Sifa 2023: Mixed bag of hits and misses

ONE of the best things at the Singapore International Festival of Arts (Sifa) so far has been £¥€$ (Lies) by Belgian company Ontroerend Goed. In what may be described as an extreme Monopoly theatrical game satirising the global economy and its excesses, the audience members are seated at gambling tables and invited by the croupiers to punt in various markets using fake money.

They can buy and short shares. They can take out loans from the bank. They can speculate in risky products that offer higher returns. At every turn, the game gets more complex with the introduction of new financial instruments (based on real-life examples), which the croupier patiently explains to the players – and then persuades them to buy. 

The game goes incredibly well for the first hour and a half, with wealth being created at rapid-fire speed. But then the bubble bursts. Credit has been overextended. Banks go into default. A-grade bonds turn into junk ones. Entire economies collapse. Overleveraged players are the worst hit, taking down nearby players. But other mavericks do well, netting more than 1,000 per cent increases in their assets. The more conservative players stay in the black, but their gains are nothing to brag about.