A hotel in Singapore is opened at the turn of the century, when the island is still a jewel in the British Crown. It serves as an exotic pit stop for travelers who wish to explore the glittering expanse of the British Empire.
Each day, new faces appear and swiftly disappear – guests and staff alike. Every ten years, we check into the hotel and meet its residents. As Singapore morphs from British colony to Malaysian state to sovereign nation, its denizens experience profound and dramatic changes. We meet Indian mutineers, Cantonese nannies, Malay film stars, Japanese soldiers, transsexual sex workers, wedding guests and suspected terrorists. They live out the pivotal moments in their personal lives, even as empires die and new ones are born from their ashes.
The chambermaids clean up all signs of them when they leave, readying the room for the next guests. But traces persist, and time reveals its cyclical nature. Ghosts communicate with the living, doubles are separated by decades, and a single moment of decision haunts the generations that come after.
An immersive, multi-generational epic, HOTEL explores the notions of empire, nationhood, migration and identity against the backdrop of a shrinking world. Spanning a century, and performed over five hours in nine languages, HOTEL is a ground-breaking theatrical event highlighting the eclectic energies born from the collisions between the old and the new, East and West, tradition and modernity.
HOTEL, commissioned by the Singapore International Festival of Arts and produced in partnership with W!LD RICE, premiered on 27th Aug 2015 at the Victoria Theatre, Singapore.
