Culture

Netflix’s Pandemic is a prophecy of the eeriest kind: watching it at present, living life under the exact kind of virus foretold in the documentary series is distressing. Preparedness, research and development were core themes that carried the series. From 2018 to 2019, Pandemic’s production team trotted around the globe and followed the lives of nine individuals — including frontline medical professionals in New York, scientists who travel back and forth from Guatemala, and experts from the World Health Organisation (WHO) in Congo — in fighting seasonal flu, Swine Flu and Ebola. Ordinarily, one would be in awe of the

Send in the Clowns: Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale by the Hong Kong Shax Theatre Group & La Trobe University Student Theatre Reviewed by Ong Jie Yee The second Asia-Pacific Triennial of Performing Arts (Asia TOPA) returns with a modern retelling of William Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale — this time through the lens of the colonised. It is a cross-cultural collaboration generously supported by the Department of Foreign Affairs. With the intention to tell a story about the far-reaching legacy of colonialism, the University of Hong Kong’s Shax Theatre Group and La Trobe University’s Student Theatre joined forces for the very

By Nachiket Behera Nachiket: So, coming straight to the point, what really inspired you to go on a cross-country road trip of 30,000kms? Monica: Well I guess the thought of the trip began when I was living in China. I was in China in my late twenties because I am of Chinese heritage, and also because I was interested in getting to know the country from which my heritage comes. And I really loved living there. It was the first time that I really valued the diversity of languages and richness of culture, the importance of history. While I was