Leading up to the days I watched Pickle Party , created by my dear friend and theatremaker Xiao Ting, I had the wildest dream(s), likely inspired by the conversations we had around the piece.
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In actuality nesting in an abundance of hotel-fluffed pillows, I find myself watching from the top down, helpless observer, of a microcosmic invasion. À la Thronglets in Black Mirror, à la Conway’s Game of Life. These tiny beings, unknown bits and bytes, make their way through a petri dish, leaving behind a trail of more unknown bits. With creeping realisation, I understand that they are eating their way through and digesting their habitat. That these beings are us, this petri dish our Earth…
And now, my physical body still in a wonderfully made King-sized hotel bed, I am perched precariously atop an awfully high pile of something. It is trash — this time realisation comes as an instantaneous slap — a forever accumulation of all the trash we have ever produced as mankind. Mainly men, and not so kind. The pile won’t stop rising, a terrifying vertical growth I am once again helpless in slowing down. I watch with dizzying vertigo as I am farther and further from the safety of Earth…
–
Less than a week later, I sat down in an intimate studio space, bubbles rained down at me at the same time I learnt about climate refugees. ‘Displaced by the sea’, “but,” I thought, “did the sea not birth us, did we not displace the sea – itself millenials older than the first of our kind?” Who could claim the land, the sea, and Earth?
I thought about microbes that eat, digest, and fart out their metabolic wastes. I thought about us, who convert these waste to eat, digest, fart, ad infinitum. I thought about many things the days after Pickle Party.
I guess that’s what we are. Organisms that eat, digest, poop, waste, and sometimes, somewhere in between — think.
Kindly sponsored by my dear friend Xin, we watched the last and matinee show of VAMPYR at the Drama Centre Theatre.
Beginning with a lot of ha-ha-has and hoo-hoos, jangly bones, halloween-esque faces pulled, our vampiric duo made their entrance. It was a long entrance. For the first what felt like minutes, I was tickled and mildly impressed by their physicality, quality of voice.
After awhile I felt bad that this sequence was not garnering the laughter it obviously was soliciting. Was I amused? Yes! Was I guilty enough to fake laugh a little? I did.
VAMPYR was entertaining enough.
Some sequences, imageries, and moments held their own. And of these, a few were held too long, and broke the spell.
While I enjoy a good multi-use metaphor, the somewhat ham-fisted and shallow usage of its titular vampire left me wondering. While I get that the night shift workers’ nocturnal and poor working environment made them as good as the undead, the blood-sucking ways of corporations made them vampires, and literal vampiric bats were impacted by the greenwashing… what was the ultimate intention of the running metaphor?
What was similar about them, or are we highlighting a contrast? In any case, despite the continuous delight in hammering in this metaphor, it seemed to have no further meaning besides being a nifty gimmick.
Things I would have liked to see:
More showing, less telling (most of the revelations came through exposition, which was a waste). More leveraging of the actors extraordinary talent, with their bodies, their voices, and chemistry.
More precision and conciseness. They could have shaved a good 20 min off and made it extra good.
More consistency. The nature of these vampiric beings switch in and out. I do not mean between the three vampiric metaphors, but even within each, there was too great a variation in movement, speech, even costume, for me to grasp a ready line that weaves the bigger picture together.
A sequence of things happening, and a story, somewhat. I’m glad to have watched it anyway, if not purely for a good time and entertainment. It could, and had very real potential to, have had more depth to it.
Also, for a play about greenwashing, they sure use a lot of plastic! (Joke. I’m sure they recycle. But it was a lot.)
I recently discovered Bo Burnham, and within the span of a week have watched all of his works (much to my chagrin) — several times over.
There’s not one aspect of him I can’t gush about. How his acts are a mix of theatre, lights, soundscape, song. How he isn’t just funny, but he’s funny with a point. Like actual, important and relevant human issues. And most of all what I love love love about Bo is how genuine he is. He is the most truthful artist I’ve seen. He’s just the most artist I’ve seen. I love him.
Guys, I’ve re-watched each of his numbers at least three times. Maybe four. I can sing-along to all his acts by now, and I know where his best jokes are dropped. But each time I watch it there’s still something new to be gained. Wtf!!!
I tried to sieve through all his numbers to find my favorite, but I couldn’t because everything is good. Wtf.
We Think We Know You
This shit blew my mind. When it transited into a soundscape, I felt all my brain synapses light up in utter joy. It just sounded … good. Stuck in my mind for DAYS on end, this shite.
More than that I related to this in a very personal way. Confession: I teared up. There was a time I grew up from crazed loudmouth to a crazed slightly-quieter-in-public. And I’ve had people telling me how much I’ve changed. How they miss the old me. It was always said with a tinge of disappointment, a wary or nostalgic look in their eyes. I’ve had friends (okay, friend) cry over how I’ve changed.
It made me feel so insecure, like I was a lesser version of myself. Or worse — that I wasn’t myself. You have no idea how the fear plagued me then. That I lost some part of me essential to my identity.
It took me years to realize that the only real me is how I choose to define it. It doesn’t matter what they want to see, or how they want me to be. I can change anyway I want to. Even if it means some friends find this alienating, even if they love me less.
Anyway, back to Bo. The format is gimmicky, but his message is far from it. I like that it was the last segment of the show, as he usually places the songs that are most real to him. I can feel his frustration, his indignation, his insecurities at being told how he should be, and what he’s not. By people who simply don’t know him but presume to. I don’t think, in crafting this song, he’s simply criticizing those who claim to know him. I think he also grapples with caring about what they think.
Oh yes and, speaking of little Easter eggs you catch after a second or third watch: where he points downwards and Satan chimes in? YEAH when he points upwards and cricket sounds punctuating silence rang out. THAT MOMENT. Took me a couple of watches to catch it.
Every moment of his show is tight, tightly packed with references, layers, meaning.
Sad
The world’s so sad, Madison
Pain, war, genocide, racism, sexism
But I gotta remember there’s good things about it too
Like the fact that none of that’s happening to me, score!
That’s it, laughter, it’s the key to everything
It’s the way to solve all the sadness in the world
I mean, not for the people that are actually sad, but for the people like us who’ve gotta fucking deal with ’em all the time
I saw a woman at her daughter’s funeral. Ha ha ha! Classic comedy!
Everything that once was sad is somehow funny now
The Holocaust and 9/11
That shit’s funny 24/7
‘Cause tragedy will be exclusively joked about,
Because my empathy is bumming me out
He’s not afraid to call people out where it really cuts. Not just idiots, Trump, racists, sexists. Those are low hanging fruit. He calls all of us out. The ones who think we’re doing okay. We recycle and believe in gender equality. But there’s more we can do and be, and Bo reminds us of that.
That we need to care more. Not just believe in broad beliefs and rights, but truly feel and have empathy. The way the entertainment industry has turned Trump being President into the biggest inside joke of the liberals, a running gag we can all participate in. But beyond that we need to truly feel the fear right? We need to laugh – and then pay attention and realize how much of a tragedy this actually is.
God’s Perspective
And yet for all his cynicism, at the heart of all his work Bo is hopeful. I truly think the reason why he cuts all the crap and dives straight into the real problems is because he knows we can do better. Why address problems if you don’t believe they can be solved, right?
You pray so badly for heaven
Knowing any day might be the day that you die
But maybe life on earth could be heaven
Doesn’t just the thought of it make it worth the try?
Bo can spend 80% of the song telling you you’re not going to heaven. Bleak? But then he brings in a message that makes him a greater romantic than any of us are. Life on Earth, for him, can be heaven. He believes in love, and he has such hope for our time here. And he wants us to try, guys!!! When Bo asks, how can I say no.
I Can’t Handle This Right Now
This act made me sob like a bitch.
One of the hardest things about performing is putting your real self – along with your vulnerabilities – up on stage. Here he so frankly talks about his relationship with his audience! About the very fear he has right now. Onstage. Addressing them all.
This was personally inspirational, as a performer myself. How do I be truthful with my audience the way he is? How do I let go of my self when onstage, and put the objective of my performance first?
I never realized how attached i felt to Earth – and nature, really – until recently. Attached may be too casual a term. It’s a strong sense of … belonging, love, emotional connection, to this place we inhabit.
Yes, it’s always been on my agenda to stay green as much as i can, within the realm of comfort. I’m a convenient environmentalist, you can say. Although i did once have a mental meltdown crying in my dorm because i accidentally printed a thick bunch of notes one-sided by accident. I felt like i’d manually chopped down 10 trees and robbed 10 ecosystems of their home. Anyway.
The first hints of this overwhelming emotional bond i hold for Earth would probably be when i first read Station Eleven. Without giving away too much, there was an apocalypse, and civilization was no longer as it was. Although not explicitly nature, i felt the utter loss of a world once ours. This line, particularly, cut too close to home:
Recently, i picked up The 100 on Netflix (and have since blazed through two seasons haha). It’s such a fantastic show in itself – the natural gender equality, the moral dilemmas, the fantastical settings, the character developments and the strategies. But that deserves a post on it’s own.
Earth has been irradiated for a hundred years, and generations of mankind were circulating up in space in an Ark. They learn about life on Earth through literature, films, word of mouth. When the Ark became unsustainable, they had to venture down onto Earth. This was late into the first season, when Abby (one of the older adults) who have lived her whole life up in a spaceship, found her way to Earth. She steps out into vast waters, the brilliant sunlight, the trees and mountains. She couldn’t stop drinking everything in, just standing there in absolute rapture.
On her headset, she communicated with the Chancellor who had no chance of heading down.
“Tell me what it’s like.”
“It’s so green, there are trees everywhere. It’s just like I imagined. And the air… it’s… Sweet.”
At this point i straight out ugly cried and couldn’t stop.
I could feel, so acutely, the pain and loss of being away from Earth, our natural home, where we were formed from dust — where we were dust for billions of years. I felt such an immense longing, an appreciation, and joy, all at once, for being here on my natural grounds. It was then i realized that Singapore wasn’t my home, Asia wasn’t my home, my true home was Earth.
—
Yesterday, i attended The Lesson by Drama Box.
The premise was simple: of seven sites, we had to collectively choose one to evict.
The halfway home: A place for rehabilitation of drug addicts and offenders.
Columbarium: Has a rich history and houses the remains of our ancestors.
Wet market: A place of significance for the elderly who are friendly with the sellers. For sellers, their livelihood depends on the market.
Marshland:It had rich biodiversity and houses many of plants and animals. Only 0.02% of Singapore remains as marshland.
Cinema: An old cinema, seldom used, that runs Indian films on the weekends and is a place where migrant workers gather.
Flea market: The only remaining market where it is rental free for sellers. Their livelihood depends on it.
Rental homes: Houses underprivileged residents who have lived there for years.
The choice for me was simple:
If i had to protect one place – it would be the marshes. There were many pertinent points brought up by others at the event:
– Marshland cannot be transplanted or replicated, unlike man-made buildings. Once destroyed, its unique ecosystem is lost forever.
– If there are only 0.02% of marshland left in Singapore, why are we so hellbent on destroying something of great rarity?
– The effects of destroying nature might not be immediately felt, but it will show itself for our next generations.
– That nature had no voice of its own to stand up for itself. It has no sob story or sad old people we can relate to or sympathize. But just because it doesn’t have that angle of human interest it doesn’t make it any less significant.
Don’t get me wrong, i feel for the plight of the underprivileged, for rehabilitating offenders, for migrant workers. I really do. But to me it’s about whether there are alternatives, and considering these alternatives, which eviction would cause the least/most damage?
I chose to evict the cinema. I do believe in fighting for the well-being of migrant workers, which was the main argument against evicting their place of gathering. BUT, i don’t feel that this particular cinema has great bearings to their well-being. There are alternative locations to social gathering. Sad stories about migrant workers and their hard lives here is moving, but distracts from the fact that they are irrelevant to the objective importance of this site. In short, evicting the cinema has the least collateral damage done.
One realization struck me, hard, yesterday as i observed everyone making their choices and explaining why they protected certain sites. Many of them started with “I have personally encountered offenders / I’ve worked with migrant workers / I regularly talk to wet market hawkers.”
Right. Even though i personally have a soft spot for the columbarium holding my grandfather’s remains (i’ve never met him and always associated him with this location i’ve visited since infancy), but why should PERSONAL sentiment rule when making a decision that affects community as a whole?
Why is YOUR personal encounter with a rehab offender any more important than another’s personal encounter with an underprivileged rental resident??? Your singular experience doesn’t allow for a broader appreciation of cost and benefit. I’m not saying any of their suffering is irrelevant, but how do we minimize suffering WITH ALL POSSIBLE VICTIMS HELD EQUAL?
As a human race, we need to look beyond our immediate selves. What does our world need, what do our future generations need? How do we decide beyond what directly relates to or affects us? If stripping down a site of sentiment is robbing you of a fond memory, what have we done to the land? We have robbed 99.98% of nature from this land we stand on. We need to see beyond ourselves to appreciate the broader implications of tearing down nature.
I felt VERY AGITATED yesterday when we were asked to stand at the location we would evict, and i saw that some chose the marshland.
I know everyone is given freedom of choice and opinion.
But. I can’t help. Boiling.
To me, it’s the most self-centred who cannot see beyond what directly impacts their lives. And this is my theory on all the greenhouse-hoax declarers. Trump is a perfect example. He is a piping infant who cannot comprehend making a decision that doesn’t immediate gratify himself.
And that’s how i see anyone who doesn’t give a damn about harming mother earth just because it still seems fine and sunny right now. Look beyond your damn little bubble. Think about the future, think about broad implications.
Breathe. I need to breathe.
—
We have taken too much from this beautiful, generous land that borne us. It makes me sad.
That said, i chanced upon this song after my rampant raging for Momma Earth. It came at an opportune time and i’m v moved.
Earth is a beautiful young girl, dying but still smiling. This is for you Planet Earth.
A year ago, we decided to do what we love, with people we love. A year ago, Chop Chilli Chop came into being. We spent the past 12 months meeting periodically, drafting and re-drafting, conceptualizing and editing. We have spent hours and hours – hogging cafe seats – standing over huge sheets of paper, poring over battle plans. Two weeks ago we started rehearsing intensely, putting what we have thought through in great detail to execution.
Every day we left the rehearsal space with a new play learnt. It has been quite an adventure, but I would not have enjoyed myself so thoroughly with anything less. I love the rush of re-jigging the entire play one day before show, fuelled by caffeine and the dopamine of inadequate sleep. I love pushing through, the adrenaline of facing unknowns and free-falling.
I am both so, so proud of ourselves; and incredibly humbled by this experience. I’m proud of the effort we have put into every little detail, every action and movement, every prop, every moment. I’m proud of us having the guts to pull off this three-(wo)man project. But i’m humbled because without our audience members, this could not have been possible. Thank you for coming to watch us with open hearts and minds.
And to our bestests, our constants, thank you for having our back. We can always count on you for your undying support, no matter how bizarre (or messy) our endeavours. From FOH-ing, coming down to give great advice, helping to clean up after – you girls are my greatest inspiration and motivation.
To the #FOODPORN crew – eloquent as i am, my gratitude is inexpressible with mere words. You guys have taught me so much: most of all that people should be brave and do what they love, no matter the cost.
To my most beloved #ChopChilliChop. We have come so far. Three tiny girls with the need to reach out and say something, in the way we best know how to. And we did it. :-) All the hilarious moments, all the intense breakdowns (together and at each other), through it all i knew i could trust y’all 100%. Creating work with your best friends is a huge privilege, and i’ll never stop being thankful for this.
And also to Hans, my rock through it all. For being the one person i think of in the breath i take right before stepping on stage. For being a silent but useful human being backstage, for sitting through our shambolic rehearsals, and for still being around after hearing my horrigible singing. <3
This is all relatively new to us: the marketing, the photoshoots, the filming. We were a stripped down, roll-on-the-ground bunch of theatre kids way back then. Transience was bare marketing (we roped in a friend to take photos of us sitting on wooden chairs, had NO idea what we were doing). Oh, and we wore white potato sacks for the performance.
This time, we’re still bumbling around blind as much as usual. But we’re thinking and making plans, and being GRAND with these plans. So, so much thanks to friends who’ve volunteered their services because if left to our own devices, Xin, Ting and Qing would have burned down a building and destroyed a bunch of rented equipment.
Raw BTS shots for our marketing material. You won’t see this in the final products, but basically the shenanigans we were up to. Had to plastic-proof the entire place – the foodie mess after was quite a horror show. If you watch Dexter, it was basically a Dexter massacre… with food.
Beautiful lighting courtesy of lighting director JH. Photo quality credits to Hanshen…’s camera.
Not everything worked out, though. Happy as we look it was pretty damn disgusting having melted watery whipped cream down your bra.
18/6 – FILMING!
Filmed our key videos for the play. YES, there will be film as part of our live performance, with Jem de incredibly talented videographer doing our post-prod editting/concept.
SO THIS HAPPENED. The full damage. Please be around friends, to watch me gorge myself in full make-up. Basically my childhood dream come true?
Weirdest part is that i was filmed while eating. That MukBhang is a thing is very, very strange yet i can fully understand the appeal of watching such videos. Never thought i’d one day attempt to MAKE such a video.
Can’t for y’all to see the final product!!!
Oh dear i’m getting hungry looking at this. HOW AM I NOT TURNED OFF BY FOOD STILL?
We’re only halfway through this journey and i’m already feeling overwhelmed by all the love and support so many people (who are in no way obliged to) have given us. We’ll work hard to give our very best to you guys. <3 Thank you all for bearing with our weird projects.
We secretly think this performance is just an excuse for us to do shambolic things we’ve always wanted to but couldn’t bc of social graces.
So, so glad to have been in USProductions in my last year in NUS. So, so grateful to have the cutest cast and crew with me through this. And incredibly touched for all y’all friends who came down to support (tq, and tq again!)
I don’t do scripted plays much, but they always hold something special for me. Because you start inhabiting a character that is wholly not you. Beyond being an excitable IJ girl, I spent a long time hating Anna for being an angsty drama queen. It was really until opening itself that I realized (with amazing direction from Dot and me lovely cast mates), that Anna is more than that. Anna is all of us – scared, vulnerable, loyal, masking all that with her anger and confused frustrated outbursts.
Confession: i found Anna really hard to portray, and it took me way too long to warm up to her. I may even have only fully gotten her on our last show. But the journey there was worth it. I do love me a good challenge. But it wouldn’t have been as amazing a time without deez talented awesomesauce peeperts:
Whether offstage or onstage, you guys shine. Thank you for being such an inspiration and a joy to work with. <3
Finding Robin together.
Sometimes making Dot cry with laughter / frustration. (Most of this is WJ’s doing)
And for the general backstage shenanigans where we basically kill our throats with chilli (mine died midway through the third show HAHSDHA).
–
So recently I’ve been plagued by a bout of insomnia, which is strange because I’ve always slept very well and very early. My baby sleep cycle demands a full 8 hours. But for the past month I’ve had problems falling asleep and staying asleep. It’s horrible. Slowly I’m beginning to suspect that it has something to do with my slow descent into Anna-hood.
All the anger I’ve been forcing my body to possess, and the actual anger I’ve had to express through all our rehearsals / runs / shows are beginning to seep into my qi (i’m quite huge on TCM, yes). May be the reason I’m sleeping bad, especially considering how incredibly slow to anger I am in real life. Method acting much?
Need to find the Qing chill again.
–
OH AND AND AND
FINALLY
IT’S OUT:
SO. CHIO. So proud of Jude and Jem for creating this with just a vision and the desire to create something big. Aced it. And seriously can’t stop listening to this.
“See how far we’ve come,”
strikes true, especially since I’ve watched YQ win the crowd’s heart as splatterdashed in our HC years. It’s really amazing seeing friends making a difference, pursuing their dreams, and just – creating great shit with their innate abilities. Also tq for roping me in to help in whatever small way I could. Had too much fun roaming lupsup stores, aging paper with coffee, and making psychedelic clocks for this shoot. It’s quite a feeling seeing it all come to life under Jem’s film skillz.
–
Now it’s back to school, and i’m taking it chill this semester. Have been reading A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara – deeply, deeply engaging. Have already found so many excerpts to fall in love with. Will share more when done (it’s friggin’ long).
Yesterday i spent the afternoon – my avowed off-time – watching Ilo Ilo.
Not sure why it took me this long. I’ve been excited to watch it once it was out, but just never got around to doing so. It’s only when you have everything else to do when you find yourself with the motivation to do anything else that isn’t what you should be doing.
You know what i mean. The clean your room when you have a paper due in 10 hours syndrome.
I’ve been warned that it does not live up to expectations (which warped my expectations thereafter HMMM) but WOW i loved every bit of it. Wanted to watch it in 2 segments, but finished it in one sitting. This is of much significance because my attention span is perversely SHORT. Only good books draw me in deep enough for one-sittings, but this.
Most of all i loved the smallest things: that one movement, an item quietly present but meaningful, the small affix to the end of a phrase. They say Anthony Chen is a stickler for details, i’d say he’s a genius of details.
Was especially in awe of Yeo Yann Yann and Chen Tianwen’s effortless acting. Natural in a way so rare of Mediacorp (and actually everything on TV) that it was deliciously refreshing. It was akin to watching a living breathing family through a peephole and it was g o o d in all its voyeuristic brilliance.
Ok, enough of the gushing. I’m probably very late and all of you must have watched it already. Not very sure why everyone thought of it as overrated. Have our local tongues been desensitized to the salt of Mediacorp over-acting and scripted pathos? Although i’ve come to quite enjoy that flavor in a twisted ironic kind of way: my Sgpride is strong.
This is the fourth production of TIOBE i’ve been to. The first being the one played out in my head (many, many times in the course of JC where we did it for Lit), the second on YouTube that was positively charming but seems to have been taken down – otherwise it’s the 1986 version can’t seem to remember. The third one staged by Raffles Players.
There really isn’t a basis for comparison though, all are played out so differently. I’d say the distinguishing feature of Wild Rice’s is the focus on physical comedy and farce. Wilde’s script is by itself a comedy of errors and the dialogue is enough to ensure hilarity even staged with complete seriousness (yes a big fan), but Wild Rice’s choice to go all the way funny didn’t detract from the clever lines (attributing this to great actors).
***SPOILERS FROM THIS POINT ON***
To get the grouses out of the way first, my main and pretty severe issue with the production is that THE LIGHTS. ARE. BLINDING. I swear by the end of the play my eyes were SMARTING. When the lights first came on i thought wow is this is the end of life as always depicted. And they STAYED. ON. A cursory glance at the audience confirmed my suspicion because this was the only performance in Drama Centre i’ve been able to see everyone’s faces with clarity. After awhile your eyes adjust to it, and also you are distracted by the play itself, so it get better. But towards the end the strain does come back and haunt you – distracting me from the play. A pity too.
My second issue with it is the dynamics between Jack and Gwendolyn (Daniel York and Chua En Lai respectively). So the first thing you need to know about this staging is that it’s played by an all-male cast, and unabashedly so. I liked that they made the artistic decision of not cross-dressing or playing into the feminine role. Now for this semester my modules have uncannily and collectively decided to explore gender roles – its performativity and it being a social construct. That i was uncomfortable with the Jack/Gwen scene (something just didn’t sit well with me), made me keenly aware of how i myself wasn’t autonomous from socially constructed notions of gender (that I couldn’t accept a male playing a female without ACTING female).
But then AHA came Algernon and Cecily (Brendon Fernandez and Gavin Yap), and their interaction felt to me completely organic and even quite pleasing. I noted that Gavin Yap also played Cecily without regards of having to be ‘female’. The smart suits, the sometimes boyish actions that arise straight out of his natural being, the deep voice where he wanted. And then came the Cecily/Gwen scene which was a delight as well. It brought out all the nuances of the characters’ traits and motivations, wholly transcending gender (without attempts to resist it or conform to). So i happily concluded that it was just poor chemistry between Daniel York and Chua En Lai (AND NOT MY EXPECTATIONS OF GENDER NORMS YAY) – which was evident when i consciously took notice of proxemics and their onstage synergy (there was little) when the focus wasn’t on them. Both, by themselves and with others, were strong actors though. Maybe it’s just one of those things that just aren’t there and you just have to deal with. Although i felt that given the entire cast’s ability and flexibility, it would have easily been fixed with some changes in casting.
The set was alright, the crisp, sleek, block colors starkly contrasting – usually black and white. But what I really, really loved, just two seconds into the play: THE FLOOR PATTERN? Dat optical illusion black and white checkered space… just wow? I don’t even know why I like it so much but it gave the entire place a distorted, farcical, Alice-in-Wonderland kind of thing going that played so nicely with the production’s approach to Importance.
Another thing to be applauded – the strength of the cast as a whole. Although this is kind of a given, it’s always nice to not be disappointed at all. Mind-blowing comic timing, especially impressive when executed in a group. Each cast member idiosyncratic and obviously talented – each with admirable stage presence, but without clashing with others. The director was right in recognizing the cohesive competence of the cast in physical humor. This was the first production of Importance i’ve seen that depended on action as much as words for the humor. They managed to not only balance this action/dialogue but had both complement each other masterfully. Impressed.
The audience were good on my night too, appropriate and appreciative, tentative but not ungenerous with their responses. I myself felt a little of that hesitation – there were just so many clever lines that you really don’t know when and how to distribute your laughter. It was a calculated performance by the audience as much as by the cast, really. Some bits were culturally or historically specific and maybe only we (having analyzed the text half to death) got the reference – with smatterings of almost-laughters across the stage. Where it was obviously ironic the laughter was robust and genuine, though, so no complaints there. Besides, to be fair, it isn’t practical – when watching a Wilde – to laugh at every bit of irony or humor (THEY IS EVERYWHERE).
The audience were especially in love with Chasuble and Prism (Lim Kay Siu and Hossan Leong) and oh yes did they play in well. It was positively endearing. But then again Chasuble and Prism as characters are such utter silly stocks that it’s more difficult than easy to make them unlovable/unmockable. I do love their portrayal though – they were milder than another cast would have been and that added a very charming dimension to the two.
Special mention though, to Ivan Heng (although expected). IMPECCABLE timing, INSANE physicality. His physical control, seriously though, made the theatre geek in me drool in all shades of jealousy and admiration.
All in all, I’d say: WATCH. Both because it’s a Wilde, and because it’s a good production on Wilde, which is not easy for a local cast but they pulled it off and well. Also because it’s a local play and we should all support good local they deserve all of it.
Have been crazy busy the past weeks. A destroyed Macbook rendering me helpless, rehearsals thrice a week, assignments due…
BUT NOW I’M FREE(ER).
Chasing Yesterday with NUS Stage on 31st Oct/1st Nov was amazing. Got to work with insanely talented people, had ridiculous costume changes, played around with ingenious set designs. Although i was kinda silly to jump in in my first sem without finding out what the commitment level would be like, on hindsight i would have done it again anyway.
Right now I have a backlog of work to deal with… if you count eating chips while listening to Disney music with my laptop on dealing with it. Promise i’d post more often and more substantially kkk.
Q 