Esplanade - Theatres on the Bay

05/06/2026

Ruby is heading to Hong Kong!

How Drama's Big Brown Girl which is a one-woman musical about a Big Brown Girl from Singapore navigating dating apps, self-love and the search for connection, makes its international debut at the Xiqu Centre this weekend from 5 – 7 Jun 2026 as part of the inaugural WestK Cabaret Festival.

Performed and co-written by Ross Nasir, and directed and co-written by Melissa Sim, the show is as funny as it is tender. What makes it truly special is that the audience chooses the dates Ruby goes on, so no two shows are ever quite the same.

Big Brown Girl was first commissioned by Esplanade for Flipside 2021. It was born in the middle of a pandemic and embraced warmly when the world reopened. This production was then restaged at the festival in 2022. It feels fitting that as Ruby makes her Hong Kong debut this weekend, Flipside is back at Esplanade too, once again making space for bold, boundary-pushing work that doesn't fit neatly into any one box.

Seeing a show travel from our stages to a festival stage in Hong Kong, and find a home in a programme celebrating cabaret from across the region and beyond, is exactly what we hope for when we invest in new work.

To Ross, Melissa, and the whole How Drama team, we're rooting for Ruby!

Big Brown Girl and a number of other Singapore acts heading abroad this season were featured in The Straits Times this week. Read more via the link below.

Discover how Singaporean artists are securing international festival spots and overcoming rising touring costs with resourcefulness and networking. Read more at straitstimes.com. Read more at straitstimes.com.

03/06/2026

: Due to severe weather conditions in southwest Japan, tomorrow's performance of LIVE MANGA by Gabez (Japan) as part of Flipside 2026 on 4 Jun, 7pm at the DBS Foundation Outdoor Theatre has been cancelled. Please join us for The Flow by Lai Yee (Hong Kong) instead. A new performance of LIVE MANGA by Gabez (Japan) has also been added on 5 Jun 2026, 6pm at the Esplanade Concourse.

We apologise for any inconvenience caused!

Witness a manga come to life in this whirlwind comedy experience by pantomime comedy duo Gabez.

03/06/2026

Need a bit of a mid-year boost? See how homegrown artists bridge different genres and styles in Free Programmes Jun: eXchAnge—experience unique creative collaborations, fresh sounds, and unexpected genre mashups you won't see or hear anywhere else!

Find out more: https://www.esplanade.com/whats-on/festivals-and-series/free-programmes/2026/exchange?startDate=1-Jun-2026&endDate=30-Jun-2026

03/06/2026

Continuing our spotlight on this year’s Contemporary Performing Arts Research Residency, meet our next three residents: Khairullah Rahim, Yuske Taninaka and George Chua!

Swipe to discover their artistic approaches, research, and public programmes now open for registration.

Running from Apr to Jun 2026, the third edition of the residency explores the thematic focus “This Time”. Find out more via the link in Esplanade’s bio! This is an initiative by Esplanade – Theatres on the Bay, supported by National Arts Council.

02/06/2026

What does true inclusion in the arts look like?
Drawing from her lived experiences, writer Claire Teo examines how belonging, accessibility and disability leadership can become creative forces in the theatre-making process.

Read now on Esplanade Offstage.

Can access become a currency in Singapore’s art scene?

02/06/2026

Earlier this month, we welcomed over 160 beneficiaries and their families for an exclusive performance of PLAYtime!, and what an afternoon it was!

Families joined us from eight organisations including Fei Yue Early Intervention Centre (Jurong East & Bukit Batok), Metta Preschool @ Punggol, CaringSG, Down Syndrome Association, AWWA Early Intervention Centre @ Napiri, and Eden Children’s Centre and Eden School under Autism Association. With Disney Cruise Line volunteers on hand to assist attendees throughout the experience, the afternoon was filled with warmth, energy and heart.

Our PLAYtime! series is designed to be sensory-friendly, featuring a relaxed performance setting and welcoming space where children of all abilities and their caregivers can experience the joy of a live performance together. We're so glad it resonated with our invited guests:

"The families and children had a great time at Esplanade, and thoroughly enjoyed the performance. They especially liked the interactive moments where the audience could respond to the actors."
– Wong Jia Min, Fei Yue Lead Early Intervention Educator (Fei Yue)

"The sensory-friendly setup, with a relaxed environment and Calm Space, made it very welcoming and inclusive... Definitely a lovely and meaningful experience—highly recommended for young children."
– Grandmother of a young guest

Looking ahead, we're also excited to present PLAYtime! The Amazing Sarong this August, another joyful, inclusive experience for families that transforms an ordinary sarong into a whole new world of possibilities for young audiences.

If you’d also like to enable more communities to access the arts, we'd love to have you with us: https://www.esplanade.com/support-the-arts/donate-and-sponsor/donate/community-engagement-programmes

Thank you to Disney Cruise Line for generously supporting this experience and making the afternoon possible!

29/05/2026

Sweeping hair, bright colours with bold prints with sunnies on: everything about Margasatwa screams ‘70s rock and psychedelia. While that sits at the core of the band’s sound, other influences are apparent too: jazz flourishes, traditional Malay folk melodies, poetic lyricism, swelling ballad crescendos.

Above all soars the resonant voice of frontman Kimal, whose magnetic presence and vocal prowess ties together Margasatwa’s unique brand of Nusantara rock.

Watch the full video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qKFcLZ6TtJU&list=RDqKFcLZ6TtJU&start_radio=1

Audio recording & mixing: .sg
Video: �

26/05/2026

Everybody loves a little bit of risk.

There is a thrill in stepping into the unknown—that quickening pulse, that sharp intake of breath—and then emerging safely on the other side. It unsettles us, pushes us off balance, nudges us beyond the familiar and opens the door to something unexpected—perhaps even transformative.

Flipside, presented by Esplanade – Theatres on the Bay is built on risk. We work with circus practitioners who perform extraordinary physical feats that take our breath away. We collaborate with artists who mine their personal histories, using their bodies and voices to tell intimate stories, crafting comedy and vulnerability for rooms full of strangers. And our audience take a risk too, choosing curiosity over certainty, arriving at the festival without knowing what to expect.

But risk is only half the story.

Risk exists because of trust. Trust is the quiet foundation beneath every leap, every catch, every moment of stillness before a fall. Behind every performance is a web of trust between artists, technicians and crew, holding each other with care so that the impossible becomes possible. Artists trust their instincts, sharpened by years of training and honing their craft; they know that when they take that leap, they will land.

This year is no different. From high-octane physicality to surreal absurdity, from deeply personal storytelling to communal spectacle, Flipside invites you into worlds that are daring, playful and deeply human. Across Esplanade from 29 May – 7 Jun 2026, artists test their limits, reimagine boundaries and draw us into shared moments of wonder.

At the Esplanade Theatre Studio, Australian circus company Gravity & Other Myths bring us into A Simple Space, an exhilarating, visceral experience watching acrobats push their physical limits to the extreme. In surrealistic Der Lauf (The Way Things Go) by Les Vélocimanes Associés, the audience must help a juggler with a bucket on his head navigate a series of absurd experiments. Local multi-hyphenate Dwayne Lau takes over the Esplanade Recital Studio for his first full-length performance at the festival with Snakes and Ladders!, sharing personal and heartfelt stories in his journey as an actor. Taking the risk outdoors, Singapore’s very own Bornfire Circus and the ever-popular Aerial Open Stage also return.

We are grateful to Polar Premium Drinking Water for their generous support of the festival.

This is only a taster of what to expect at Flipside 2026! Since 2004, we have had the privilege of being a place where risk and trust meet—the collective gasps, the delighted laughter, the joy and playful spirit that resurfaces here year after year. We are deeply grateful for the artists, technicians, crew and audience who have taken that leap with us.

Please join us again. Take a risk, and we promise to catch you.

Lynn Yang
Assistant Head, Theatre
The Esplanade Co Ltd

www.esplanade.com/flipside

A playful festival of circus, comedy, physical theatre and puppetry.

26/05/2026

What happens when audiences become part of the performance? Step into the world of interactive theatre and discover how artists are blurring the lines between spectator and performer through immersive storytelling.

Read more on Esplanade Offstage: https://www.esplanade.com/offstage/arts/from-spectators-to-collaborators

How performers build trust with audiences in real time