supported by a series of companion programmes, related talks and activities, which aim to engage audiences with the chosen themes, ideas and art-making processes beyond the four walls of the theatre.