Nora Samosir
Born
Nora Anny Samosir

Singapore
Occupation(s)Actress
educator
Years active1979–present

Nora Samosir is a Singaporean actress of Indonesian descent who won a 2002 Life Theatre Award for Best Supporting Actress.[1][2] She has been active in the Singapore theatre scene since 1979 and has worked in television and film.[1] Some of her more notable performances include The Swallowed Seed (2002)[3] and Revelations (2003)[4]

Background

Samosir is of Indonesian descent and speaks English, Malay and Indonesian fluently.[1] Her professional training is in acting and voice production, which she also teaches at the National University of Singapore.[1] She studied at the Central School of Speech and Drama, London, and graduated from York University, Toronto, Canada with a Bachelor of Arts (Honours), and has multiple qualifications in vocal training and voice studies.[5] She is a member of the Association of Singapore Actors,[1] the Singapore Drama Educators Association,[6] and currently a lecturer in the School of Dance & Theatre at LASALLE, where she lectures in Acting and Musical Theatre.[7]

Career

Samosir has done extensive work in Singapore with such groups as Singapore Repertory Theatre (SRT), Action Theatre, The Necessary Stage (TNS), Cake Theatre, Black Tent Theater, Music and Movement, and TheatreWorks (TW), as well as performing at venues such as National Museum of Singapore, Dublin Fringe Festival, National Theatre Festival (at the National School of Drama in Delhi), Asian Theatre Festival at Kyungsung University in Busan, Lyric Theatre, Festival of Perth, TheatreWorks Retrospective Festival, Kuala Lumpur, Adelaide Festival of Arts, and National Institute of Education.

Selected notable theatre appearances

  • Asian Boys Volume 1 (2000) with The Necessary Stage
  • Destinies of Flowers in the Mirror (2009) [8][9]
  • Temple (2008) with Cake Theatre[10]
  • 120 (2007) with the National Museum of Singapore[11]
  • Doubt (2006)[12]
  • Queen Ping (2006) with Cake Theatre[13]
  • The Vagina Monologues (2004) with The Arts House[14]
  • Revelations (2003) with TNS[4]
  • Pulse Version Theatre (2003) with TheatreWorks[15]
  • Proof (2002) with Action Theatre[16]
  • Fruit Plays (2002)[3][17]
    • Human Heart Fruit by Stella Konand
    • The Swallowed Seed by Jean Tay

Filmography

  • Singapore Shorts Vol. 2 (Asian Film Archive's) (2008)[18]
  • Imelda Goes to Singapore (2008)[18]
  • Shanghai Lily (1999)[1]
  • Passionflower (1986)[1]

Partial television

  • Masters of the Sea (1994)[19]
  • Shiver (1997)[20]
  • Ah Girl (2001–2002)[21]
  • Guru Paarvai (2004)[21]
  • Stories of Love (2008)[22]

Criticism and praise

In considering her role in Doubt (2006), Richard Lord of Quarterly Literary Review Singapore wrote that her portrayal of Sister Aloysius was unsympathetic and led to the audience believing in the innocence of Father Brendan as played by Lim Yu Beng.[12] When speaking of her award-winning role of Claire in Proof (2002), Daniel Teo of Inkpot Reviews praised her performance and her precision,[23] while Richard Lord of QLRS felt she exaggerated her character, but had shown better work in performance earlier that year."[16] The following year in his review of Revelations (2003), Lord gave a mixed review of the production's "faulty structure", yet approved of Samosir's performance.[3] In 2003, Samosir was involved with Pulse (2003), an experimental series of 3 interlinked plays loosely based on an urban woman's diary. The series was reviewed by Matthew Lyon of Inkpot Reviews, who felt her performance in the second of the three was "the strongest of the whole series."[15]

Awards

  • 2002 Life Theatre Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role of Claire in Action Theatre's 2002 production of "Proof".[1][2]

Further reading

  • The lady of soul and her ultimate "S" machine, by Tarn How Tan[24]
  • PIE to SPOILT: a collection of plays, by Tze Chien Chong ISBN 981-04-7667-1[25]
  • A history of amnesia: poems, by Alfian Sa'at ISBN 981-04-3707-2[26]
  • Private parts and other playthings, by Michael Chiang ISBN 981-3002-77-8[27]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "actors' directory: Nora Samosir". Association of Singapore Artists. Archived from the original on 15 June 2009. Retrieved 12 April 2009.
  2. 1 2 "The 3rd DBS Life! Theatre Awards 2002". Singapore Press Holdings Limited. Retrieved 12 April 2009.
  3. 1 2 3 Lord, Richard (July 2003). "Thinking Global, Acting Local". Quarterly Literary Review Singapore. 2 (4).
  4. 1 2 Lord, Richard (July 2003). "Thinking Global, Acting Local – Singapore shows up at the Singapore Arts Fest". Quarterly Literary Review Singapore. 2 (4).
  5. ↑ "A Workshop on Respiration, Phonation, and Articulation" (PDF). National University of Singapore. Archived from the original (PDF) on 20 May 2011. Retrieved 12 April 2009.
  6. ↑ "Our members". Singapore Drama Educators Association. Archived from the original on 19 December 2008. Retrieved 13 April 2009.
  7. ↑ "Nora Samosir". LASALLE College of the Arts. Archived from the original on 27 January 2023. Retrieved 16 July 2023.
  8. ↑ "Stage: musical & opera". IS Magazine. 20 March 2009. Retrieved 12 April 2009.
  9. ↑ Chia, Adeline. "Flawed reflections". Straits Times. Retrieved 13 April 2009.
  10. ↑ Toh, Amos (19 June 2008). "Urgent Devotion". The Flying Inkpot. Archived from the original on 26 September 2008. Retrieved 13 April 2009.
  11. ↑ "120, Presented by National Museum of Singapore: A new production by TheatreWorks/Ong Keng Sen". National Museum of Singapore. Archived from the original on 1 October 2009. Retrieved 13 April 2009.
  12. 1 2 Lord, Richard (April 2006). "Shadows of the Doubt". Quarterly Literary Review Singapore. 5 (3): 2.
  13. ↑ Yi-Sheng, Ng (12 May 2006). "The Palace of Wisdom". The Flying Inkpot. Archived from the original on 8 October 2008. Retrieved 13 April 2009.
  14. ↑ Lord, Richard (January 2005). "Negotiating Parts Unknown". Quarterly Literary Review Singapore. 4 (2).
  15. 1 2 Lyon, Matthew. "The Heart of the Matter". The Inkpot. Retrieved 13 April 2009.
  16. 1 2 Lord, Richard (January 2003). "Maps, Maths and Other Madness". Quarterly Literary Review Singapore. 2 (2).
  17. ↑ Lord, Richard (July 2002). "Action Speaks Louder With Words – Of soups, fruits and suits". Quarterly Literary Review Singapore. 1 (4).
  18. 1 2 "DVD Review of Asian Film Archive's Singapore Shorts Vol. 2". Twitch Films. 17 November 2008. Archived from the original on 21 February 2009. Retrieved 13 April 2009.
  19. ↑ "Classic dramas Triple Nine and Masters Of The Sea are coming to Netflix in November".
  20. ↑ Kwok, Amos. "Shiver". Retrieved 13 April 2009.
  21. 1 2 "MY LIFE IN THEATRE".
  22. ↑ "NUS Arts Festival 2014 | Festival Picks - White Rabbit Red Rabbit". www.nus.edu.sg. Retrieved 2 July 2021.
  23. ↑ Teo, Daniel (22 November 2002). "One is the lonliest number". The Inkpot. Archived from the original on 8 October 2008. Retrieved 12 April 2009.
  24. ↑ Tan, Tarn How (1993). The lady of soul and her ultimate "S" machine. Sirius Books. p. 85.
  25. ↑ Chong, Tze Chien (2002). PIE to SPOILT: a collection of plays. The Necessary Stage. p. 253. ISBN 9789810476670.
  26. ↑ Sa'at, Alfian (2001). A history of amnesia: poems. Ethos Books. p. 86. ISBN 9789810437077.
  27. ↑ Chiang, Michael (1994). Private parts and other playthings. Landmark Books. p. 295. ISBN 9789813002777.
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