Blood & Rose Ensemble takes on Shakespeare’s “Wars of the Roses” history plays, putting a fresh, satirical and highly entertaining spin on the question of how history gets made. Between the beauty and violence of roses and bloodshed, how is history written and re-written? How are these histories told, and who gets to tell them?

In this brilliantly-inventive staging, prodigious Taiwanese director Wang Chia-Ming plays the invisible DJ, spinning in the arena of history, as he boldly remixes cuts, characters, and conflicts of Shakespeare’s Henry VI and Richard III, whilst jockeying the talented ensemble of actors in a madcap two-hour journey. The actors toggle multiple roles—playing various characters and performing their own music live—and cross-fade seamlessly between improvisation and performance, as they hurtle us through the voices and interwoven (hi)stories of Henry VI and Richard III, only to find that the enduring truth of our time is the illusiveness of truth itself.

A co-commission by Esplanade – Theatres on the Bay and The National Theater & Concert Hall, Blood & Rose Ensemble features Singapore theatre actor Oliver Chong, alongside nine illustrious Taiwanese theatre actors, in a performance that is as disquieting a requiem to the blood and beauty of the historic Wars, as it is a striking indictment of truth in our post-truth times.