By Adeline Chia

There are few productions that sweep Singaporeans, who are known for their cool restraint, into an almost full-house standing ovation when the curtains fall. The Village is one of them.

Stan Lai, most famous for Secret Love In Peach Blossom Land, has created a stunning 31/2-hour epic, an exhausting but nourishing journey that left audiences laughing and crying - sometimes at the same time.

The Village is set in a Dependents' Village in Taiwan's Chiayi, where Kuomintang soldiers and their families flee to during the 1949 Chinese civil war.

For more The Straits Times stories, click here.