The Question Of Home

DO YOU NEED actors to tell a story? Could you, the audience member, create drama for yourself? In the upcoming M1 Fringe Festival, several artworks invite the audience to participate in the story. One work titled Secretive Thing 215, for instance, puts you on a one-person journey on the streets, based on instructions sent to your mobile phone, to discover the story for yourself. Whatever the method, the festival is certainly attempting to push the boundaries of art-making with the programming of more immersive and participatory artworks.

Melissa Lim, the festival's executive producer, says: ''There's certainly a global trend of artists making more participatory and interactive artworks. Perhaps in the age of Netflix, that's what performing artists feel they have to do in order to get the audience to come for their shows... And it's not a gimmick or ruse. When you look at these works, the artists are clearly serious about experimenting with the forms and aesthetics to create something new and authentic for the audience.''

The M1 Fringe Festival is an annual festival of theatre, dance, music, visual arts and mixed media presented by telco M1. For the past three years, the festival has chosen an important work by a female Singapore artist to be its theme.

This year, it is drawing from Cultural Medallion recipient Lee Tzu Pheng's once-controversial 1967 poem My Country And My People. When Lee first published it, it was banned from performance on radio, with no official explanation given. Pundits speculate that the poem, published just two years after Singapore gained independence in 1965, vexed the censors because of Lee's ambivalent feelings towards the nascent idea of Singapore as a people and nation.

The festival's artistic director Sean Tobin says: ''Lee's poem deals with the themes of home and belonging. And though it was written in the '60s, it's clear to us that these themes still have relevance in the present. Just look at the current issues being discussed in mainstream and social media in Singapore, as well as the issues confronting the rest of the world such as Brexit and the refugee crisis.''

For the festival's artists, the poem is a springboard to explore participatory methods that make the audience question their immediate environments. In A Tiny Country, for instance, audiences are asked to play citizens of a tiny country who must decide on the fate of their nation. The play, produced by theatre collective Attempts, uses storytelling and game mechanics to give the audiences a multi-sensorial experience that takes them out of their comfort zone of passively observing.

Mr Tobin says: ''We think that A Tiny Country and various other works at the festival have a lot to say on the topic of home to Singapore and foreign audiences. We think you'll emerge from them with plenty to think and talk about.''

The M1 Fringe Festival runs from Jan 8 to 19, 2020. For more information, visit singaporefringe.com. Tickets from Sistic.

TOP 5 FESTIVAL HIGHLIGHTS

1. BESIDES OURSELVES

By .gif

.gif is one of the most exciting musical talents to emerge in Singapore in recent years. The electronic duo comprised of Chew Wei Shan and Nurudin Sadali have gained acclaim for their dark and haunting music, drawing invitations to perform at various music festivals here and around the world. For the M1 Fringe Festival, the two are devising a high-concept musical performance that explores the theme of vulnerability and displacement, and the idea of feeling not quite at home in your own skin.

Besides Ourselves runs from Jan 10 - 11 at the Esplanade Recital Studio.

2. KEBAYA HOMIES

By The Necessary Stage

Two of Singapore's beloved theatre actresses, Alin Mosbit and Siti Khalijah Zainal, star in this play that looks back at the history of Malay women in Singapore. The play, directed by Alvin Tan and written by Haresh Sharma, takes as its starting point the 1960s when Malay women typically wore kebayas. Alin and Siti play perempuan-perempuan joget (dancing girls) who entertain men in a club. But as Arabisation takes hold of the Malay community, more women discard the alluring kebaya in favour of Arabic-style garments.

Kebaya Homies runs from Jan 15 - 19 at the Esplanade Annexe Studio.

3. A TINY COUNTRY

By Attempts

Singapore theatre collective Attempts wants to transform passive theatre audiences into active players. So this immersive play co-created by Rei Poh and Jean Tay turns its audiences into citizens of a small country debating its policies for the next decade, as well as social scientists experimenting with people's fates. Through the experience, audiences get to understand the complexities of civic participation and social experimentation.

A Tiny Country runs from Jan 8 - 12 at Black Box at Centre 42.

4. ATARA - FOR YOU, WHO HAS NOT YET FOUND THE ONE

By Reut Shemesh

What is a woman's place in Jewish community? Germany-based Jewish choreographer Reut Shemesh has created a striking dance piece to explore women's roles within various Jewish orthodox and secular families. She draws from a series of interviews and photographic portraits to re-enact rituals, ceremonies and conversations that reveal gender disparities and tensions. By doing so, she challenges you to examine your own prejudices.

Atara runs from Jan 14 - 15 at Esplanade Theatre Studio.

5. CAFÉ SARAJEVO

By bluemouth inc.

Perhaps the most powerful work at the festival is Café Sarajevo by Canadian company bluemouth inc. This immersive play tells the story of a young woman's journey to her father's birthplace in Bosnia to explore the tragedy of the 1990s Bosnian War which claimed the lives of about 100,000 people. Each audience member will be given a headset and goggles so they can get a 360 degree virtual view of the places she visits. The play also confronts the audience with difficult questions about hatred and violence.

Café Sarajevo runs from Jan 8 - 12 at Esplanade Theatre Studio.