Benny Lim (born 1980, in Singapore) was the

artistic director An artistic director is the executive of an arts organization, particularly in a theatre company or dance company, who handles the organization's artistic direction. They are generally a producer and director, but not in the sense of a mogu ...

of the now defunct the Fun Stage, a

non-profit A nonprofit organization (NPO), also known as a nonbusiness entity, nonprofit institution, not-for-profit organization, or simply a nonprofit, is a non-governmental (private) legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public, or so ...

theatre group in Singapore. He obtained a

Doctor of Philosophy A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of Postgraduate education, graduate study and original resear ...

from the Division of

Drama Drama is the specific Mode (literature), mode of fiction Mimesis, represented in performance: a Play (theatre), play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on Radio drama, radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a g ...

University of Glamorgan The University of Glamorgan () was a public university based in South Wales, that merged with University of Wales, Newport to form the University of South Wales in April 2013. The university was based in Pontypridd, in Rhondda Cynon Taf, with ...

(now known as the

University of South Wales The University of South Wales (USW) () is a public university in Wales, with campuses in Cardiff, Newport and Pontypridd. It was formed on 11 April 2013 from the merger of the University of Glamorgan and the University of Wales, Newport. The ...

) in 2012.

Biography

In 2001, at the age of 21, he founded the Fun Stage and has since held on to the record as the youngest artistic director of a theatre company in Singapore. In 2006, one of Benny's plays, ''Existence'', was published in Singapore. ''Existence'' was written in 2003, inspired by the poetry of

Cyril Wong Cyril Wong (; born 27 June 1977) is a poet, fiction author and literary critic. Biography Born in 1977, Cyril Wong attended Saint Patrick's School, Singapore, and Temasek Junior College, before completing a doctoral degree in English literatur ...

, as a response to

Leslie Cheung Leslie Cheung Kwok-wing (born Cheung Fat-chung; 12 September 1956 – 1 April 2003) was a Hong Kong singer and actor. One of the most influential cultural icons in the Sinophone, Sinophone world, Cheung was known for his debonair demeanor, flamb ...

's suicide. The play was mentioned in ''

Time Time is the continuous progression of existence that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, and into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequ ...

'' magazine (10 August 2003) as a story that "portrays the love of two young Singaporean men for each other as doomed". In 2015, Benny co-curated Umbrella Festival, an arts festival in Hong Kong, in response to city's

Umbrella Movement The Umbrella Movement () was a political movement that emerged during the 2014 Hong Kong protests. Its name arose from the use of umbrellas as a tool for nonviolent resistance, passive resistance to the Hong Kong Police Force's use of pepper ...

Censorship

Benny's works often deal with social-political issues within a

postmodern Postmodernism encompasses a variety of artistic, cultural, and philosophical movements that claim to mark a break from modernism. They have in common the conviction that it is no longer possible to rely upon previous ways of depicting the wo ...

society. In 2004, Benny organized the Lovers' Lecture Series, which was not given a go-ahead by the Public Entertainment Licensing Unit (PELU) under the

Singapore Police Force The Singapore Police Force (SPF) is the national and principal Police, law enforcement agency responsible for the prevention of crime and law enforcement in the Republic of Singapore. It is the country's lead agency against organised crime; hum ...

. In 2005, Benny collaborated with artist Brian Gothong Tan on a devised play, Human Lefts. The content of the play, which was on the issue of the death penalty, was given a total ban by the

Media Development Authority of Singapore The Media Development Authority (abbreviation: MDA) was a statutory board of the Singapore Government, under the Ministry of Communications and Information (MCI). History MDA was founded on 1 January 2003 by the merger of Singapore Broadcastin ...

(MDA).Article from ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' – Dated 3 December 2005
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lim, Benny Singaporean people of Chinese descent 1980 births People from Singapore Living people