Crystalwords Theatre Highlights 2015

In what seems like the blink of an eye, it's New Year's Eve once again and time for my annual theatre round-up.

2015 has been a ridiculously packed year for Singapore theatre, what with the year-long SG50 celebrations and a host of festivals of all shapes and sizes. As a theatre reviewer, blogger and general patron of the arts, it's been one of the most colourful and diverse years I've seen so far and gives me tremendous optimism for the direction that the local theatre scene is headed. I can't wait to see what the second half of this decade brings.

A couple of preliminaries:

(a) This list is written in a purely personal capacity and reflects all the theatre productions I have watched in Singapore for the year, whether by local companies or touring foreign companies. It does not purport to be definitive by any stretch. Revivals by the same theatre company are generally not considered for the list unless I did not watch the original production.

(b) I rate all my productions, basing my score on acting, directing, script, production values and the overall experience. My average production score for 2015 is 3.4/5 which is slightly above last year's average of 3.3/5 - a very credible score though there is still room for improvement.

(c) As in previous years, I've done my theatre round-up in Academy Awards style. You can check out a more traditional Top 5 list of Singaporean-only theatre which I contributed to TODAY here. I've also decided to avoid writing a commentary about each selection from this year onwards - please click on the links to read my full reviews for each production.

*****

Best Actor
Ebi Shankara, Off Centre (Oliver Chong/Esplanade)

Best Actress
Claire Chung, Normal (Checkpoint Theatre)

Best Supporting Actor
Ghafir Akbar, The Good, The Bad and The Sholay (Checkpoint Theatre)

Best Supporting Actress
Farah Ong, Yusof (Zizi Azah/Esplanade) / Geng Rebut Cabinet (Teater Ekamatra)

Best Original Script
Alfian Sa'at and Marcia Vanderstraaten, Hotel (W!LD RICE)

Best Set Design
Márton Ágh, Dementia (Proton Theatre)

Best Costume Design
Laichan, Public Enemy (W!LD RICE)

Best Lighting Design
Lim Yu-Beng, The Weight of Silk on Skin (Tracie Pang/Esplanade)

Best Ensemble
Hotel, W!LD RICE

Best Director
Yukio Ninagawa, Kafka on the Shore (Ninagawa Company)

Production of the Year
Hotel, W!LD RICE