SINGAPORE – The M1 Fringe Festival returns from Jan 17 to 28, 2024 with an all-live line-up of six shows. Bucking the post-pandemic trend of hybrid programming, the festival will not be offering any digital options.
Ms Melissa Lim, general manager of The Necessary Stage (TNS), which organises the 19-year-old festival, says the decision to drop digital was driven by a few factors.
“We didn’t encounter suitable digital works in the submissions, which dovetails nicely with our overall curatorial direction for the line-up,” she says.
“Secondly, we also wanted to give digital works a rest this time around. Since theatres reopened post-Covid-19, we have noticed that our audiences’ interest in the live experience has been revived, while concurrently, interest in digital art works – and, in particular, for the Fringe, with regard to performance – has declined significantly,” she adds.
She says audience fatigue is also a factor, given the abundance of arts events in recent months, and the company decided to focus its resources on live performances. But she does not rule out digital programmes for future editions.
The upcoming edition will feature two shows from overseas performers as well as four home-grown works.
As with the 2023 programme, which took place in January, the open call to artists did not specify a theme.
Ms Lim says: “We found this to be a good strategy, as the artists coalesce around certain themes. We knew artists would respond to ongoing crises – there are many now around the world.”
The common themes to the 2024 shows include race and definitions of male identity.
Anchoring the programme is TNS’ Oo-Woo, written by Raimi Safari and directed by Mohd Fared Jainal. Developed at the theatre group’s Playwrights’ Cove under the guidance of resident playwright Haresh Sharma, Oo-Woo tells of a family’s struggles when the mother is diagnosed with early-onset dementia.
The play’s title is an onomatopoeic reference to the call of the koel. Raimi is no stranger to the Fringe as his debut script Rindu Di Bulan was staged at the 2022 edition.
Motherland, written and directed by Very Shy Gurl by fendy, was first presented as a work-in-progress at Sifa X earlier in 2023. The work tells the story of two soldiers from opposing forces who fall in love even as their countries wage war. It is former Substation artistic director Noor Effendy Ibrahim’s first theatre work in English.
The Fringe will also offer a forum theatre work from young theatre group Matter.Less. Written by Danial Matin, Here Where You Were will tackle mental health issues of grief, loss and suicide ideation.
Festival manager Jezamine Tan says the show will play to intimate audiences of 50, adding: “We hope this will be a safe space for people to talk about these issues.”
Last but not least of the Singapore shows is Thom Pain (based on nothing), a Pulitzer Prize-nominated work which will be performed by students from the Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in Performance Making programme at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts.
The work, a monologue by a man who shares intimate details of his life, will be directed by theatre veteran Edith Podesta and choreographed by Yarra Ileto.
Completing the festival are two imported works. American choreographer J’Sun Howard’s aMoratorium is a dance piece that asks questions about black masculinity and visibility, and will be performed with a live deejay spinning a diverse musical soundtrack spanning gospel and hip-hop.
Same Same by Dame de Pic/Cie Karine Ponties and Temporary Collective strikes a more light-hearted note for the festival.
Belgian choreographer Karine Ponties, Czech dancer Tereza Ondrova and Czech theatre director Petra Tejnorova were inspired by silent movie comic Buster Keaton to create this madcap work that looks at what happens when the daily grind of routine gets disrupted by the unexpected.
Ticket prices for the shows have increased slightly to $35, from $32 in 2023. The festival’s tickets have traditionally been among the cheapest around and it has strived to keep prices affordable.
Ms Lim says of the increase: “Times are really rough. We want to ensure that artists and crew get equitable wages.”
Book it/M1 Fringe Festival
Where: Esplanade Theatre Studio, 1 Esplanade Drive; Nafa Studio Theatre, 151 Bencoolen Street; Practice Space, 54 Waterloo Street
When: Jan 17 to 28, various times
Admission: $35 from bookmyshow.com
Info: https://2023.singaporefringe.com/Fringe-2024
