Thursday 19 February 2015

Chinese New Year decoration and light up at Chinatown



Year of the Goat in 2015.  This year, the decoration along South Bridge Road was more "money-minded". Shouldn't we keep to the spirits of the Lunar New Year and be less commercialised?


It seemed that last year's design team was involved in this year's project, but somehow last year's final products were better.  (Year of the Horse at Chinatown)


Nonetheless, Happy Year of the Goat!


Thursday 5 February 2015

Review: A Second Life and Circle Mirror Transformation


Theatre company Little Red Dot staged A Second Life The Arts House Playden in end January.  Tan Suet Lee has written an interesting play exploring reality versus virtual space and relationship.  The staging however was draggy as scene changes were too long - the space could be better utilised.  The cast of four were generally competent.  I like Varshini's portrayal of the cyber lover Louella.  Andrew Choo also gave credible performance as Adam, friend of the couple Lawrence (Ian Chionh) and Mary (Gillian Tan). Overall the play was stronger than the production.









I enjoyed past performances staged by theatre company Pangdemonium.  I however found its latest production, Circle Mirror Transformation by Annie Baker, rather tame.   While the play used the process of drama rehearsals to reflect on human relationships and interactions, the message was rather bland and did not offer audience much insights.












The ensemble was good (Adrian Pang, Neo Swee Lin, Nikki Muller, Daniel Jenkins) and young actress Selma Alkaff was a surprise in this production.  The play was directed by Tracie Pang and the set design was by Wong Chee Wai.









Sunday 1 February 2015

L'amour by ESO Symphony


A concert by amateur group ESO Symphony, led by Eric Lee Tsu Hock.  Pieces performed included Rossini's William Tell Overture, Mozart's Sinfonia Concertante K364 and Bizet's Carmen Suite No 2.  Jeremy Chiew and Nanako Takata were soloists for the Mozart piece.

As an amateur group, the members were a disciplined lot. All in all, a good effort by them.