EXPLORE
THE PROGRAMMES

Date
Location
Filter by Categories
Bringing George Town Festival to a vibrant close, “CTRL A+C” (Control Arts and the City) transforms the streets, parks, and public spaces of George Town into stages for unexpected encounters and shared experiences. Taking art beyond conventional venues, this closing weekend programme invites audiences to discover performances that unfold amidst the city’s everyday rhythms, where passers-by become participants and familiar places are reimagined through creativity. Featuring an exciting line-up of local and international artists, “CTRL A+C” presents site-responsive theatre, movement, street performances, and interdisciplinary works that explore themes of identity, belonging, memory, resilience, and our relationship with one another and the world around us. Blending visual storytelling, music, ritual, and audience participation, each work offers a unique way of experiencing the city through art. Step outside the theatre and into the city, where every street, square, and open space becomes a stage, and every encounter offers a new perspective on the connections that bind us together.
From the mist-covered mountains of Hualien County to the rhythmic shores of the Pacific Ocean, “When Spirits Meet: The Rainbow Bridge and Ocean Chants” invites audiences into the living traditions of Taiwan’s Truku and Amis peoples. Rooted in ancestral teachings, sacred rituals, and communal memory, the performance weaves together the spiritual world of the Truku—guided by the “Hakaw Utux” (Rainbow Bridge)—with the vibrant songs and dances of the Amis community of Makota’ay and their celebrated Ilisin harvest festival. Through powerful music, movement, and ritual storytelling, the performance becomes a poetic encounter between mountain and sea, spirit and community, memory and celebration.
Step into a dreamlike world where giant whales glide through the air, forgotten legends come alive, and puppets dance beyond the stage. “Dream Space” by Creative Group SSAK is a mesmerising non-verbal puppet and physical theatre performance that transforms ordinary spaces into poetic landscapes of wonder, healing, and imagination. Combining beautifully crafted puppets, live music, dynamic movement, and stunning visual storytelling, this immersive production invites audiences of all ages on an unforgettable journey through folklore, fantasy, and celebration.
What happens when silence becomes violence? After a powerful run in Penang and Kuala Lumpur, the award-winning “TEWAS: No Light at the End of the Tunnel” arrives at George Town Festival—a visceral theatrical experience confronting the haunting realities of bullying within Malaysian educational institutions. Blending raw storytelling with explosive physical theatre, TEWAS plunges audiences into a fractured world shaped by fear, complicity, survival, and the systems that fail to protect the vulnerable. Nominated 7 times at the 2025 BOH Cameronian Arts Awards and winner of Best Group/Ensemble Performance (Theatre), TEWAS is not just a performance—it is a reckoning. Are you ready to witness it?
“The Malaysian Real Book II” brings together three of Malaysia’s finest jazz vocalists—Ida Mariana, Janet Lee, and Yon Lynn—in a vibrant celebration of the Great Malaysian Songbook. Singing traditional standards and contemporary originals from the treasure trove of The Malaysian Real Book – songs in Malay, Chinese and English – their individual and combined styles are innovative and charged by boundless musical joy, all rooted in a distinctly Malaysian jazz sound. Expect soaring vocals and a foot-tapping vibe carried by the rhythms of swing, bebop and soul, and accompanied by the award-winning WVC Jazz Sextet.
“My body is a headless train. My body is a legless boat.” Premiered in 2025 to critical acclaim, the award-nominated “Lament of the Wandering Head” by Sun Son Theatre is a haunting, female-led performance that blends live music, physical theatre, and storytelling. Inspired by the flying head spirit of Southeast Asian folklore, the work reimagines myth as a powerful reflection on migration, displacement, and the fractured histories of the Chinese diaspora. Performed in Mandarin and Penang Hokkien, the production creates a rare bilingual soundscape where language, movement, and music intertwine. Combining traditional Taiwanese percussion with Southeast Asian gongs, chanting, and ritual rhythms, “Lament of the Wandering Head” invites audiences into a visceral theatrical journey where the body speaks as powerfully as words.