SINGAPORE - The annual festival of live art M1 Singapore Fringe Festival returns from Jan 20 to 31 with the theme of Quiet Riot.
Singaporean and international artists will present nine events exemplifying resistance in the face of global crises and other issues such as censorship. These will be performed live at the Esplanade and Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts, and also streamed via video-on-demand on Sistic Live.
The shows range from Koh Wan Ching and Andrew Sutherland's theatre piece A Line Could Be Crossed And You Would Slowly Cease To Be, which responds to the climate crisis; to dance group New Cambodian Artists' Snow Whitening Revisited, which asks questions about the importance of traditions and the role women play in maintaining them.
A webinar titled Quiet Riot: Agitating For Change From Within will also be held on videoconferencing platform Zoom, with a panel comprising Nee Soon GRC MP Carrie Tan, founder of Daughters Of Tomorrow, a charity which helps women from underprivileged families; Izzaty Ishak, lead artist and community worker at Beyond Social Services; and Thenuga Vijakumar, president of the Cat Welfare Society.
The festival is organised by theatre company The Necessary Stage and this edition sees its artistic director Alvin Tan back at the helm - taking over from Sean Tobin, the former head of theatre at the School of the Arts who led the event from 2015 to 2020.
To make the festival more inclusive, the Fringe is working with Equal Dreams, which offers disability accessibility and consultancy services.
Live performances, for instance, will come with accessibility features - which could include Singapore Sign Language interpreting - and all videos on demand will have closed captions. A quiet space will be provided near each performance venue.
Book It/M1 Singapore Fringe Festival: Quiet Riot
WHERE: Sistic Live; Zoom; Esplanade - Theatres on the Bay, 1 Esplanade Drive, Theatre Studio, Level 4; Nafa Studio Theatre, Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts, Campus 3, 151 Bencoolen Street
WHEN: Jan 20 to 31
ADMISSION: $27 (in-theatre tickets, concessions available) or $15 (video-on-demand), via Sistic (official website or call 6348-5555); free with registration (for the webinar Quiet Riot: Agitating For Change From Within). You can also pay $95 to access all digital streams of Fringe performances throughout their screening periods. Tickets are available now
INFO: Official website
