Crystalwords Theatre Highlights 2017
Happy New Year's Eve! It's time for the Crystalwords annual Singapore theatre round-up.
2017 has been a strong year for original works and has seen the emergence of many new and rising playwrights. We've seen a bumper crop of local musical productions like Tropicana, Fun Home and Mama White Snake in addition to seeing celebrated productions like Hotel and Recalling Mother fly their flag abroad. There have also been a good number of revivals to round out the scene, with a particular emphasis on the three-decade oeuvre of local playwright Haresh Sharma.
Finally, with the news of two new theatres in the pipeline - a waterfront one at The Esplanade and a new performing arts space by W!LD RICE at the revamped Funan Mall - things are certainly looking bright for the arts scene.
On a personal front, I'm glad to have contributed a number of theatre reviews and podcasts to regional arts website Arts Equator (which has just celebrated its first anniversary!) and look forward to deepening the relationship in the future. Of course, I still try to review theatre shows I have caught as far as possible on this site.
A couple of preliminaries:
2017 has been a strong year for original works and has seen the emergence of many new and rising playwrights. We've seen a bumper crop of local musical productions like Tropicana, Fun Home and Mama White Snake in addition to seeing celebrated productions like Hotel and Recalling Mother fly their flag abroad. There have also been a good number of revivals to round out the scene, with a particular emphasis on the three-decade oeuvre of local playwright Haresh Sharma.
Finally, with the news of two new theatres in the pipeline - a waterfront one at The Esplanade and a new performing arts space by W!LD RICE at the revamped Funan Mall - things are certainly looking bright for the arts scene.
On a personal front, I'm glad to have contributed a number of theatre reviews and podcasts to regional arts website Arts Equator (which has just celebrated its first anniversary!) and look forward to deepening the relationship in the future. Of course, I still try to review theatre shows I have caught as far as possible on this site.
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 unless I did not watch the original production.
(b) I rate all my productions out of five, basing my score on acting, directing, script, production values and the overall experience. My average production score for 2017 is 3.43/5, which is, incidentally, the highest average score out of the past four years. A good number of productions have been in the good to very good category.
(c) I've done my theatre round-up in Academy Awards style like previous years without any specific commentary on my choice - please click on the links to read my full reviews for each production.
*****
BEST ACTOR
Thomas Pang, Hand to God (Singapore Repertory Theatre)
Thomas Pang, Hand to God (Singapore Repertory Theatre)
BEST ACTRESS
Yeo Yann Yann, Actor, Forty (The Necessary Stage)
Yeo Yann Yann, Actor, Forty (The Necessary Stage)
BEST COSTUME DESIGN
Tube Gallery, Mama White Snake (W!LD RICE)
Tube Gallery, Mama White Snake (W!LD RICE)
BEST LIGHTING DESIGN
Genevieve Peck, Art Studio (Nine Years Theatre)
BEST SOUND DESIGN
Bani Haykal, Sanctuary (The Necessary Stage)
BEST MULTIMEDIA DESIGN
Brian Gothong Tan, Being Haresh Sharma (The Necessary Stage)
Genevieve Peck, Art Studio (Nine Years Theatre)
BEST SOUND DESIGN
Bani Haykal, Sanctuary (The Necessary Stage)
BEST MULTIMEDIA DESIGN
Brian Gothong Tan, Being Haresh Sharma (The Necessary Stage)
BEST PRODUCTION
Dragonflies (Pangdemonium)
Dragonflies (Pangdemonium)
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