During the 2000 Singapore Arts Festival, ACTION Theatre presented Painted Stories, a collection of new plays inspired by world-famous paintings. We are very pleased with the results. Four new works of very different nature were unveiled. These included 500 Marilyns, Hopper's Women, Women On Canvas - A Musical and The Tub.
Hopper's Women was critically acclaimed and went on to garner a total of 5 Life! Theatre Award nominations including Play of the Year and Best Original Script. Women On Canvas, on the other hand, was given an Inkpot Award and named one of the four Favourite Scripts of the Year 2000 by The Flying Inkpot Review.
This year, we wanted to find a different creative stimulus - something that could trigger the minds of the playwrights and the directors in a way that's different from Painted Stories. We toyed with several ideas and in the end, chose to go with 1 Bed 3 Pillows. This time, it's not so much about the visuals but more about feelings, a sense of touch and the darkness of the night. The starting point is a physical setting. It's specific but at the same time, filled with many possibilities.
And as you will see for yourself, apart from the similar setting, the four plays from 1 Bed 3 Pillows couldn't be more different. So watch the plays and let us have your views. In the meantime, we will continue to come up with new ideas to entice exciting talents to come together to create new works for Singapore theatre at 42 Waterloo Street.
