SINGAPORE — “I guess I wanted to run away and join the circus for a while,” joked Oon Shu An.

Which is the reason the 26-year-old actress is currently rubbing shoulders onstage with magicians, dancers and acrobats in Incanto.

Resorts World Sentosa’s latest magic spectacular will be featuring the large-scale illusions of Merlin Award-winning illusionist Joe Labero as well as some death-defying moves from the Shenyang Acrobatic Troupe, among other visual treats. And while she’ll be doing some fight scenes of her own, Oon will be providing the heart of the story as a young Seeker who finds herself in a mysterious world where good and evil clash.

It’s been quite an experience for the actress, who’s also currently seen in MediaCorp TV Channel 5’s sketch show Random Island. For one, while there are a handful of Singaporeans involved, she’ll be the only one strutting around onstage.

“To become the minority in my own country is interesting. It’s been really awesome getting to know everyone in the cast — they’re all from different parts of the world. Many of them travel to work and they’re away from their family for a few months. It’s very interesting how they cope with that.”

Oon, meanwhile, has also been adjusting to being part of something as big as Incanto. “It’s been very different in that there are so many big things going on and so many elements in it. I’m familiar with being onstage but with singing and everything, it’s a different ballgame,” she shared. Oh, there’s also that small detail about Incanto running seven times a week until March next year.

But Oon isn’t one to pass up on a challenge. The LASALLE College Of The Arts graduate has ventured into TV with shows like The Kitchen Musical, films like Becoming Royston and theatre productions for The Necessary Stage and Checkpoint Theatre. She also co-founded the experimental theatre group TheatreStrays.

“Being (an actress) in Singapore, you end up doing a lot of (different) stuff. And that’s what I want to do,” said Oon, who is also currently working on a one-woman show with Checkpoint Theatre, which will be presented as a work-in-progress next year.

But for now, at least, it’s all about weaving her magic in Incanto — and waving the country’s flag.

“I know! I have to represent, right?” she laughed. Mayo Martin

Incanto runs from Nov 4 to March 10 2013, 8pm, Festive Grand, Resorts World Sentosa. With 4pm weekend matinees. Tickets at S$48 to S$148 from Sistic. Random Island is on every Tuesday, 8.30pm, on MediaCorp TV Channel 5.