Watch the Video Clip
[Contact us for full version]

A cross-media collaboration between Singapore, Japan and Australia artists based on war-crimes trial records, survivors' accounts of the death march in Borneo at the end of World War II. It metaphorises the experiences of war and brutality as a journey into the heart of darkness.

An emotive performance on humanity and dignity told through dance and movement by Kota Yamazaki, renown dancer and choreographer from Tokyo; Matthew Crosby, one of the best actors from the Australian stage; Gojo Masanosuke, highly acclaimed kabuki dancer; quirky contemporary performer, Rizman Putra of KYTV (Kill Your Television); emerging contemporary dancer Tim Harvey and veteran Singapore actress Lok Meng Chue.

Sandakan Threnody is directed by cultural medallion winner 2003, Ong Keng Sen; with evocative music by critically acclaimed Australian composer, Jonathan Mills. After Singapore, the work will next be seen in Brisbane and Melbourne.

“To evoke is to call forth; to bring to recollection imaginatively; to summon a spirit by invocation. Perhaps we are evokers of a forgotten past, a past erased and evaporated. We evoke what could not be said before."

 

Research Trip to Sandakan

 

[back to top]