SINGAPORE – The annual Singapore International Festival of Arts (Sifa) returns with a record 15 commissioned local works, including an ambitious 50m by 30m pavilion at Bedok Town Square that will take cutting-edge performances to a heartland crowd.

From May 16 to June 1, people can look forward to performances in festival director Natalie Hennedige’s recognisably post-modern aesthetic, blending theatre, visual art, dance and music. They delve into heavy-hitting topics on the occasion of Singapore’s 60th birthday, such as the country’s maritime heritage and the 1965 separation from Malaysia.

In a festival that celebrates “doing it our way”, classics like George Orwell’s Animal Farm and William Shakespeare’s King Lear will be given fresh spins by Singapore artists. A gigantic sailboat will traverse Empress Lawn near Victoria Theatre, the site for Little Sifa designed for families and children.

Themed More Than Ever, Sifa 2025 is the culmination of Hennedige’s four years in charge of the tentpole performing arts festival organised by Arts House Limited.

She says: “Why do we need the arts more than ever? More than ever, worlds open. More than ever, we need to raise wise children. I wanted something that was both open and emphatic at the same time.”

The opening performance The Sea And The Neighbourhood is in Bedok at a new Sifa pavilion – the first such space in the event’s 48-year history.

A coral-inspired stage by visual artist Wang Ruobing, big enough to accommodate up to 30 ballet dancers and musicians, anchors this multidisciplinary work, which also enlists composer Philip Tan, choreographer Christina Chan and video artist Brian Gothong Tan.

This pavilion will host performances during Sifa weekends and double as a kinetic art installation on weekdays.

Hennedige says: “It was a personal choice to go for it. You get all these people walking through – an aunty selling chwee kueh, her son who works at Shenton Way. His child might be studying at the Singapore Chinese Girls’ School.

“They will all be met with these artistic vocabularies. What I want to say is: I believe in the arts and the vitality and powerful presence of artistic encounters.”

In similar inter-disciplinary vein are works like Umbilical, which...