Making a Scene

Making a Scene

By Esplanade OffstageSociety & CultureArtsPerforming Arts
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Making a Scene episodes

  • Making A Scene: Adaptations in Theatre

    What is the meaning or value of adapting an existing work rather than creating a new work? With so many great texts in the world, how does one decide which piece to revisit, and what are some considerations one should have in mind while doing so?

    34 min
  • Making A Scene: Pathways for Chinese Language Theatre in Singapore

    How do we understand and situate Chinese culture as well as Chinese language theatre in a multicultural society like Singapore?

    In this episode of Making A Scene, three artistic directors of prominent theatre companies in Singapore reflect on both their companies’ and their own relationship with Chinese language theatre, with reference to their upcoming works at Huayi – Chinese Festival of Arts 2024. Oliver Chong of The Finger Players (TFP), Koh Hui Ling of Drama Box (DB) and Nelson Chia of Nine Years Theatre (NYT) also sketch out the contours of future theatre pathways they are working on or hope for, in this wide-ranging podcast hosted by Chong Gua Khee, a Singapore director and dramaturg.

    48 min
  • Making A Scene: Opera’s Contemporary Resonance

    In this episode hosted by theatre-maker Edith Podesta, find out more about how opera is evolving with the times, through insights from Reuben Lai and Akiko Otao of L’Arietta Productions, Jeremy Chiew of New Opera Singapore, Jonathan Charles Tay and David Charles Tay of The Opera People, and Gena Ng of Singapore Lyric Opera. 

    44 min
  • TributeSG
    In this sanctuary, where the past, present and future melts into one another, I felt moved to reflect and contemplate—upon dreams made and legacies emerging.
    ---
    In this wooden alcove
    porous and bright,
    listen to whispers from yesteryears
    hopes turned winged visions in flight
    Watch as memories bare beams,
    upon crosscut metals find light
    in this wooden alcove
    porous and bright
    Lift the veil between the shores,
    breathe as time from less grow more
    shining faces, sliding doors,
    kindred spirits
    “we’ve met before”
    In this wooden alcove
    porous and bright,
    touch the walls where souls return
    dancing, dancing, evermore
    ever tracing a soundless glide,
    footprints glimpsing shadows
    bright
    ---
    This track is part of the audio tour, Eye-to-I, a programme under Voices – A Festival of Song 2021.
    2 min
  • Rooftop
    To me, the rooftop holds so many memories of encounters and delightful observations. Paired with the expansive horizon, it inspires hope and a sense of reaching beyond.
    ---
    Into this skybound green and glass,
    come children running,
    “Look mummy! Look daddy!”
    With words, they turn moments into songs,
    such is a universe of their own
    Come friends and lovers to bask and laugh,
    joyful gurgling and sparkling dreams of ‘morrow,
    each an orbit of their own, with only time to borrow
    Come dreamers musing,
    upon the grassy humps gazing—
    the flyer, the river, the sun, the skyscrapers!
    Into this skybound green and glass,
    I often come wandering—
    the Full Circle bench is where I’d sit,
    thinking of spinning aways and merry returns,
    the finite cycles of our small days
    Once I noticed a girl
    squint her eyes
    and then with outstretched hands
    over those spikey domes
    graze the air,
    giggling at an imagined prickling.
    ---
    This track is part of the audio tour, Eye-to-I, a programme under Voices – A Festival of Song 2021.
    2 min
  • Fever Dream
    In this (rather absurd) tale inspired by the red and quirkiness of Baby Bubble, you’ll hear three voices—a kooky riddler, a curious child, and the Thermostat man.
    ---
    100 degrees.
    Check. Stop. Check. Stop. Check. Stop. Check.
    fireborne creatures blue as knife
    walking arms choke greedy red
    BULGE
    biting face yolk eyeless smiles
    “Play with me for just a while!”
    Stop. Check. Stop. Check. Stop. Check.
    Check.
    100 degrees.
    once upon some time ago
    Simon Says, “touch your nose”
    but into a fish you flipped and flopped
    marshmallow butt and bon bon snout
    “What’s a fish? What’s a snout?”
    100 degrees.
    Check. Stop. Check. Stop. Check. Stop.
    “Are the rules simple? Will I know?
    Who will tell me where to go?”
    Thermostat Honeywell he’ll blow
    lies and flies high up your nose!
    “But how will I know who I am?
    Will the fish tell me a plan?
    Will my eyes walk to my nose?”
    bon bon fish with boiling smiles
    they will play with you… for now
    “But please tell me where I’m to go!
    Will my eyes walk to my nose?
    Are the rules simple? Will I know?
    Play with me for just a while!
    I’m just hungry for your smile!”
    Stop. Check. Stop.
    Stop. Check.
    Check.
    100 degrees.
    ---
    This track is part of the audio tour, Eye-to-I, a programme under Voices – A Festival of Song 2021.
    2 min
  • Eucalyptus Tree
    By the earth, sun, wind, and rain, they come alive! Looking at these trees, I can’t help but smile, and aspire towards their artful vibrancy.
    ---
    Look up! See the marks on my body—orange and green
    the zest, the groove of these new tattoos
    the same colours that leap raw from your feet to cheek
    each streak bold, unique!
    They must have taken time, just like mine
    the shedding and letting go—
    each a souvenir of time and growth,
    each a bittersweet knowing of the self you own
    Let those colours run wild in the sun
    and burn bright in the night
    in rapture, in song,
    chase the skies!
    ---
    This track is part of the audio tour, Eye-to-I, a programme under Voices – A Festival of Song 2021.
    1 min
  • Concrete Brook
    It was a rainy day and enchanted on first sight of this stone structure with triangular stones, the name “concrete brook” came to mind.
    ---
    It is much like fate
    the hour, the day,
    the route you take
    It’ll take awhile before you see
    pebbles like fallen claddings,
    pebbles like fossilised spikes
    upon a brook that laughs just as she weeps
    Effervescent and gushing when it rains,
    astral waters weave and flow—
    crissing lefts and crossing rights,
    licking deadened leaves in search for life,
    babbling on to those pebbles bright
    On a sunbeat day, you’ll find her
    quiet, still
    concrete without a brook
    you may walk beside her, wishing
    stroke tingling fingers, coaxing
    or you may actually be thinking:
    “why don’t the Esplanade people just pump some water ah?”
    Well, isn’t it more interesting that a concrete brook could run dry?
    Isn’t it funny that a concrete brook is too,
    at mercy of rain and shine?
    It is much like fate
    the hour, the day,
    the route you take.
    ---
    This track is part of the audio tour, Eye-to-I, a programme under Voices – A Festival of Song 2021.
    2 min
  • Making A Scene: A Cappella
    Narrated by performer and director Hossan Leong, this episode of Making a Scene features some key members of Singapore's a capella community. These artists talk about how the scene started, how it evolved, and what the future holds.
    You’ll hear about how early a capella groups such as In-A-Chord and Budak Pantai found their groove, how platforms such as the AKA A Capella Festival and The A Capella Society energised the scene and inspired new blood, and how more recent groups such as 1023 and MICapella are exploring new frontiers in multiculturalism and technology.
    43 min
  • Making A Scene: The social life of dance
    Dance is not only a spectacle performed by trained professionals. It can be a form of expression, discipline, and memory for anyone. So what happens when the performance of dance is based on the habitual movements of everyday life, and when dance is embodied by untrained bodies in everyday spaces? In this episode, choreographer and educator Dapheny Chen, and Torsten Michaelsen of the German media and performance collective LIGNA, discuss their explorations of these ideas with multidisciplinary artist Alecia Neo.
    42 min

About Making a Scene

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A podcast about how art gets made. Created by Esplanade Offstage, your all-access backstage pass to the arts in Singapore and Southeast Asia.