It gives me great pleasure to welcome you to the MAN SINGAPORE THEATRE FESTIVAL 2011. With six productions by four theatre companies, the festival offers some of the most exciting, challenging and thought-provoking plays made in Singapore.
This year's line-up includes three brand-new plays. Alfian Sa'at Cooling Off Day is a timely refelction of the watershed 2011 General Elections. Based on real-life interviews, this production will give voice to the private thoughts of voters and candidates against the backdrop of party rhetoric and public opinion. Huzir Sulaiman's The Weight of Silk on Skin offers a searing and intimate reflection on the nature of love and loss, and the value we place on things in our transient and fast-paced lives. First-time playwright Joel Tan's funny and compelling Family Outing tests the foundation of unconditional love in a family as instantly recognisable and dysfunctional as our own.
The Festival will also present recent new works as part of the "ENCORE" season. These new works moved me deeply and I believe they deserve a larger audience. Chong Tze Chien's Charged (Best Script 2010, The Straits Time Life! Theatre Awards) and Alfian Sa'at's Nadirah (Best Script 2009, The Straits Time Life! Theatre Awards) take a brutally honest look at the issues of religion and ethnicity in Singapore.
To enrich your theatre-going experience, there will also be many events taking place in an around the festival. Take on a starring role in This is Home?, a stimulating acting workshop by Drama Box, that culminates in a free public performance. Engage with prominent thought leaders and public personalities at "The Art & Life Sessions", and debate issues inspired by the plays in the Festival. Chill out at the new Festival Club, an intimate cabaret where you can meet the artists and discover new talents of stand-up comedy and musical theatre.
Please join us in saluting Man Investments as the Title Sponsor for the 2011 Singapore Theatre Festival and Patron Sponsor of W!LD RICE. Man's sponsorship marks a dynamic new partnership between a world-leading independent alternative investment manager and resolutely independent festival. With this affiliation, Man joins us in making a significant investment in the social, intellectual and cultural capital of Singapore and society at large. Thank you Man Investments.
Ladies and Gentlemen, this is a festival about YOU - your concerns and fears, your hopes and dreams. These plays speak of the Singaporean experience in fiercely passionate and powerful ways. Whether you are a fan of well-written, realistic dramas (Family Outing, Nadirah), hard-hitting political theatre (Cooling Off Day, Charged), or intimate reflections on the nature of love (The Weight of Silk on Skin), the MAN SINGAPORE THEATRE FESTIVAL promises a tantalising buffet of homegrown riches.
We look forward to welcome you to the theatre.
- Ivan Heng, Artistic Director
(Source: Wild Rice Programme)