CONTENTS 02 01 DIRECTOR’S MESSAGE SINGAPORE WRITERS FESTIVAL FRINGE: ONCE UPON A TIME 02 FEATURED 12 LITERARY ARTS 23 FESTIVAL 25 FILM 30 MUSIC 35 THEATRE 37 VISUAL ARTS 32 06 LIVING WITH HANSEL JARED CHAN AND GRETEL 40 EVENT LISTINGS (헨젤과그레텔) 42 SHOP & DINE AT THE ARTS HOUSE 43 THE ARTS HOUSE BOX OffICE 16 WORLD VOICES FEATURING 44 OUR SPACES RYAN VAN WINKLE 45 AbOUT THE ARTS HOUSE 14 RASHOMON The information is accurate at the time of print and changes could have been made since then. For updates, please visit our website at www.theartshouse.com.sg DIRECTOR’S MESSAGE My favourite fairy tale is The Little Mermaid by Hans Christian Anderson (Note: Not the Disney version). There is something so perverse about the little mermaid’s single-minded quest for love, which puts her through so much pain and suffering, that self-sacrifice seems like the only logical end. Therein lies the paradoxical appeal of fairy tales: They pull you in with the promise of happy-ever-after, but they also make your stomachs churn with horrific tales of cruelty and death. Philip Pullman’s recent retelling, Fairy Tales From The Brothers Grimm, is a case in point. It is a testament to the everlasting power of tales like Cinderella that self-mutilation is readily accepted as a way towards wish fulfillment (trying to fit into the slipper). The Singapore Writers Festival Fringe at The Arts House (page 2 – 7) this year attempts to untangle the complexity of fairy tales and folklore. Noted writers from all over the world as well as Singapore will gather here this November (1-10 Nov) as we turn the House into a site of enchantment and nightmare. From talks and panel discussions to film screenings, performance of macabre Southeast Asian myths and immersive installation art, the world of Once Upon A Time at The Arts House eagerly awaits you! In October, we also pay tribute to the art of short form writing (We Love Shorts, page 13). Singapore is slowly becoming the hub of short stories, if the number of short story publications that come out every year is anything to go by. Short can be sweet, but also profound and provocative, as embodied by the works of the great writer Ryūnosuke Akutagawa, popularly known as the “Father of Japanese short story” (page 14 – 15). Furthermore, we are launching a new creative writing programme for the silver hair community, Silver Writing (page 10). Senior citizens will learn creative writing and storytelling skills through this course, and their original stories will then be showcased here. It will be a time to let their imagination run wild! See you at The Arts House! William Phuan Director, The Arts House featured \ fringe SINGAPORE WRITERS FESTIVAL FRINGE: ONCE UPON A TIME organised by This year’s Singapore Writers Festival (SWF) Fringe transports us to THE ARTS HOUSE the world of fairy tales and folklore. It is an enchanting world that is also filled with gore and death. Fantastical beings, monsters and Living Room, Chamber, spirits inhabit this realm, where the young constantly find themselves Screening Room in a state of peril and abandonment. Join the Fringe writers at The Arts House as they recount supernatural tales and discuss if happily- 2 – 6 Nov, 7.30pm ever-after is always guaranteed. Admission by SWF Festival Pass PANEL DISCUSSIONS MEET THE AUTHOR: CaTHERINE BREILLAT Screening Room \ 2 Nov, 6.00pm Moderator: JF Danis Provocative. Controversial. Fearless. Meet the writer and director who bravely blurs the lines between the tantalising and the obscene, the honest and the brutal, as evidenced by her adaptations of the two classic fairy tales Sleeping Beauty and Bluebeard. Expect a no- holds-barred discussion filled with rare insights into the workings of a leading thinker and artist. 45\2 featured \ fringe MEET THE AUTHOR: TERRI WINDLING ENCHANTMENT, NATIONALIsm AND FANTASY: WHERE FAIRY TALES COME FROM Living Room \ 2 Nov, 7.30pm \ Moderator: Jasmine Ann Cooray From the Brothers Grimm to Hans Christian Andersen, fairy tales trace their origins to oral traditions and can be seen as a nationalistic attempt to preserve its folklore. Yet as they get captured in the written form, their narratives also change, and even get influenced by tales from other cultures. Fairy tales expert and writer Terri Windling takes us through the fascinating history of how fairy tales developed and came to their present form. MISOGYNY IN FAIRY TALES? STEPMOTHERS GET A baD RAP Living Room \ 3 Nov, 7.30pm \ Moderator: Joel Gwynne \ Panellists: Catherine Breillat, Terri Windling Often, female characters in fairy tales are either damsels in distress to be rescued by brave princes, or villainous stepmothers who stop at nothing to destroy their rivals. A case of gender discrimination, or the Oedipus complex at work? However, modern retelling of fairy tales in books or films allows a feminist revisioning. The panel takes on these tales through a gendered lens. BLOOD, GORE AND VIOLENCE: THE DARK SIDE OF FAIRY TALES Living Room \ 4 Nov, 7.30pm Moderator: Philip Tatham \ Panellists: Catherine Breillat, Karsono H Saputra, Paolo Chikiamco In his influential book, The Uses of Enchantment: The Meaning and Importance of Fairy Tales (1976), American psychologist Bruno Bettelheim uses Freudian psychology to argue that dark themes, like death, abandonment and bodily harm, are actually good for children, helping them cope with their fears. Yet, can fairy tales be "too dark" and gratuitous, without any purpose as justification? REINVENTION AND ADAPTATION: TaLES FOR THE MODERN AGE Living Room \ 5 Nov, 7.30pm Moderator: Dr Myra Bacsal \ Panellists: Cyril Wong, Daphne Lee, Karsono H Saputra Are the fairy tales and folk lore of yesterday too simplistic or even didactic in this morally complex world today? Many books and films have attempted to reinterpret or adapt these stories for the modern age, giving them a postmodernist inflection or introducing shades of grey. The panel weighs in on the constant urge to update our best-loved tales and surveys the results. DEBATE HAPPILY EVER AFTER: FaIRY TALES SCREW US UP Chamber \ 6 Nov, 7.30pm It usually ends with the prince and princess living happily ever after (or some variation to that end). However, life doesn’t often turn out that way. Do fairy tales skew our view of the world, and paint a picture too rose-tinted for our own good? Do they still have a role to play in our world today? Two teams of writers debate on whether fairy tales, in fact, mess with your minds, damaging you forever. 3\45 featured \ fringe DARKNESS AND LIGHT: TALES FROM SOUTHEAST ASIA Play Den \ 7 – 9 Nov, 8pm \ Post-show dialogue with performers: 8 Nov Performed by: BronzAge Gamelan Ensemble and guest artists from Indonesia, Wahyu Roche, Dedi Rachmatt and Mas Jarwo. Adapted by: Yong Shu Hoong Storyteller: Rosemarie Somaiah Artistic Director: Joyce Teo This performance is in English and Bahasa Indonesia Suitable for mature audiences 18 years and above Three magical and macabre tales from Southeast Asia will mesmerise you in a night of music and storytelling. The Legend of Sang Kuriang, Putri Gunung Ledang and the tale of Bukit Merah will be performed by noted storytellers from Indonesia and Singapore with original gamelan music performed by BronzAge Gamelan Ensemble. These timeless tales will be told with their original intent to weave lessons of morality with threads of violence, incest, bestiality and bloodshed. INTRUSION The Arts House Print Gallery & Box Office Foyer 26 Oct – 15 Nov, 10am – 10pm Free admission Let artists Julie Heather Liew and Catherine Oslo take you away into a world where everything is not what it seems in the realm of fairy tales and folklore; there are always two sides to the coin. Intrusion features seven installations where viewers are invited to interact with the space and document their experiences. These installations are meant to incite audience participation and, in the process, challenge the preconceived notion that artwork cannot be touched but only gazed upon. Rekindling child-like curiosity, visitors get to venture out of their personal space to intrude on the exhibition space. ONCE UPON A TIME IN SINGAPORE ... Earshot Cafe \ 3 Nov, 4pm Free admission The winning entries from our Open Call, which invited people to submit adaptations of their favourite fairy or folk tales in Singaporean context, will be performed by storytellers from the Storytelling Association of Singapore at Earshot café. Come hear your favourite tales flipped upon their heads – like Snow White biting on durian instead of apple, or Hansel and Gretel following a trail of mooncake crumbs to Sentosa! 45\4 featured \ fringe FILM SINGAPORE WRITERS FESTIVAL FRINGE FILMS Fringe Films explore the various film adaptations of fairy tales, delving in the dark and macabre themes behind bedtime stories we read when we were children. With support from David Lee, Vice Chairman, Singapore Film Society. Screening Room \ 2 – 6 Nov BLUEBEARD (BARBE BLEUE) 2 Nov, 3.00pm Director/Writer: Catherine Breillat Cast: Dominique Thomas, Lola Créton, Daphné Baiwir 2009 \ France \ 80min \ In French with English subtitles \ Rating: TBA In mid-1950s France, a girl named Catherine enjoys scaring her older sister Marie-Anne with the tale of the murderous and oft-married Bluebeard. Viewers are then whisked back to the late 1600s, when Lord Bluebeard realises that his seventh wife Marie-Catherine has uncovered his terrible secret. As Bluebeard gets caught up in a cycle of events, he is delayed from following through with his intention to murder his young wife… until the table starts to turn on him. THE SLEEPING BEauTY (La BELLE ENDORMIE) 2 Nov, 7.30pm Director/Writer: Catherine Breillat Cast: Carla Besnaïnou, Julia Artamonov, Kerian Mayan 2010 \ France \ 82min \ In French with English subtitles \ Rating: TBA Meet a little girl who dreams of being a boy.