If you’ve ever wanted to thoroughly explore the blue and white heritage buildings along Waterloo Street, this April is your chance to do so. From Apr 4-28, local theater company The Theatre Practice will take its visitors through the buildings, in an immersive new show titled Four Horse Road.
A literal translation of Waterloo Street’s Chinese name (“四马路”), the two-hour piece features stories inspired by real events in Singapore that stretch as far back as the 1870s. Today, well-known landmarks in the area include the Kwan Im Thong Hood Cho Temple, Sri Krishnan Temple, and the Maghain Aboth Synagogue—the oldest in Singapore and built by the local Jewish community in 1878. Four Horse Road will imagine the life of fictional denizens who once lived, studied and worked on the street—from Jewish families to Catholic nuns, and even prisoners.
Of course, the most interactive aspect of the show is that it will walk audiences through multiple sites located across the three now iconic buildings on Waterloo Street—namely Centre 42, Chinese Calligraphy Society and The Theatre Practice. Expect to travel in time as you traverse through scenes within each building, and even become part of the stories.
While The Theatre Practice is primarily a Chinese-centric theater company (with a focus on bilingualism in theater), Four Horse Road will be a multilingual affair incorporating dialogue in Mandarin, English, Malay, Japanese and dialects. Directed by Kuo Jian Hong and written by Jonathan Lim, the show features a multiracial cast of 50 artists including Al-Matin Yatim, Frances Lee, Jo Tan, Johnny Ng and many more.
Tickets are $68 and available here.
Four Horse Road will run Apr 4-28, 7.30pm, at The Theatre Practice, 52 Waterloo Street. More info here.
