Centre 42 is one of the supporting partners of the 2016 M1 Singapore Fringe Festival.
Returning for its 12th year, the Festival will feature 19 events from 12 countries. Audiences can look forward to a diverse array of works curated around the theme “Art and the Animal”. The Festival runs from 13 to 24 January 2014 across several venues.
In line with the Festival’s goal of developing independent artists, Centre 42 is collaborating with the Festival for the 2nd year running, on five of its programmes:
BI(CARA) by Pink Gajah Theatre
A Fringe Commission and World Premiere.
BI(CARA) is a new work based on the talk Why Do We Do What We Do? by zoologist and ex-CEO of the Singapore Zoological Gardens Bernard Harrison. His controversial talk questioned the ethics of man in the ways we treat animals as meat for consumption, entertainment and commodity. This visceral physical work by performer Sharda Harrison questions society as much as it reflects upon and unravels human behaviour and our relationships to animals through history, myths, and examining the rituals and culture of the Orang Asli (First People).
Centre 42 supports BI(CARA) and Pink Gajah Theatre as part of the Basement Workshop programme. Updates on the creation process will be shared soon!
Event details and ticketing information can be found here.
The Shape of A Bird by Jean Tay | Saga Seed Theatre
Written by Jean Tay (Everything but the Brain, Boom) and co-directed by US-based Singaporean theatre/filmmaker Mei Ann Teo (Lyrics from Lockdown) and Benjamin Ho (Paper Monkey Theatre), the workshop production of The Shape of a Bird evokes a magical world of warring birds and cicadas through the creative use of puppetry, brought to life by performers Tan Kheng Hua, Brendon Fernandez, Jean Toh and Thomas Pang.
Centre 42 supports The Shape of a Bird and Jean Tay as part of the Basement Workshop programme. The development of this play was also supported by the Centre’s Guest Room programme in July 2015.
Event details and ticketing information can be found here.
The Chronicles of One and Zero: Kancil by Zeugma
A Fringe Commission, Highlight and World Premiere.
Written by BIG (Zulfadli Rashid) and directed by Rizman Putra, The Chronicles of One and Zero: Kancil is a fantastical pastiche of what we perceive to be our culture and heritage, set in today’s digital and virtual world. It seeks to unravel hidden stories from the ancient Malay fable Hikayat Sang Kancil (The Chronicles of Sang Kancil), retold and deconstructed through Syair and Puisi (forms of traditional Malay poetry), body projection mapping and animated sequences.
Zeugma is an artist collective that aims to explore and excavate ancient Asian folklore by reconstructing old and new narratives. This production was developed with support from Centre 42.
Event details and ticketing information can be found here.
BITCH: The Origin of the Female Species by Edith Podesta
A Fringe Commission and World Premiere.
BITCH: The Origin Of The Female Species is a theatrical reclamation of one of the most complex insults in the English language. From the Dark Ages to pop culture; Homer’s Mistress of Animals, Artemis, to Jo Freeman’s The BITCH Manifesto, BITCH offers a reflection of our ‘animal selves’, an embodiment of suppressed human urges and desires transformed into the perfect companion: ‘man’s best friend’.
In reversing the roles of ‘woman’ and ‘dog’, BITCH will compel the audience to interrogate their own assumptions of the fundamental qualities of the human, within a human, as they witness the ‘dog’ impounded in the image of ‘woman’. By illuminating the human/animal divide, BITCH seeks to unshackle perceptions of ‘nature’ from the constructs or ‘culture’.
This production was developed with support from Centre 42.
Event details and ticketing information can be found here.
When Bitch Meets Butch
A Fringe Activity.
The Festival brings together two exciting female theatre makers Edith Podesta and Tan Liting to discuss two particular words – “Bitch” and “Butch” – both words reclaimed from their origins as derogatory slurs used on women seen to be playing outside of society’s rules.
Bitches and butches may share similar traits which would be deemed as positive in a cis-gendered male — of being ambitious, aggressive, confident, demanding, smart, sexual, etc. However, women who display the above characteristics are labelled as ugly, unnatural, even bestial.
Instead of shying away from these insults used to discredit the identity and experience of women who transgress societal norms, join Edith and Liting as we unpack their experiences of being Singapore-based female theatre makers creating works about what it means to own, perform or reject these labels.
From the 2016 Fringe will be Edith, with BITCH: The Origin Of The Female Species. In the lead-up to the 2017 Fringe: Art and Skin, Liting will be sharing about B*TCH, a work she is currently developing under Centre 42’s Boiler Room programme, which delves into the realms of feminine masculinity in an attempt to provide a glimpse into the private lives of women who relate to or identify as butch, and aims to question the positions of those who are not bound by binaries.
This talk is moderated by Sean Tobin, Artistic Director of M1 Singapore Fringe Festival, and supported by Centre 42, in line with our focus on the creation, documentation and promotion of Singapore texts and writings for the Singapore stage.
Event details:
23 January, Saturday
1pm @ Centre 42 Rehearsal Studio
Find out more and register for free here.
View the full line-up of the M1 Singapore Fringe Festival 2016 here.
