17 Dec 2015: Beauties and beasts roam the stages of this year’s M1 Singapore Fringe Festival, which returns with the theme of ‘art and the animal’. We pick out four productions that’ll unleash your wild side
The Shape of a Bird
Enter a wondrous world of birds and cicadas in this new work by local playwright Jean Tay, starring Tan Kheng Hua, Brandon Fernandez, Jean Toh, Thomas Pang, and a bunch of puppets. It’s a world that’s dreamt up by an imprisoned writer who defiantly refuses to cave and make a confession – instead, she writes allegories of her situation to her daughter. As her fiction and real world collide, however, she’s forced to pick a side between the two.
Doggy Style
This wordless, hour-long production by Switzerland-based American dancer and choreographer Joshua Monten uses a mix of dance and sign language to take a playful look at the behaviour of dogs and their relationship to humans. On the one hand, they’re our loyal companions. But on the other, we’re their masters. How has this connection been forged, and where will it go?
Human Bestiary
Our friends at Time Out Mexico have said that Mexican company Principio…’s play ‘leaves a pessimistic feeling about men but [it is] optimistic about humanity’. Using technology and multimedia platforms – plus a live DJ set – this work is a documentary that examines our place within the global ecosystem. It tells the story of all the precious flora and fauna that we’ve destroyed, and questions how we got to where we are today and when it all started going wrong.
Hyena Subpoena
Hyenas have long had a bad rep – which child who grew up on The Lion King could love those ‘evil’ creatures? Yet, they are also perhaps one of the most misunderstood. This play by Canadian writer and performer Cat Kidd follows the story of Mona Morse, who left civilisation behind and go into the woods. She comes across an Ark’s worth of animals, from lions to antelopes and elephants to hyenas, and uses each to link back to some of the harshest – and most darkly comical – life lessons in her past.
GWEN PEW 