ONE is a painstakingly faithful re-creation of a cluttered apartment in Latvia shared by five elderly people. It is crammed with knick-knacks and the objects are imbued with. The other is a dreary, blasted heath of an towards a lowered ceiling. The claustrophobic set is the home of characters who spiral towards their doom.

These two unusual sets for theatrical productions are set to make a splash at the ongoing Singapore Arts Festival. The productions, Long Life by Latvian theatre company New Riga Theatre and The Cherry Orchard by master Chinese director Lin Zhaohua, are part of a sassy recession-beating programme. The 26 core productions this year are a winning combination of crowd-pleasing works, big names in the arts world and plenty of quirk.

What some of the productions have in common are very striking sets. Audiences have already seen stunning sets in dance productions Sutra and Seven Boards Of Tricks.

Read the full story in Thursday's edition of The Straits Times, Life!.