What’s up for SIFA 2016

A concert by a reality television star from China. Shakespeare’s Hamlet like you’ve never seen it before. An invitation to cosy up to actors in bed — these are just some of the things to expect at this year’s Singapore International Festival of Arts (SIFA).

The performing arts festival, the third edition under theatre director Ong Keng Sen’s leadership, will run from Aug 11 to Sept 17, and will be featuring close to 20 productions. More artists for SIFA and its pre-festival event, 
The OPEN, will be revealed in April.

Yes, this year’s line-up might seem like a huge drop from the 2015 edition, which had 66 productions, but that’s because last year’s festival included a series of events featured in the mini-dance festival, Dance Marathon, as well as shows that were staged in private homes.

‘OPEN’ UP TO ROCK

But before the festival proper, there is SIFA’s regular pre-festival event The OPEN, taking place from June 23 to July 9. One confirmed performer for that event is Chinese rock musician Perhat Khaliq. He made waves in 2014 with his appearance on the television reality music contest Voice Of China.

The musician, who is of Uighur descent, hails from the western Chinese province of Xinjiang, and his unique blend of rock and indigenous music forms, such as Muqam and throat singing, has earned him acclaim beyond the pop culture sphere: Last year, he was named a laureate by Holland’s prestigious Prince Claus Foundation.

He won’t be the only rock performer at The OPEN. Hardcore metal band Senyawa from Jogjakarta will also be performing in Club Malam, a series of performances inspired by the night club scenes of the 1950s and 1960s. There is also a performance featuring characters by Singaporean artist Speak Cryptic, which will be brought to life by 100 public participants.

Meanwhile, organisers have confirmed four shows for SIFA. These include Argentinian director Fernando Rubio’s Everything By My Side; Israeli artist-architect Ron Arad titled Curtain Call / 720; Hamlet/College by Canadian director Robert Lepage and Russian actor Yevgeny Mironov; and Five Easy Pieces by Swiss director Milo Rau.

Rubio’s piece — one of two he will be presenting at SIFA — will comprise 10 female actors, including a Singaporean, who will be lying on beds. Audience members then climb into bed with them to listen to their pieces. The show has been presented in unique outdoor venues in Holland and New York and for the Singapore edition, there are plans of holding it inside a mall.

Meanwhile, Arad’s video installation will be set up at Gardens By The Bay’s Meadow area. The structure, which is 18m in diameter, will comprise around 6,000 silicon strands, and act as an interactive video screen on which images by various artists, including Singaporean Brian Gothong Tan and American artist Isaac Julien, will be projected.

Another unusual structure will be up for Hamlet/Collage. Actor Mironov will play different characters, performing inside a suspended open-sided cube. The show will also employ video mapping. Finally, Rau’s documentary theatre Five Easy Pieces will include five to seven children actors taking part in short works dealing with children’s relationship to power, including one based on a real-life story of a paedophile in Belgium.

SPOTLIGHT ON ‘POTENTIALITIES’

The works at SIFA and The OPEN will revolve around the theme of Potentialities, which continues the thematic conversation from the previous two fest editions — 2014’s past-centric Legacies and last year’s Post-Empires, investigations into the present.

“(2016) will be the year of the future. Not science-fiction or futurism, but talking about the potentials in our prevailing society that may grow and erupt in the future,” said Ong, who described the term “potentiality” as the “grey space” that may lead to future manifestations.

He cited Khaliq’s rise to fame as a minority Uighur in mainstream China, as well as Rau’s growing status as one of the more important directors in the past 10 years — which is also tied to the growth of documentary theatre around that same time.

“We try to catch the Peter Brooks of today rather than bring in Peter Brooks when he’s 80,” said Ong.

With a couple of editions already under his wing, he said a long-term strategy for the festival can now be more easily put forward. This includes alternating editions that focus on Singapore and international artists. After last year’s SG50-slant, SIFA 2016 will put the spotlight mainly on the latter, while the following year will subsequently feature 60 per cent more Singaporean works.

Ong also emphasised the idea of SIFA as a “creations festival”, where it will actively commission works not just by Singapore groups but international ones as well, as a way to differentiate itself from others such as the Hong Kong Arts Festival and the George Town Festival 
in Penang.

“SIFA has to have a certain kind of identity — we have to be about Asian premieres and new ideas from around the world, not just South-east Asia.”

For this year, two-thirds of the festival line-up will be new creations, which will include international works, that will have Singaporean actors taking part.

In response to queries regarding the supposed overload of shows last year, Ong said: “It only feels like an overload when formulas are overplayed over and over again. We have to really look at (arts) programming (in Singapore). It’s never a problem with us because we look for different entry points for audiences. We decided not to do heartlands shows this year and to do something fresh every year.”

That said, Ong added that they are confident that Singapore’s audiences will buy in to the international slant this year. He cited the inclusion of Khaliq, a pop culture figure, as an example of breaking out of the idea of “insider art”, or how Hamlet/Collage director Lepage is not just an established name in theatre circles, but has also done work with Cirque du Soleil.

SIFA 2016 will run from Aug 11 to Sept 17, while The OPEN will run from June 23 to July 9. Tickets are set to go on sale on April 8. For more info, visit https://sifa.sg/

There is also an open call on March 19 for participants for Speak Cryptic’s performance for The OPEN. For more details, call 9397 7113.