Emily Png, 30, and Stuart Wee, 33, first met at a children’s church.
Stuart played bass while Emily was on the keyboard, and then love blossomed between the two.
They both had very different backgrounds. Emily studied retail marketing and worked as an intern at Prada and as a fashion retailer.
Stuart now has two degrees in mechanical engineering and audio technology and a bachelor’s degree in audio production.
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He also worked for Beep Studios as an engineer and studio manager, recording for artists such as The Sam Willows, Nathan Hartono and Charlie Lim.
But a fateful business trip to London changed his life forever: it led to a marriage proposal in Paris and sparked a business idea between them.
Bring the immersive dining experience into the theater here
Stuart spoke of a time when he was hired by Coldplay mastering engineer Geoff Pesche and Kylie Minogue’s “Can’t Get You Out Of My Head” at London’s famous Abbey Road Studios.
He had asked his then boss, Kevin Foo, who is currently Sony Music Entertainment’s managing director for Taipei, if Emily could join as he planned to propose to her later in Paris.
“Emily, the curious and adventurous traveler, started searching online for interesting events and experiences in London and found that Gingerline was (but) completely exhausted,” Stuart said.
When he arrived in London, he continued to check Gingerline to see if anyone had given up on his spot. Their efforts paid off and they managed to secure tickets for their first impressive theatrical experience.
The combination of actors, sets, lighting, sound, theater food and cocktails that match a theme gave us the most fun and unique dining experience we’ve ever had.
We wanted Singapore to have something like this, but we didn’t know how to do it and if anyone ever did. We didn’t even know what to call such an experience.
– Stuart Wee, cofundador of AndSoForth
Upon their return to Singapore, their investigation revealed that a horror restaurant called Igor’s opened in 2001 but quickly closed about a year later.
“It was successful three to five months after it opened, but then lost business. We found that this was probably because there was no reason for customers to come back because the problem is the same, ”Stuart said.
“The Singapore Repertory Theater also had a theme dinner with all of the current theater superstars in 1998 called Ah Kong’s Birthday Party, started by Ivan Heng and Dick Lee, but that was it. We couldn’t find impressive theater cuisine in Singapore. “
Since no one was doing this at the time, the couple decided to found their own.
A constant search for news
They registered their business as AndSoForth in 2014 and became friends from different industries: a chef who interned at NOMA, one of the best restaurants in the world; as well as the students of LASALLE – to work together on their first program.
Stuart had described the experience as a “disaster,” primarily because a lot went wrong on his first show, but it was a sold-out event nonetheless.
The couple attributed their success to the novel idea which had never been implemented in Singapore before.
However, to prevent too many customers coming back, they knew they had to constantly develop new concepts of immersive theater dining.
Singaporeans tend to “hunt for novelty; There is seldom loyalty, ”he says.
“We founded AndSoForth fully aware that we are in this market and have persevered since.
In reality, they had no investors and were funding the business with what they earned from their daily work at the time.
Stuart noted that it wasn’t much, adding that it averaged S $ 2,000 per month.
The novelty of our concepts was selling paid tickets for the production. What he couldn’t cover, we had to use our money.
With AndSoForth, we only made profits for six years. At the end of our third year, we almost said it was over. It is a difficult undertaking because it is unconventional (and) the investment is constant.
– Stuart Wee, cofundador of AndSoForth
The sets they built would be demolished after two to three months to make way for the next concept.
To date, they have created 46 unique concepts / shows and have seen a total of over 80,000 visitors.
More deals from S $ 128
To give perspective to those who have never had a theatrical experience, Stuart simply described it as a “video game.”
You can wear a costume, play a character, and escape reality. Like in the video game, you eat (and drink) food (and drink) “potions” designed by the game developers.
The goal of AndSoForth is to create a world that transports the public and separates it from reality. All (including) the bar staff and the service team are present from the entrance (from the start) where we check the starters and nutritional needs.
– Stuart Wee, cofundador of AndSoForth
Prices on AndSoForth range from S $ 128 to S $ 168, and weekdays tend to offer lower rates.
Food and drinks are selected and designed to match the theme of the show, he added.
“Everything must be a little surprise, because as Singaporeans we expect a lot from what is served on the plate.”
However, Stuart said it took them a good three years to achieve the perfect balance between food and performance.
“Previously, tickets were easy to sell because the number of seats for the shows was limited and the duration of the show was short.”
“Guests expected great food and any element of the performance to be right after the fact, (but) we focused more on the performance and the setting.”
The couple also realized that audiences are only willing to participate if they know the topic and have started adapting classic books.
In particular, the dinner at Wunderland recorded the highest turnout to date with 6,000 participants over a six-month race.
“We had to adjust six different times and then do several versions for the kids,” Stuart said.
COVID-19 has forced an online pivot
When COVID-19 arrived, the business took a toll as they were forced to shut down.
When the ban came in, we did our best to host our interactive online zoom programs like Late Night Bingo, which had approximately 1,000 visitors from five shows.
When the workshops were government approved, we turned our full cooking experience into a book review workshop. We have become educational and educational, taking our guests on a journey through Phileas Fogg’s lens in Around the World in 80 Days.
– Stuart Wee, cofundador of AndSoForth
The difference is that its actors have now become intermediaries. They stopped playing characters and instead talked about the character as themselves.
During this time, participants are led through eight different rooms, each representing the country visited by Fogg. Each room has an activity associated with a chapter of the book, such as: B. Making cocktails, tying ropes and writing postcards.
“It was a success. Especially since we can’t travel, our participants were able to travel the world in 150 minutes,” said Stuart.
During the break-up phase, AndSoForth also launched another interactive online zoom program called Fairy Tales Live, which allowed children and parents to meet and interact with their favorite characters through games and storytelling.
“With that, we saw how much children’s attention spans had been reduced and we had to keep creating content to keep them entertained and occupied.”
So they finally decided to found the AndSoForth Academy.
The academy creates programs that engage young children in conversations, express emotions in performance, feel comfortable with the craft, and think with confidence and creativity to enable them to be more sociable in their environment.
Singapore will one day be a “hub of immersive experiences”
AndSoForth has grown into parenting and plans to expand its presence as it has real experience and knowledge in production to deliver rewarding, fun and engaging arts and theater programs.
“In Q3 2021, we (also) plan to launch the Wizard of Oz immersive dining experience and research a new, larger location.”
Stuart shared his grand vision for AndSoForth and said he wanted South East Asia to see Singapore as a “ center of immersive experiences, ” as well as London and Shanghai.
Imagine a day when tourists would be ready to fly to Singapore to see a show, Stuart imagined.
At the end of the interview, he quoted a famous quote from William Shakespeare: “The whole world is a stage and all men and women are just players”.
From these words, Stuart developed his own: “Let’s be better players to take the world stage”.
“The world is a stage full of stories. If you can control your storytelling, you can control most of your life. “
Source of selected image: AndSoForth
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