"Ovidia Yu is that rare breed of Singapore writer in at least two ways. In terms of versatility, she shares certain qualities with her literary predecessor, Goh Poh Seng, who has demonstrated aptitude and craft across a spectrum of genres...
[...]
"... Yu, sprouting in the scene in the late 1980s as nascence rather than renascence of an earlier, heavily influential tradition, didn't feel the need to imitate prevailing modes of the dominant tradition unlike the acolytes of Kuo like Haresh Sharma.
Written by Ovidia Yu and directed by Ivan Heng, The Woman in a Tree on the Hill features Heng himself as the lead actor with Malaysian actress Foo May Lyn and four musicians from the UK.
In its aim to fuse East and West, the play draws inspiration from such diverse sources like Peking Opera, Balinese Dance, Cabaret, Cartoons and the production is completely underscored by original live music. By stringing the epic tales of Mr and Mrs Noah (Guardians of the Ark), Nu Wa (Chinese Goddess of Marria
“Someone came into the room where your daughter was asleep and hit her on the head with a hammer.”
Ronald, a cool, confident, well-dressed man in his early twenties murdered the adopted daughter of Madam, a ‘tai-tai’ wife of businessman Jinkee. However, there is one living witness to the crime — David, an almost P.I. Magnum, except that he has lived life. Only David could expose Ronald’s “perfidious crime.”
The scene opens at a cocktail party where Ronald has gone intending to kill David. In the proce
Awkward Assembly
The biggest conundrum facing any director restaging a play that was written several decades ago is balancing between “making it relevant” and letting the piece speak for itself.
In dealing with Ovidia Yu’s Three Fat Virgins Unassembled, director Grace Kalaiselvi does a little bit of both. The result? A slightly awkward assembly.
Yu’s play is a blistering satire about how women are often placed in impossible situations, and judged by equally impossible standards in the various
Isaac Tan
Reviewed: 14 July 2019
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