We pick seven performances and workshops you should catch or join
What happens when you gather a team made up of only women to put together a creative public project? Would it be very different from any other project that involves men? These are the questions that prompted Noorlinah Mohamed to design N.O.W., a three-year season presented by TheatreWorks that shines a spotlight on women creators and change-makers, and the work they do.
"I wanted to experiment with the idea of how it would be like to play with women, entirely women," Noorlinah, who helms the project as the Artistic Director, shares. "What would change in terms of the set-up of the work, is there a different working style or voice? It's an experiment to raise questions for ourselves as women, whether there are more things we can talk about besides motherhood, for example."
It is the first female-centric project by TheatreWorks, a long-running Singapore performing arts company. Women are leading not only the team of collaborators and key presenters, but also the production and administrative crew. Furthermore, Noorlinah tells us that N.O.W. is also the first all-women project in the nation, for an entirely Singapore-run and operated project. It should not have had to take this long, but we're glad it's happening now (pun intended). N.O.W. celebrates the Not Ordinary Work that women and the women-aligned in Singapore are creating. The three-year season launches this July 2019, for three weeks from 10 to 28 July.
We are particularly excited about the diversity of the project's team and content. The collaborators and crew come from varying ethnic and creative backgrounds, lending their voices to an interdisciplinary programme. There's stand-up comedian Sharul Channa leading a comedy writing workshop, a series of film screenings, a staged reading of Akshita Nanda's novel, panel discussions, and more. All events are held at TheatreWorks (72-13 Mohamed Sultan Road). If you're as excited as us to support this vital project, the following are some of the highlights in the programme to look forward to. Check out the full programme and register for events at the official N.O.W. website.
6. Apotropaic Texts (Exhibition with accompanying workshops and public talk)
This free exhibition combines mixed media sculptural and performative installation to look at apotropaic magic and its connection to women. Tales of witches or the nenek kebayan have long painted women in a negative light, but Marylyn Tan and Zarina Muhammad, who lead the exhibition, argue that protection rituals and charms can be positive too. The work unveils how ritual magic gets passed down along generations of women, from grandmother to mother to daughter, creating a strong community of women. Join Marylyn and Zarina in analysing the (mis)representations of women in such narratives of magic at a free panel discussion, and create your own empowering aportropaic text at two workshops.
Apotropaic Texts exhibition opens on 10 July, 6pm, and will be held until 28 July (closed on Mondays).
Join the free panel discussion, “The Way We Walk With Each Other: An Interdisciplinary Conversation About Apotropaic Symbols, Texts, Gestures and Practices,” on 17 July, 7:30pm to 9pm. Register here.
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