The Studios at Esplanade – Theatres on the Bay turns 20 this October, but there’s no time like the present to introduce the latest productions to get the festivities going.
The Studios, having presented over 160 productions in two decades, is a space where the boundaries in theatre and performance are challenged. Audiences will find eclectic, genre-bending, experimental works by contemporary artists that reflect and question topics that matter to us today.
From 2023 to 2025, “Land” is the adopted theme, inspired by photos depicting Marina Bay’s dramatic changes that popped up during the construction of the Singtel Waterfront Theatre. This year, in light of such visual reminders, The Studios will turn the lens inwards under the specific theme “Landings”. From Jul 28 to Sep 3, six productions as well as companion programmes will explore how we relate to the land we reside on, how urban redevelopment affects us, and what we are willing to sacrifice.
The 2023 season will also move beyond its home in the Esplanade Theatre Studio to include the recently opened Singtel Waterfront Theatre, and expand the programme to include both Singapore-based and international artists. Among the artists and collaborators are Silke Huysmans and Hannes Dereere, The Necessary Stage, Joel Tan, Tan Shou Chen, Robert Zhao, Dr Natalie Pang, Yong Ding Li, Esmonde Luo, and Centre 42.
Three notable productions are Three Years in the Life and Death of Land, Mosaic and The Mining Trilogy in July and August. Three Years in the Life and Death of Land, directed by Haresh Sharma, follows the Lims, the Mulchands, a ghost, a cat, and three mosquitoes trying to live happily together. But a lot can happen, especially when two families united by love are separated by pain.
In Mosaic, playwright Joel Tan and director Tan Shou Chen use humour and melancholy to critique our obsession with the past through a group of 20-somethings in an 1980s mosaic playground setting the night before demolition.
The Mining Trilogy by Belgium theatre artists Silke Huysmans and Hannes Dereere comprises three works: Mining Stories brings together multiple perspectives on the impact of a single ecological disaster in Brazil; Pleasant Island reveals how decades of colonisation and mining have affected the island state Nauru; and Out of the Blue sketches an in-depth portrait of an emerging industry: deep sea mining. Each work features interviews, conversations and multimedia projections to explore eco-political topics and our human relationship with mining.
For a deeper engagement with the artistic works and the conversations raised in the season, sign up for The Studio companion programmes. These include No Spot of Ground – A Promenade Writing Workshop that’s part-scavenger hunt and part-writing workshop; The Mining Trilogy Workshop where participants are taken through the creative process by the artists; and a dialogue session with Haresh Sharma and Joel Tan on the process of having their works restaged.
Then there’s the Walking Tour with Esmonde Luo: An Introduction to Local Wild Edibles; Gillman Forest Nature Walk; Birdwatching at Choa Chu Kang; and Albizia, an immersive performance installation by Robert Zhao that recreates a secondary Singapore forest using videos, photography and sound.
For more information, visit www.esplanade.com/thestudios.
