“Do you also believe that what gives our lives their meaning is the passion
that suddenly invades us heart, soul and body? Is it about desiring any one
person, or is it about desiring desire itself?
- “Embers” by Sandor Marai
A new theatre festival will hit town this November with the Singapore Visual
Theatre Festival (SVTF) organised by The Arts House.
Held from 20 to 25 November and featuring artists from the Netherlands,
Taiwan and Singapore, the Singapore Visual Theatre Festival will be the
first such held in Singapore and marks a new annual initiative by The Arts
House. The festival will highlight a theatre practice and genre that is
still relatively new which focuses more on using the body as the primary
vehicle for communication and giving a contemporary twist to traditional art
forms such as puppetry and physical/dance theatre.
For the inaugural SVTF which will explore the theme of objects of love and
desire, audiences can look forward to the powerful solo performance Angel by
award winning Dutch performer Duda Paiva Puppetry & Dance (DPPD), a touching
story of a daughter recollecting her mother by the Taiwanese theatre company
Nadou Theatre Company and a world premiere of below zero specially created
for the festival by Dutch director and performer Ulrike Quade and Jos van
Kan. Singapore’s well-known The Finger Players will present In the Name of
Love, a collection of four skits featuring a variety of puppetry techniques
which has received international acclaimed from various festivals.
Visual theatre inherently rejects definitions and distinct genre headings in
favour of the combining and fusion of arts, skills and materials. Whilst
traditional theatre focuses on text, visual theatre is a language of visual
images. In this language every component –space, objects, movement, voice or
sound are as important as the actor and his text. Through the Singapore
Visual Theatre Festival, The Arts House hopes to create theatre that opens
up audiences to different ways of seeing and understanding objects, symbols
and signs so as to enrich their experience of the world around them.
Partnering an Object: Master class by Eduardo de Paiva Souza
By Duda Paiva Puppetry & Dance
23 Nov 2007 | 2pm – 4pm | Play Den
$20 (limited seats) / $10 (Observer)
Duda Paiva is a dancer and puppeteer.
His technique consists in using his body as a landscape for the puppet and
vice-versa, in order to explore the space and create choreographic motifs.
The principle is to establish a more profound connection between the puppet
(or object) and its manipulator, using movement as a narrative tool.
The notion for a duet for one mind is an exiting world for a dancer or
physical actor to embrace.
“Dividing the beats” is a technique Duda Paiva researches of how to create
two independent choreographic focuses that are governed of contemporary
dance technique with glove puppet manipulation to generate a more fluid
illusion (it can also be called Siamese technique).
The workshop (or masterclass) is proposed to dancers and actors who are
interested in the art of manipulation, and to puppeteers who want to explore
the relationship between body and puppet.
Participants can bring their own puppets.
The Comfort of Strangers: Creating Theatre in Asia and Europe
By Jos van Kan & Ulrike Quade
25 Nov 2007 | 3pm | Play Den
$18
Jos van Kan has worked in the Netherlands and in Europe for the last 18
years. Within the last couple of years, he has extended his work field to
Asia. He has worked with renowned directors, writers and theatre companies.
He has been invited to the Barokfestspiele in Bayreuth 2002 and in 2003, Jos
van Kan got a grant from the F.A.P.K. to study opera-styles on three
continents. He visited the New York City Opera (U.S.A.) in 2003, the Lan
Yang Taiwanese Opera Compagny (Taiwan) and Teatro di San Carlo (Napoli,
Italy) in 2004.
Ulrike Quade has run her own company for the last seven years. She worked
with Jos van Kan in several different projects over the last few years and
some of the shows they made together, such as ‘Dead Orange Walk’, based on
the diary of the Mexican painter Frida Kahlo, which was distinguished as the
most remarkable and innovative performance of the New Theatre Makers Series
of the 2003/04 season.
In February 2008 her new performance The Glass House will première during
the ‘Puppets on the Move Festival’ in Amsterdam (NL). She will be directed
by Jos van Kan for this production. Both Ulrike and Jos have worked
extensively in Asia, creating theatre with various Asian theatre companies,
including Taiyuan Puppet Theatre Company in Taipei, Taiwan.
Email your questions to us at adelina_ong@toph.com.sg and we will have an
in-depth clinic on the challenges and impact of creating theatre in Asia, UK
and US!
Singapore Visual Theatre Festival
20 – 25 November 2007
objects of love and desire
Get ready for the inaugural Singapore Visual Theatre Festival (SVTF) this
November as 15 performers hailing from well-established and award-winning
arts groups in three different countries spanning Europe and Asia bring to
Singapore audiences four exciting performances that focus on puppetry
created to inspire and provoke!
Open your eyes to a different theatre experience that focuses on strong
visual images that transcend the limitations of language.
So come on down to The Arts House this November and make your bookings
through The Arts House Box Office today!
The Arts House Box Office
Address: 1 Old Parliament Lane, Singapore 179429
Hotline: +65 6332 6919
Facsimile: +65 6339 9695
Email: tickets@toph.com.sg
Web: www.theartshouse.com.sg
