The arts critic in Singapore contends with numerous disparate forces pulling at her, all at once.

Three very different maternal figures took the stage in the M1 Singapore Fringe Festival’s Singaporean offerings: an overprotective mother, a mother in the clutches of dementia, a motherland consumed by conflict. How might we confront these difficult relationships? Our critic tries to find out.

A conservative kampung, a racy new lingerie store, a whole host of irresistible characters—our reviewer Dan Koh enters the charming world of “La Luna”, director M Raihan Halim’s contemporary evocation of the Golden Age of Malayan cinema.

A critic’s third watch of Wild Rice’s sprawling play “Hotel” prompts questions about how we might sojourn through a national history from a room with a specific view. Since its first staging in 2015, how has “Hotel” played host to Singapore’s societal and political changes?

We go roadtripping with Sim Jiaying as she guides us through a meticulous reading of director Anthony Chen’s paean to disaffected Chinese youth, “The Breaking Ice”. The film becomes a point of embarkation for a broader discussion of the road movie genre—as reimagined by Singaporean filmmakers.

An intimate piece of documentary theatre performed by three respected practitioners reveals how the Singaporean theatre industry has come of age—and how that generation has shaped the theatrical age we now live in.