Bernadette Koh
Actress
I Too Began To Cry
Self-Devised One-Woman Show
Company: School of The Arts, Singapore
"How could you grieve the life of someone you've never met?"
After accidentally causing the death of her soon-to-be-sister Theodosia, Young Anastasia describes the grief and pain that the Lee Family experiences. This heart-wrenching solo script was self-devised as part of Bernadette's theatre training under the International Baccalaureate degree she attained in 2023. It explores the intense themes of miscarriages, motherhood and misunderstandings all through the lens of an innocent young girl who's trying to make sense of her mother's pains.
All Dolled Up
Self-Devised Group Piece
Company: School of The Arts, Singapore
"Their bodies are plastic. Their screams are real."
Everyone welcome the new age of Lilys! These stylish dolls have been created to serve and satisfy any and all consumers. But what happens when even newer Lilys are made? Watch as three dolls battle it out over a series of assessments, to prove that they are still just as fit to please their owners.
Do not let the performance's fun and whimsical storytelling fool you. Behind this colourful facade hides real stories that tell of toxic femininity and feminine rivalry, and how these issues are further exacerbated by the patriarchal society we continue to live in.
Stories of the Saloon
Self-Devised Group Piece
Dir. Alex Palmer
Company: Leeds Conservatoire x Royal Armouries
I bet you’ve all heard the thrilling tales of the Wild West - however things were not as they seem. Our piece reveals the brutal conditions of life in the Old West, highlighting the lack of gun control, an issue still prevalent to this day. From musical hoe downs to fatal throw downs, our spirited townsfolk will take you on a wild ride to Tombstone, Arizona 1881.
The Rimers of Eldritch
Dir. Jessica Millward
Company: Leeds Conservatoire
This play delves into the complexities of small-town dynamics through its richly developed characters.
Key characters throughout the piece reflect the rigidity of being a devout Christian in this decrepit town and embody the community's tendency to project their own evils onto others. The play's themes of accountability and communal scapegoating are extremely poignant especially in this day and age.
The narrative explores the interplay of innocence, responsibility, and the harsh realities of life in Eldritch, inviting reflection on how personal and communal narratives shape identity and morality.
After Life
Dir. Daniel Jenkins
Company: Singapore Repertory Theatre
"If you could spend eternity with just one precious memory, what would it be?"
Adapted from Hirokazu Koreeda's acclaimed film, After Life takes us into a bureaucratic waiting room between life and death, where a diverse group of newly deceased strangers grapple with an extraordinary choice: selecting their most cherished memory to carry with them for eternity.
Guided by enigmatic officials, these characters embark on a soul-searching journey through their past lives to choose their forever memory.
With grace, sensitivity, and humour, exploring themes of love, regret and hopefulness, After Life is a celebration of theatre, and a moving meditation on the way we view our lives, and what it means to live, to die, and the memories we make along the way.
"A compelling vision of eternity" – The Times
"A great idea, charmingly done... its best parts are pure theatre" – The Guardian
"Miraculous... an absolutely superb play... I was incredibly moved by it... a properly transcendent piece of theatre" – TimeOut
The Evolution Revolution
Dir. Claire Glenn
Company: Conundrum Theatre
The Evolution Revolution was performed both in Singapore and the Adelaide Fringe Festival in February 2023!
Devised by The Performance Ensemble and written by emerging Singaporean Playwright and Conundrum’s Associate Artist, Kimberly Sim, The Evolution Revolution is an absurdist investigation into Power, Control, Manipulation, Ethics, Justice, and Body Autonomy in the modern world.
.jpeg)
I Still Have No Friends
Dir. Claire Glenn
Company: Conundrum Theatre
Part survival tale, part psychological horror, and part coming of age drama, I Still Have No Friends (written by Alby T. Grace) is the darkly humorous story of the teenage survivors of a nuclear bomb that exploded while they were attending an International Youth Leadership Conference.
Set against the backdrop of global and political unrest, the young survivors of I Still Have No Friends must work together to build society anew. Can they do it? Or will the combination of complex personalities, lack of resources, and fragility of power bring them all crashing down?
Will anyone survive in this post-apocalyptic world? Or will the young people discover that, even at the end of the world, they still have no friends?
Investigating themes of power, relationships, community, corruption, mental health and the supernatural, I Still Have No Friends explores whether humans can truly get along, or if our primal and inherent instinct is to covet power and control, no matter the cost. Are we destined to hurt each other to prove our superiority? Or can we act with kindness? What is the world we want to live in?
Garden Guidebook
Self-Devised Group Piece
Company: Singapore Repertory Theatre
As part of her training under SRT's Young Company, Bernadette helped to devise a short piece to perform as part of SRT's THEATRE360 Event.
Unfortunately, as is commonly observed among many Singaporeans, a lot of us tend to be swept up by the mundane nature of a corporate job. Watch as Andy, a typical office worker burdened with meaningless work, struggles to find the small joys and blessings hidden amongst his self-made tangle of dull living. Maybe if he squints hard enough, he may just rediscover an old passion.
Richard III
Dir. Harris Jahim
Company: School of The Arts, Singapore
As told through the lens of a military base, this production of Richard the Third re-tells the classic historic Shakespearean tale and highlights the megalomaniac that is Richard of Gloucester. The audience is forced to bear witness as Richard mercilessly murders his brothers, nephews, and any opposition. The deliberate choice of setting further intensifies this tragic tale and brings attention to how the Shakespearean themes of manipulation and corruption are still relevant now.
Class of '23
Self-Devised Group Piece
Company: School of The Arts, Singapore
"Is our society just producing a mass of overworked zombies?" This is the question that we thought we'd ask. For years, we have been constantly bombarded by article after article detailing how unhappy and overburdened Singaporeans are. But surely we didn't start off that way. So watch as our group details the journey of each person being born with a spark or gift, and how a meritocratic society dims that light and shoves it into a 9-5.
La Facade (Staged Reading)
Dir. Noorlinah Mohamed
Company: T:>Works
An experiment on form.
An insistence on hybridity.
An instructional guide to a brave new world.
From 16 to 19 December 2020, T:>Works presents How To Break A Window. Expect a series of digital and hybrid productions, live staged readings and conversations on digital performance, featuring the brilliant winners of the 24-Hour Playwriting Competition 2020.
La Façade | Live staged reading
Written by Bernadette Koh
Directed by Noorlinah Mohamed
A family lives in a city where curtains are banned by the state. What happens when two children defiantly put up curtains?
Can The Ordinary Tell a Story? (IMPACT '22)
Dir. Sean Tobin
Company: School of The Arts, Singapore
As part of the IMPACT Fundraiser hosted by the School of the Arts in 2022, Bernadette performed both as the opener of the show and as the lead storyteller in "Can The Ordinary Tell a Story?" written by student Quek Chi-E. The show opens with Bernadette's rendition of "Under the Banana Tree", a poem written by student Sophie Ang Jia Shuen that celebrates Singapore's emphasis on community and the "kampung spirit".
IMPACT'22 invites everyone to sit under the banana tree, and share and listen to each other wholeheartedly. Through this experience, students and alumni will draw significant inspiration from local artist Tang Da Wu, as well as share some of it with you, to take away with you today.
Shack (Staged Reading)
Dir. George Kemp
Company: Conundrum Theatre x Australian Theatre for Young People
Winner of the 2020 Junior ATYP Foundation Commission, Shack by George Kemp explores the power of nature and the nature of power in this adventure story for the Greta Thunberg generation.
Antarctica. A blizzard. Nine school kids are stranded in a shack, on the bottom of the world, with a sinister force circling outside? Our young explorers, in the ghostly footsteps of Ernest Shackleton, question their place in the natural and social order of the world as the limits of their courage are pushed into uncharted waters.
A hypothermic flurry of comedy and thriller, Shack explores the territory between teen anxiety and teen invincibility. Young people are being called on to lead like never before, but how do they learn to step up, when sometimes just existing is hard enough?!
Harold Pinter’s multi award-winning play has enthralled audiences for decades.
Through a sequence of conversations between Emma, Robert and Jerry, secrets pour forth that take us on an epic emotional journey. The story of an extra-marital affair unravels uniquely in reverse chronology. Pinter’s signature economical use of dialogue allows the audience to revel in the tension of the emotions that the play explores. The layers of deception peel away over the course of the play, bringing the audience to the point from which a marriage comes undone and friendships are decimated.
