Singapore Repertory Theatre
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 The KC Arts Centre in Robertson Quay, the home of the SRT | |
| Industry | Theatre |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1993 |
| Headquarters | 20 Merbau Road, Singapore |
| Products | Theatrical productions |
| Website | Official website |
Singapore Repertory Theatre (SRT) is a non-profit professional theatre company founded in 1993, and remains at the forefront of the industry in Asia. SRT's mission is to stage performances of high artistic merit, collaborating with the best talents from Singapore and around the world. The current Artistic and Managing Director is Gaurav Kripalani.
The SRT group has five divisions:
- Main Stage
- The Little Company
- The Young Company
- Stage Two
- KC Arts Centre - Home of SRT
SRT also conducts regular Education and Development programmes, as well as fundraising activities.
Main Stage
SRT caters to different audience segments, ensuring that a variety of performances are available with each season showcasing eight to ten plays and musicals.
Forbidden City: Portrait of An Empress is one of the most iconic and successful original musicals staged by SRT in 2002 at the Esplanade - Theatres on the Bay as part of its opening festival. It was restaged in 2003, 2006 and is slated for another restaging in 2017. Other original musicals by SRT include A Twist of Fate (1998).
SRT was the first to stage some of the most critically acclaimed Broadway musicals in Singapore, such as RENT (2001) and Avenue Q (2008). Past productions also include The Pillowman (2007, 2008), God of Carnage (2012) and Venus in Fur (2013).
SRT produced The LKY Musical (2015) for Metropolitan Productions, which won the ST Life! Theatre Awards Production of the Year (Readers’ Choice).
Shakespeare in the Park
SRT has been presenting Shakespeare in the Park as part of its theatre tradition for close to two decades at Fort Canning Park. The first staging was in 1997 with Hamlet. Shakespeare in the Park subsequently became a biennial event from 2007 with A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and has been an annual affair since 2011. In 2016, Romeo and Juliet was the ninth Shakespeare in the Park production, which attracted close to 30,000 attendees.
The 2009 production of Much Ado About Nothing was nominated for Production of the Year at the ST Life! Theatre Awards.
Shakespeare in the Park makes theatre accessible to the masses, and has attracted more than 250,000 audience members over nine productions.
International Productions
SRT is a preferred partner for international touring productions, and has brought in stellar plays with Singapore being the only stop in Asia. Highlights include:
2007: In collaboration with Esplanade – Theatre on the Bay, SRT brought the Royal Shakespeare Company to Singapore for a production of William Shakespeare’s King Lear and Anton Chekhov's The Seagull, starring Sir Ian McKellen.
2009: SRT co-commissioned The Bridge Project, a three-year trans-Atlantic project by Oscar-winning Sam Mendes. The project premiered with The Winter’s Tale (2009), starring Ethan Hawke, Simon Russell Beale and Rebecca Hall. This was followed by The Tempest (2010), and Richard III (2011) starring Kevin Spacey.
2013: Together with Esplanade – Theatres on the Bay, SRT presented 3 Titans of Theatre: Shun-kin, Musashi and The Suit, directed by three legendary directors, Simon McBurney, Yukio Ninagawa and Peter Brook respectively.
2014: Written and directed by Yaël Farber, Mies Julie is an adaptation of August Strindberg's Miss Julie, presented by SRT and Cape Town's Baxter Theatre Centre at the KC Arts Centre - Home of SRT.
2015: SRT co-commissioned Peter Brook’s new play – Battlefield, based on the end of the Indian epic, The Mahabharata. Battlefield premiered at the Théâtre des Bouffes du Nord in Paris, followed by an international tour that premiered in Singapore.
The Little Company
To nurture the interest of the next generation, The Little Company was founded in 2001 as a division of SRT. Three to four shows are staged annually for children aged three and above, with one being a Mandarin production. The shows reach up to 70,000 children and adults annually, making The Little Company one of the most recognised family edutainment companies in Singapore.
Productions are written, designed and performed by professionals in the industry, based on the SRT ethos that children deserve the same quality of theatre as adults. Among several commissioned works by renowned international artistes, a trilogy of musicals for children (The Three Little Pigs, The Three Billy Goats Gruff and Goldilocks and the Three Bears) was written and composed by Laurence Olivier Award-winning duo George Stiles and Anthony Drewe.
The Three Little Pigs has toured internationally, and was selected for the National Alliance for Musical Theatre Festival 2013 in New York City. The show embarked on a UK Tour in 2015, before its West End premiere at London’s Palace Theatre. It has played at The Greenwich Theatre in London, The Emerald City Theatre in Chicago, The Sydney Opera House in Australia, as well as Finland and several major cities in China.
SRT has also worked with London-based award-winning duo Jake Brunger and Pippa Cleary to present Red Riding Hood (2013) and Treasure Island (2015).
Other past productions include: The Ugly Duckling (2005, 2007, 2011), 'Dr. Seuss’ The Cat in the Hat (2012, 2015) and Junior Claus (2014)
The Young Company
The Young Company is a two-year educational and performing platform for 16 to 25 year-olds. Twenty young people are selected from open auditions to form the core of the company and receive practical training in all aspects of theatre. The Young Company also launched a playwriting programme for youths in 2012.
Past productions include: The Trojan Women (2013), The Laramie Project (2014) and The Caucasian Chalk Circle (2015).
Stage Two
Stage Two is a theatre division that develops and stages original Singaporean work. It incorporates the Playwright Incubator Programme.
Past productions include Fried Rice Paradise.
KC Arts Centre - Home of SRT
The KC Arts Centre – Home of SRT is located along the Singapore River at Robertson Quay along Merbau Road. The 380-seat theatre is a hub for the performing arts. This remains the only fully furnished venue run by a theatre company in Singapore.
The KC Arts Centre is named after the Kewalram Chanrai Group in recognition of their generous donation to SRT.
Education and Development
Education Programme
SRT’s Education Department is committed to bringing meaningful and relevant programmes to students, teachers and emerging theatre talents. SRT collaborates with leading artists and educators in Singapore and around the world to provide experiential learning for young people, skill development in drama as pedagogy for educators and mentorship for emerging talents for the industry.
Student Education Fund
The SRT Student Education Fund (SRTSEF) was set up in 2012 to reach young minds who may not otherwise have the opportunity to come to the theatre. The fund fully subsidises student tickets to any production by the SRT Group, as well as covers transport costs for them, where needed, to and from the performance venue.
Beneficiaries include an Alma Mater chosen by the donor, underprivileged children from local schools, charity organisations or student care centres, and Arts Schools.
Residency Programme
The National Arts Council and SRT has a shared focus on developing the young arts industry. SRT is one of the biggest contributors to audience development to ensure a platform for the industry’s development and reach.
Conceptualised in 2013, the SRT Residency Programme has four Singaporean individuals who are offered a 18-month position in a learning environment. They are mentored by SRT and its creative team, focusing on industry's areas of expertise such as direction, stage design, producing and musical composing/arranging. The programme provides a monthly stipend to assist the Resident for the duration of the skill development programme.
Fundraising
SRT is a non-profit charity granted Institutions of A Public Character (IPC) status, and issues tax deductible receipts for donations made.
Friends of SRT is a donor programme that offers a host of benefits for donors that include complimentary tickets and backstage tours.
The Theatre Ball
The Theatre Ball is a vital fundraising event for SRT to continue to offer meaningful, high calibre theatre to a diverse audience and focus on grooming and nurturing the next generation of actors, directors and designers. In 2016, proceeds from the Theatre Ball went to a variety of initiatives including the SRT Student Education Fund - which endeavours to give children from lower income families the opportunity to experience the magic of theatre.
External links
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