Esplanade's Flipside arts festival returns with live international acts

SINGAPORE - Enter the effervescent world of Flipside, which is celebrating playfulness and creativity from June 3 to 12.

The offbeat arts festival by the Esplanade features puppetry, comedy and street performances and is resuming live performances after two years with the return of international acts, including from South Korea, Finland and France.

Ms Shireen Abdullah, producer of Flipside, says: "These art forms we are bringing in are rarely seen in Singapore."

Take, for example, Millefeuilles, an immersive exhibition and shadow puppetry show by Compagnie Areski from France.

Its creator, Lukasz Areski, 45, says: "Most of the themes evoked are universal, such as loneliness and the need to escape into imagination. The audience participates in creating the story by flashing a light at paper sculptures, animating the silhouette. There is poetry in small things."

Ms Shireen, who is in her 40s, also highlights Only Bones by Finnish group Kallo Collective. It stars award-winning entertainer Thom Monckton as a clown. She says his control over every single muscle in his body and comedic timing make it a play not to be missed.

She says she curates programmes that are accessible to a broad age demographic regardless of their exposure to the arts.

"We have a juggling workshop and an improvisational comedy workshop for parents and children which plays with ideas that you won't get in daily interactions."

Flipside is also reviving its pop-up shows in outdoor spaces.

Ms Shireen adds of the programme line-up: "While light-hearted, it also deals with serious social issues and mature themes."

This includes Big Brown Girl, a solo theatre performance by Singapore's How Drama which stars Ross Nasir as the titular character, Ruby. The show is different every time as the audience decides Ruby's fate by picking whom she goes on dates with. The work, first staged in December 2021, is inspired by Ross' personal life.

Ross, 35, co-artistic director of How Drama, says: "Being fat is the easiest way to be discriminated against. With this show, I want the audience to know that being a plus-size woman doesn't mean she needs to belittle herself to compensate for the space she takes up.

"The audience feedback has been gold. Many women were thankful that their struggles with self-worth were represented."

Where: Esplanade - Theatres on the Bay, 1 Esplanade Drive
When: June 3 to 12
Admission: Free to $35. For ages seven and above (except for rated programmes)
Info: Esplanade event website 

Correction note: An earlier version of the story incorrectly stated the programme for outdoor spaces. This has been corrected. We are sorry for the error.