Wild Rice's new Funan home was inspired by the National Theatre, wayang and Shakespeare
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Wild Rice'south new Funan dwelling was inspired past the National Theatre, wayang and Shakespeare
Founding artistic director Ivan Heng takes u.s. on a tour of the theatre company's new space, which has Singapore'southward only "thrust stage" – with walls made of wood used in getai shows.
Wild Rice founding creative director, Ivan Heng, in the new space. (Photo: Darius Boey)
26 Jul 2022 06:30AM (Updated: 10 Jul 2022 03:37PM)
Singapore theatre company Wild Rice has a spanking new performing arts facility and it'south correct in the heart of the borough and cultural district. The new Wild Rice @ Funan occupies 20,000 sq ft across 3 floors of the Funan Mall.
Within the infinite, which officially opens on Aug 8, there's the main 358-seat Ngee Ann Kongsi Theatre, which features Singapore's only thrust stage; a lx-seat performance studio; rehearsal rooms; and the company'due south administrative office.
"It's exactly where a theatre needs to be," said founding artistic managing director Ivan Heng. "You lot know, at the centre of our thinking, of our chat, of politics, commerce, police force, culture, history. It's perfect."
In collaboration with Capitaland, the theatre was three years in the making. It was designed by the award-winning team that includes Singaporean compages studio Zarch Collaboratives and internationally renowned theatre design consultancy Charcoalblue, and envisioned by Heng and executive director Tony Trickett.
DRAWING INSPIRATION FROM THE By
Of detail significance is the Ngee Ann Kongsi Theatre'due south thrust stage, which measures 10m deep and 6m wide. With this stage configuration, no audience fellow member volition be further than 12m abroad from the performers on stage.
The thrust stage is the primeval blazon of stage in Western theatre and was adopted widely in the Elizabethan era, with many of William Shakespeare'southward plays debuting on the thrust stage of the iconic Globe Theatre, which was built in 1599.
Wild Rice's theatre is modelled after the Royal Shakespeare Company'south Swan Theatre in Stratford-Upon-Avon in England, while taking inspiration from historical antecedents closer to abode.
The diamond-patterned walls of the theatre are inspired by Singapore'south old National Theatre on River Valley Route, which was congenital in 1963 and demolished in 1986. Solid wooden planks and beams that had been used past opera and getai performers for close to 80 years – known as "wayang timber" – take also been repurposed to create the back wall and ceiling of the theatre, also as design features in the foyer.
"We were looking for a material that would somehow inspire us to think virtually our cultural performance, history," said Heng. "Then if you remember almost our street wayang, it'due south truly moving because our performers accept been performing on this wood for close to 80 years in temples, community centres and public parks."
He added: "In building theatres, you ever desire to notice materials that are authentic, that reverberate with some kind of performance or cultural history. And this is ours. This is uniquely, distinctively ours."
AN IMMERSIVE AND INCLUSIVE EXPERIENCE
Theatre fans are assured of a truly immersive experience with advisedly-engineered acoustics to create optimum conditions for the man vocalism, with piffling or no need for microphones or other song enhancement systems. "You can actually whisper in this infinite and you will be heard, all the fashion up there," said Heng.
Even the seats have been custom-designed in Barcelona specifically for Wild Rice @ Funan, then installed here at unlike angles to provide the best seating and viewing feel for each audience fellow member. They too boast lumbar back up for extra comfort during long productions.
Wild Rice @ Funan will also be an inclusive theatre complex, with facilities put in place to facilitate access for those who might otherwise run across difficulties in enjoying live performances. To farther conform the needs of such fans, the theatre volition offer signed and captioned performances for the deaf; audio-described performances, hearing loops, and touch on tours for the blind; relaxed performances and more, in the future.
"Theatre is for everyone," said Heng. "Its transformative power tin change lives and open hearts and minds, and information technology should not be bachelor only to those who have the means and privilege to go to the theatre. At our new venue, we volition be able to share the gift of theatre with as many people and communities as possible."
A DISTINCTLY SINGAPOREAN LAUNCH
For the official launch of their new space, Wild Rice has programmed a line-up of distinctly Singaporean shows by both established and emerging theatre-makers. They will offset with Thomas Lim's laurels-winning Supervision on Aug 8, followed by Stella Kon'south archetype Emily Of Emerald Hill for the Yard Opening Season in Sep. Coming up volition be the globe premieres of Merdeka and Peter Pan In Serangoon Gardens.
"I tin can't wait for an audience to come in hither," said Heng. "Y'all can imagine the whole audition sitting, and y'all can run across every face in this room. Y'all can see anybody reacting – you lot can see people laughing, crying and you lot can share something special with an audience. It's very electrifying, very communal, very intimate, very homo space."
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Source: https://cnalifestyle.channelnewsasia.com/entertainment/funan-theatre-wild-rice-254471
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