Source: The Straits Times © Singapore Press Holdings Limited. Permission required for reproduction C2 Arts TUESDAY, MARCH 17, 2015 TUESDAY, MARCH 17, 2015 Arts C3 PRODUCTION OF THE YEAR And the nominees are... Production of the Year Best Supporting Actor í Art by Nine Years Theatre; í Erwin Shah Ismail in The Ant & commissioned by Esplanade – The Grasshopper (I Theatre) Theatres on the Bay í Remesh Panicker in The Merchant í Monkey Goes West by Wild Rice Of Venice (Singapore Repertory í The Rise & Fall Of Little Voice by Theatre) Pangdemonium í Zachary Ibrahim in Fat Pig (Pangdemonium) Best Director í Edith Podesta for Dark Room x8 Best Supporting Actress (Edith Podesta; presented by í Elizabeth Lazan in Fat Pig Esplanade – Theatres on the Bay) (Pangdemonium) í Nelson Chia for Art (Nine Years í Jo Kukathas in The House Of Theatre) Bernarda Alba (Wild Rice) í Sebastian Tan for Monkey Goes í Siti Khalijah Zainal in Monkey Goes West (Wild Rice) West (Wild Rice) í Tracie Pang for Fat Pig (Pangdemonium) Best Set Design í Eucien Chia for The Rise & Fall Of Best Original Script Little Voice (Pangdemonium) í Dark Room x8 by Edith Podesta í Ho Tzu Nyen, Andy Lim and Jed (Edith Podesta; presented by Lim for Ten Thousand Tigers (Ho Tzu Esplanade – Theatres on the Bay) Nyen; co-commissioned by Esplanade – Theatres on the Bay, Asian Culture í Fluid by Liu Xiaoyi (The Theatre Practice) Complex – Asian Arts Theatre Korea, Carriageworks Australia and Wiener í Poor Thing by Haresh Sharma (The Festwochen Austria) Necessary Stage) í Wong Chee Wai for The House Of í #UnicornMoment by Oon Shu An Bernarda Alba (Wild Rice) (Checkpoint Theatre; in collaboration with Esplanade – Theatres on the Best Sound Design or Original Bay) Score í Bani Haykal for Gitanjali (The Best Actor Necessary Stage) PHOTOS: ALBERT KS LIM FOR WILD RICE, ESPLANADE – THEATRES ON THE BAY, CRISPIAN CHAN, DREAM ACADEMY, KUA CHEE SIONG, DESMOND FOO, ST FILE Adrian Pang in Frozen í í Darren Ng for Art (Nine Years (Pangdemonium) Wild Rice’s Theatre; commissioned by Esplanade í Oliver Chong in Art (Nine Years – Theatres on the Bay) Monkey Goes Theatre; commissioned by Esplanade West (far right), í Elaine Chan and Bang Wenfu for Nine Years – Theatres on the Bay) Monkey Goes West (Wild Rice) Theatre’s Art í Peter Sau in Art (Nine Years í Jeffrey Yue, Yasuhiro Morinaga and (above) and Theatre; commissioned by Esplanade Bani Haykal for Ten Thousand Tigers Pangdemonium’s – Theatres on the Bay) (Ho Tzu Nyen et al) The Rise & Fall í Sugie Phua in Monkey Goes West Of Little Voice (Wild Rice) Best Lighting Design (right) are the í Andy Lim for Ten Thousand Tigers three nominees Best Actress for Production of (Ho Tzu Nyen et al) the Year. í Frances Lee in Fat Pig í James Tan for Red (Blank Space (Pangdemonium) Theatre; in collaboration with í Lydia Look in The Way We Go Esplanade – Theatres on the Bay) (Checkpoint Theatre) í Lim Yu-Beng for The House Of í Mina Kaye in The Rise & Fall Of Bernarda Alba (Wild Rice) Little Voice (Pangdemonium) Best Costume Design Best Ensemble í Ivan Heng for The House Of í Dark Room x8 (Edith Podesta; Bernarda Alba (Wild Rice) presented by Esplanade – Theatres on í Tube Gallery by Phisit & Saxit for the Bay) Monkey Goes West (Wild Rice) í Poor Thing (The Necessary Stage) í Yang Derong for Hotpants í Senang (Drama Box) (produced by Annie Pek) BEST DIRECTOR Highs and lows over 15 years The Life! Theatre Awards weathered early criticisms usefulness of the awards”. Crowd-pleasers and about its credibility before going on to capture the There was “a particular kind of trepidation that it sweep of Singapore theatre over the last 15 years. would endorse notions of standards or preferences Playwright-director Chong Tze Chien, company or might be deemed too subjective in its rendering”, director of The Finger Players, acknowledges that he adds. The awards came with “a lot of teething while awards of any nature will always carry the issues” such as how to give complimentary tickets burden of subjectivity, theatre practitioners here to a large body of judges, which would cost a have moved “from being sceptical and cynical of it substantial sum; practitioners also wondered how intimate encounters to accepting it and finally embracing it as part and the judging panel would look at complex, abstract parcel of our theatre ecology”. work, compared with plays that were text-based another four nominations for the intense Pangdemonium productions. drama of the real-life experiences of eight The Finger Players has nabbed the coveted and representational. Comedies, smaller shows The House Of Bernarda Alba, for a total Pang says: “It gives them the male inmates incarcerated in Changi Production of the Year award three times. This has But over time, the awards proved itself by of 10 nominations. confidence to know they’ve made a right Prison, from their day in court to the day and new experiments helped to turn its fortunes from half-empty houses, recognising an eclectic array of works both large The company’s founder, Ivan Heng, career choice and that other people see of their release. following a rebrand of its puppet theatre troupe in take the spotlight at the was thrilled by Monkey Goes West’s that their work is being recognised. It’s Feted visual artist and film-maker Ho and small, abstract and naturalistic and, in the nominations. He says of the work: really exciting to see them flourish in the Tzu Nyen’s forays into theatre and 2004, to sold-out runs and a loyal following for its process, striving for a more inclusive view of Singa- Life! Theatre Awards “When you really think about Monkey acting community.” performance have also been rewarded. mode of intelligent and inventive object-based pore theatre. Goes West, it had Xi You Ji (Journey To Awards judge Helmi Yusof says of this His performance-installation Ten theatre catering to adults. Mr Purushothaman says: “I’m glad the enterprise The West), flamenco, Chinese opera, promising batch of young practitioners: Thousand Tigers gained three nomina- Chong adds: “Whether you agree with the continued and, slowly, people started to build wushu, shadow puppetry and the goddess “There was a whole batch of young tions for its technical finesse. The visual awards or not... it has achieved what it set out their confidence in it. Today, artists are proud of mercy Guan Yin played by Siti Khalijah talents delivering work that was up there spectacle, akin to a cabinet of curiosities, to do, which is to celebrate the year and to say, ‘I’m a Life! Theatre Awards winner.’” Zainal, a Malay actress – I think what it with the best. I was taken aback, for examined the mythos of the tiger in the theatre practitioners. It goes beyond He notes that having these credentials, Corrie offered was an experience you’ll never instance, by Tracie Pang’s very solid Fat Singapore history. the winners – it’s always a great occasion to and to have a production supported and Tan see anywhere else in the world. Pig. It had a cast of four young actors – The Necessary Stage also broke new meet friends, colleagues and peers at the acclaimed in its home country, is a step “This is what we’ve been trying to do three of whom are relatively fresh faces – ground with its play about the whims of awards ceremony, and everyone will go towards global recognition and has “phenom- ingapore’s longest-running with our entire body of work, to celebrate and they were all delivering pitch-perfect social media, Poor Thing, where audience there and clap for everyone, and enally supported capacity building” theatre awards turns 15 this what it means to be Singaporean and to turns in a pitch-black comedy.” He also members were allowed to comment on celebrate everyone, and that’s an year, a major birthday for what for the theatre sector. explain to ourselves and our audiences lauded Pang’s ability as a director to draw the action – a road-rage incident gone amazing feeling.” remains the only annual awards Crucial to the awards’ what it means to be Singaporean, with out these performances from the actors. wrong – in real time on Facebook. Each year’s awards credibility has been the streamlin- to honour excellence in the the ability to so freely adapt and borrow Another production featuring an On the whole, however, there were Scountry’s theatre industry. From the ceremony has had different ing of the judging panel to a and bring it all together.” up-andcomer was fewer nominees from the 2014 season, themes and dress codes, from smaller group of informed and audaciously experimental and irresistibly Another comedic 28-year-old Oon Shu with the Production of the Year category provocative to good ol’ fashioned drama, 2013’s Hipster Cheek to 2007’s dedicated theatre watchers, production with almost An’s deeply personal at an all-time low of three. Curse Of The Golden Flower comprising academics or Life! Theatre Awards has welcomed and as many nominations is production #Unicorn- This was largely due to the fact that celebrated them all. th (And Other Dysfunctional reviewers from the major news- Art, a razor-sharp 1 Moment, which she there were fewer new productions than Royalty), which saw former papers, says Life!’s arts editor With this milestone comes a new 5 Chinese adaptation of wrote and starred in. It usual last year. It seemed that many judge, theatre academic K.K.