WILD RICE announces its upcoming Housewarming Season, which offers audiences a sneak peek of the company’s new theatre at the Funan lifestyle complex ahead of its official opening in September 2019. The programme will feature sold-out smash-hits from the 2018 Singapore Theatre Festival, as well as a brand-new production by the rising talents of Young & WILD, WILD RICE’s award-winning youth division.
Over six weeks in July and August, the Housewarming Season will also enable the company to test out its new facilities, including Singapore’s first thrust stage – inspired by the Royal Shakespeare Company’s iconic Swan Theatre.
Ivan Heng, Founding Artistic Director of WILD RICE, elaborates: “Theatres are complicated, living buildings. Prior to our official opening in September, we have programmed a special season to test the two theatres in our complex. This critical phase will ensure everything works effectively, not only for the artists involved, but also for our audiences.”
The Housewarming Season will see three of the biggest hits from the 2018 Singapore Theatre Festival making their highly anticipated return to centre stage.
These include Alfian Sa’at’s An Actress Prepares (starring Siti Khalijah Zainal), a thoughtprovoking love letter to the power of theatre; Pam Oei’s hilarious one-woman cabaret, Faghag, which shines a spotlight on Singapore’s marginalised LGBTQ community; and Thomas Lim’s searingly incisive Supervision (starring Janice Koh and directed by Glen Goei), which zooms in on issues we all eventually have to face: the fact of growing old, and how we care for our ageing population.
“Tickets for these three critically acclaimed new plays were sold out, and they really need to be seen by a much wider audience,” says Heng. “There’s something fresh and exciting, too, about these revivals, as each show will be reimagined for our new space. All of our directors, designers and performers will take on the challenge of re-staging their plays within our thrust-stage configuration.
ANYTHING CAN HAPPEN/SOMETHING MUST HAPPEN
Come July, audiences will also have the opportunity to catch the next generation of theatre-makers in action. Under the guidance of award-winning programme director Edith Podesta, Young & WILD – the fifth cohort of WILD RICE’s award-winning youth division – will be presenting its first showcase: ANYTHING CAN HAPPEN/SOMETHING MUST HAPPEN.
This original show will inaugurate the theatre complex’s black-box studio, giving WILD RICE the opportunity to test the possibilities of this exciting new space alongside the main theatre.
“Beyond world-class productions of Singapore theatre, WILD RICE @ Funan will serve as an incubator for the theatre talents of tomorrow,” explains Heng. “Through productions like ANYTHING CAN HAPPEN/SOMETHING MUST HAPPEN, we are giving aspiring theatre-makers a platform to learn, grow and experiment in a safe environment. In a very real sense, this theatre is for them.”
Tickets for the Housewarming Season are now available on SISTIC. For more information, visit: wildrice.com.sg
