Benny Lim
Benny Lim (born 1980, in Singapore) was the artistic director of the now defunct the Fun Stage, a non-profit theatre group in Singapore.[1] He obtained a Doctor of Philosophy from the Division of Drama, University of Glamorgan (now known as the University of South Wales) in 2012.
Benny Lim | |
---|---|
Born | Singapore | 25 April 1980
Occupation | Theatre practitioner and educator |
Nationality | Singaporean |
Education | Doctor of Philosophy, University of Glamorgan |
Biography
In 2001, at the age of 21, he founded the Fun Stage and has since held on to the record as the youngest artistic director of a theatre company in Singapore.[2] In 2006, one of Benny's plays, Existence, was published in Singapore.[3] Existence was written in 2003, inspired by the poetry of Cyril Wong, as a response to Leslie Cheung's suicide. The play was mentioned in Time magazine (10 August 2003) as a story that "portrays the love of two young Singaporean men for each other as doomed".[4] In 2015, Benny co-curated Umbrella Festival, an arts festival in Hong Kong,[5] in response to city's Umbrella Movement.
Censorship
Benny's works often deal with social-political issues within a postmodern society. In 2004, Benny organized the Lovers' Lecture Series, which was not given a go-ahead by the Public Entertainment Licensing Unit (PELU) under the Singapore Police Force.[6] In 2005, Benny collaborated with artist Brian Gothong Tan on a devised play, Human Lefts. The content of the play, which was on the issue of the death penalty, was given a total ban by the Media Development Authority of Singapore (MDA).[7][8]
References
- The Fun Stage's website archived by the National Library Board, Singapore
- Arts and Entertainment section, Singapore Book of Records - Updated March 2016
- The book's information on WorldCat
- Price, David Clive (August 10, 2003). "Singapore: It's In to Be Out". Time.
- "Umbrella Festival". Time Out Hong Kong. Archived from the original on 21 September 2016. Retrieved 7 September 2016.
- Article from The Guardian - dated 11 March 2004
- Arts Engage website
- Article from The Sydney Morning Herald - Dated 3 December 2005