Events
UNDER THE FLESH
Bassam Abou Diab
(Lebanon)
Asian Premiere
BOOK NOW↗How does the body react when faced with death? What does it do to stay alive?
Under the Flesh is a powerful theatre and dance work. It asks how the body lives through war. It also shows how the body can resist, and find freedom, through art.
Bassam Abou Diab is the choreographer and performer. He has lived through four non-stop wars. Even so, he keeps choosing to dance, again and again. He created this intense work with moments of dark humour. In it, he uses his body to tell a story of strength and survival.
In Under the Flesh, movement becomes a kind of language. His dance follows its own form and rules. But it also fights back against war. War fills the body with fear, panic, and pain. This work shows how a moving body can answer that violence with courage and beauty.
There will be a dialogue with the artists after the 3pm performance on 24 January 2027, with speech to text interpretation available upon request. Please email your request to info@singaporefringe.com by 9 December 2026.
Artist Statement
This work comes from a clear political setting. It is shaped by four wars in South Lebanon. They took place in 1993, 1996, 2000, and 2006. Wars have not stopped in the Middle East. Today, new wars continue and many people are forced to leave their homes. I feel it is important to speak about the human side of war. I want to show what it feels like when your life is in danger. This is a part of war that we do not often hear about in the news. I want to share my own real and painful experience of war. This is separate from politics.
For 55 minutes, I want the audience to feel as if they are facing that danger. I tell my story through dance, music, and a dark sense of humour.
How does the body respond when faced with a death threat? What innate tools does it invent to survive?
Under the Flesh is a gripping contemporary theatre-dance performance that questions how a body in war can not only react, but can provocatively resist and find freedom through art.
After outliving four consecutive wars, choreographer and performer Bassam Abou Diab continues to choose to dance, again and again, creating this searing work replete with dark humour, where he lets his body tell its story of endurance and survival. Under the Flesh presents his movement as language, his dance sequences—abiding its rules and techniques—defying war machines. If war foists a raw emotional landscape of fear, panic, and desperation on the body, then the body in motion will confront it with poetic resistance.
There will be a dialogue with the artists after the 3pm performance on 24 January 2027, with speech to text interpretation available upon request. Please email your request to info@singaporefringe.com by 9 December 2026.
Artist Statement
The work is anchored in a very specific political context—four wars that happened in South Lebanon in 1993, 1996, 2000, and 2006. Wars are never-ending in the Middle East and in the context of recent wars and the political migrations happening in the world, I believe it is important to talk about the human aspect and the personal experience of the body when one’s life is under threat. I aim to share this aspect not spoken of on the news with an international audience—my true and painful experience of war outside the politics of it.
For 55 minutes I want to place the audience at the core of a life-threatening situation, while narrating my story throughout the choreography and the music with a specific humor.
Dates & Duration
23 January 2027, 8pm
24 January 2027, 3pm
55 minutes with no intermission
Venue
Esplanade Theatre Studio
Tickets
$38
*20% discount for students, NSF, senior citizens and PwD cardholders
*10% discount for Esplanade&Me members
Rating
To be advised
Language
In Arabic with live translation and open captions in English
- Open captions in English for all performances
- Speech to text interpretation for post-show dialogue upon request