Why Day Surgery Is Becoming More Popular Among Patients

In recent years, the landscape of the medical field has undergone significant transformations, with one of the most noteworthy changes being the rise in popularity of day surgery, also known as outpatient or ambulatory surgery. This trend represents a shift away from traditional inpatient surgeries that require an overnight hospital stay, towards procedures that allow …

★★★★☆ Review: Paradise or the Impermanence of Ice Cream by Singapore Theatre Company and Indian Ink

Powerful theatrical reflection on what it means to lead a life well-lived. What lies after death? Much like a majority of religions, Zoroastrians believe in the concept of souls laid to rest in Paradise or Hell, depending on how good or evil one was in life. But to even get to that point requires a …

★★★★★ Review: Bawang Putih Bawang Merah by Teater Ekamatra

Ekamatra's take on Nusantara classic emphasises modern sensibilities and brings joy to the stage. If it's one thing Teater Ekamatra knows how to do best, it's to produce theatre that knows exactly what it wants to achieve and the emotions it hopes to evoke in its audiences. In its latest, sold out production, the powerhouse …

SIFA 2024: An Interview with director Haresh Sharma and playwright Chong Tze Chien on Forster-inspired ‘The Prose and the Passion’

"Only connect the prose and the passion, and both will be exalted, and human love will be seen at its height." Such was the way English author E.M. Forster wrote of the importance of using both head and heart in Howard's End, to connect both critical thought and deep emotion that we can achieve the …

SIFA 2024: An Interview with Singapore experimental band The Observatory on exploring darkness and the underground in ‘REFUGE’

The Observatory are not your ordinary band. Going beyond making music alone, the local Singaporean band has been closely involved in art beyond entertainment for two decades, always ready to speak truth to power and constantly using their sound to amplify their thoughts and feelings about social issues, even expanding into the realm of visual …

SIFA 2024: An Interview with composer Safuan Johari and choreographer Eddie Elliott on collaboration and culture in ‘Suara / Oro Rua’

Left: Eddie Elliott (photo credit: Atamira Dance Company), Right: Safuan Johari (photo credit: A Syadiq) If we put our ears to the Earth and listened, what would we hear? In Suara / Oro Rua, Singapore's Safuan Johari and New Zealand's Eddie Elliott come together in an unexpected cross-country collaboration to imagine the sound of fossilised …

SIFA 2024: An Interview with Lithuanian artists Rugilė Barzdžiukaitė, Vaiva Grainytė & Lina Lapelytė on beach opera ‘Sun & Sea’

One of the most exciting and outrageous pavilions at the 2019 Venice Biennale came from a rather surprising source - Lithuania, which till then had only occasionally caught the public eye when it came to the art world. When visitors stepped into the Lithuanian pavilion, they entered an entirely different world, one that was dappled …

SIFA 2024: An Interview with Trajal Harrell, creator and choreographer of speculative dance ‘The Romeo’

Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou? The answer might surprise you, with Trajal Harrell's dance work The Romeo, which takes inspiration from Shakespeare's young lover and star of tragedy Romeo and Juliet, from which is crafted a dance for people of all origins, genders, and generations, of all temperaments and moods, dance when they face their …

SIFA 2024: An Interview with Alex Serrano, co-creator of AI-driven dance performance ‘Una Isla’

The arts have always grown in tandem with technology, be it developments in set-building and engineering that allow for new stunts and stage movements, or in terms of audio and the ability to bring sound and voice to new heights. With Artificial Intelligence (AI) touted as the next big thing, it was only a matter …

SIFA 2024: An Interview with puppeteer Viktor Lukawski on playing Captain Ahab and puppetry in Plexus Polaire’s ‘Moby Dick’

Herman Melville's Moby Dick has long been considered an epic of literature - a massive tome of a book that chronicles the odyssey of the Pequod, as they're led by their obsessive Captain Ahab seeking revenge on the sperm whale that bit his leg off - the titular Moby Dick. Often considered one of the …