Details
Friday, 27 May 2022, 8pm
Saturday, 28 May 2022, 2pm & 8pm
Victoria Theatre

A T:>Works (Singapore) production
Conceived, Written and Directed by Ong Keng Sen (Singapore)
In collaboration with Camille Lacadee (Berlin), Elizabeth Mak (Singapore), Heman Chong (Singapore), Janice Koh (Singapore), Kaffe Matthews (Berlin), Michael(a) Daoud (Berlin) and Shahrzad Rahmani (Berlin)

From internationally acclaimed Singapore director Ong Keng Sen, comes and arresting evocation of the enigmatic character Salome from Oscar Wilde’s renowned play. Ong joins the ranks of the towering artists throughout history who have re-imagined famous classics to make ground-breaking art. In project SALOME, Ong unveils the rituals of projecting – via social media and creative documentary film-making – to finally recast the idiom “heads with roll”.

“How do we express ourselves, and remain free during the challenging restrictions of the pandemic? As our bodies are locked down, can we find the imaginative freedom to roam the wildest fantasies in our apartment? This was the beginning of the project to transform my apartment in Berlin into the world of SALOME. Two, juxtapose that with a live performer in Singapore. Three, harness social media as the site of the performance which have long superseded our theatre buildings. It’s necessary to assert performance with the limited resources available, as we become debilitated by regulations and our theatres continue to be under threat. The rest as they say is history. We know we are now in a new world of reimposed barriers, in a precarious future where we are struggling to regain our imagination of the possible.”

Ong Keng Sen

Salome is a larger-than-life character who has from the immemorial horrified and fascinated all. Who is SALOME in our contemporary times, who attempts to transform their position of no-power into some kind of power?

Ong collaborated with Berlin-based performance artist Michael(a) Daoud, to navigate the edges of documentary film, and Singapore actress Janice Koh, to occupy the social media with a love at all costs. Set in an unexpected installation by Heman Chong with the energising rhythms of composer Kaffe Mathews, they jointly contemplate the SALOME complex from diverse directions.

A meditation on the rituals of projecting, transitioning, becoming and self-mythologising, project SALOME is a startling performance from one of Asia’s most accomplished directors.

Experience The Salome Complex on Instagram

In an intriguing pre-performance on social media, the SALOME complex is performed, even before the audience enters the theatre. Janice Koh embodies her contemporary Salome on Instagram, @thesalomecomplex, from now to 26 May 2022.