Precious Little: Brief Encounters with Beckett (May 2009)

Directed by Shelly Quick, Produced by World-in-Theatre

"I for one personally loved the intricate and wicked business in which the goad on wheels poked Beckett's characters awake, the music and choreography for Act Without Words I and II, and the weight of Mohan's performance..."

Terence Tan, Theatrex Asia

Macbeth (July 2008)

Directed by Shelly Quick, Produced by World-in-Theatre & NAFA Theatre Department

"Sonny Lim played the title role with gusto, developing from scrupulous subject to guilt-ridden usurper and finally to reckless nihilist."

Adeline Chia, The Straits Times, Life!

Mishima: Women in Love (July 2007)

Directed by Sonny Lim & Richard Chua, Produced by World-in-Theatre & Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts

"(T)he production has a deliberately slow rhythm that seems to attempt to immerse the audience in the tempo of an archaic world where humans move and speak sluggishly, mired by a morass of regret and longing that has grown more potent than their flesh and spirit can bear."

Hong Xinyi, The Straits Times, Life!

"Supported by a well-designed stage and lighting, competent performances and a well-paced story, the play manages to speak to an audience that may not have been familiar with motifs of a foreign nature by focusing on the experience of love."

Ang Houfu, Theatrex e-zine

Bitter Chocolate (August 2006)

Directed by Kavitha Krishnan & Juraimy Abu Bakar, Produced by Apsara Asia & World-in-Theatre

"In Bitter Chocolate, another low-key and intimate production about
ordinary people and their everyday lives, magnetic performances by
World-in-Theatre founder Sonny Lim and dancers Kavitha Krishnan, Huang Yuzhu and Shanti Gomes riveted me but... (though) these did not entirely compensate for the many pieces that made up the show which still left me cold.... I liked the way elements of different art forms were infused into this anthology of work, most of which explored the richness of life and how it could be both bitter and sweet, sometimes at the same time."

Kenneth Kwok, The Flying Inkpot.

Two Women for One Ghost & La Musica (April 2005)

Directed by Chris Cheers & Sonny Lim, Produced by World-in-Theatre

"World-in-Theatre, one of Singapore’s perennially braver theatre companies, ... served up a French duet for its second show of the season. What was courageous about this choice is that the two works and their playwrights remain largely unknown in this corner of the world, though both of the authors are fairly well-known, even celebrated, in their native land ... This production could have been absolutely deadly with actors who gave anything less than the fully committed performances served up here by Debra Teng and Ferlin Jayatissa ... [they] brought out a fine melange of scarred emotions that kept us at all interested in the tortured journey these characters were taking."

Richard Lord, Quarterly Literary Review Singapore

Elektra (January 2005)

Directed by V.Subramaniam, Produced by World-in-Theatre

“This Elektra was an ensemble piece par excellence…. World-in-Theatre’s unique approach to staging Euripides…. probably brings us closer to the original experience of watching tragedy at one of those biannual festivals in Athens.”

Richard Lord, Quarterly Literary Review Singapore

“..a postmodern theatre feast for the senses, and all this achieved without an ever-changing elaborate set or a single prop. Never have dance, music and drama fused on a local stage with such complexity and success.”

Cyril Wong, Nanyang Arts Magazine

[from left] Kavitha Krishnan, Jaynthi Siva, and
Malavika Mohanan

The Apparatus (July 2004)

Directed by V.Subramaniam, founder-member of World-in-Theatre
Produced by World-in-Theatre

"One can feel the deliberately grotesque viscerality permeating the murky universe of Franz Kafka's novella in this theatrical adaptation ... Priya Arun had the quality of a sultry Marlene Dietrich in a Josef von Sternberg film, her arched eyebrows and flaming red lips forming an insolent mask for the character's enigmatic core."

The Straits Times

The Gospel According to Mark (April 2004)

Directed by Elizabeth de Roza, founder-member of World-in-Theatre
Produced by World-in-Theatre

"No review of a production by World-In-Theatre would be complete without comment about the theatrics underscoring the performances and here is another embarrassment of riches. When Jesus meets Satan in the desert, it is a scene without words and yet the classical Indian dance style of Sonny Lim playing Satan in the form of a snake is truly mesmerising and says all that it needs to. It is a truly magical scene, as are others where director-choreographer de Roza directs the actors to present storms and long travels through clever movements of their body. These form simple but very effective moving tableaux, with the actors in costumes of bright colours vividly set against a stark and largely white set...."

Kenneth Kwok, The Flying Inkpot

The Royal Hunt of the Sun (July 2003)

Directed by Chris Cheers and Sonny Lim, founder-members of World-in-Theatre
Produced by World-in-Theatre

"...World-In-Theatre makes you feel like you have been transported to ancient Greece, Shakespeare’s street theatre or a storytelling session by a Wise Elder around a fire ... Watching them on stage is mesmerizing because they approach their performances with an almost spiritual devotion. They draw on ancient forces and perform almost as if taken over by them. Their bodies become the vessels through which these forces flow, allowing the actors to be stripped bare of vanity and pose but still able to bring epic texts like ‘The Ramayana’ and ROYAL HUNT – the story of how 167 men destroyed the Inca empire of 24 million for its gold – to life through the sheer force of their performance."

Kenneth Kwok, The Flying Inkpot

Images from The Royal Hunt of the Sun

Ramayana (May 2002)

Directed by Chris Cheers, founder-member of World-in-Theatre
Produced by Asia-in-Theatre Research Centre

“… in a piece that explores the themes of heroism, virtue, loyalty and passion, it was particularly powerful to see the coming together of these various artists, all performing their hearts out with such love and fervour in tribute to their fallen comrade and leader, the late William Teo, this being Asia-In-Theatre Research Centre's first show without its artistic director and founder. It was hard for the audience to distance itself from that and not be caught up in the spirit of the work. Did it affect my objective reading of the play? Perhaps. But what is successful theatre if not a means to be able to channel and share such humanity with the audience?”

Kenneth Kwok, The Flying Inkpot

World-in-Theatre's adaptation of Ramayana showed "a great deal of
respect, sensitivity and understanding of the text and its original
cultural context as well as a theatrical imagination.... a compelling
version of The Ramayana for today's audiences." Prof John Gentile

Images from the 'Ramayana'
Video montage of scenes from 'Ramayana'

Sita (Dec 2000)

Directed by Elizabeth de Roza, founder-member of World-in-Theatre
Produced by Asia-in-Theatre Research Centre

"The concept and artistic interpretation of this story by director Elizabeth de Roza and her creative team, writer Sonny Lim and choreographer Kuo Jing Hong was intriguing, with the use of contrasts and juxtapositions on many levels....The acting by director De Roza was very strong...she was able to convey the pain of Bophana and her struggle to retain her identity..."

The Straits Times

Equus (May 2000)

Directed by Chris Cheers, founder-member of World-in-Theatre
Produced by Asia-in-Theatre Research Centre

"In this sweltering weather, few things are worth getting stewed in the outdoors for. Unless it is at the Substation Garden and you are watching a play whose psychological and intellectual tug-of-war seems to extend your life for a few heightened hours."

The Straits Times

Nominated for Best Ensemble Acting in the Life Theatre Awards 2000

Images from 'Equus'