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(Review) Butterfly by Ramesh Meyyappan & The Studios

Butterfly was inspired by the tale of Madame Butterfly and directed and acted out by Ramesh Meyyappan, a deaf Singaporean-born, Scotland-based theatre practitioner.

I'm feeling quite pensive right now.
Silence is golden, this production, is beyond gold.

I wanted to review this play a little differently, and boy am I glad I did. I walked in without my notebook and decided to just open my eyes and my heart to what was about to unfold in front of me.

No play has quite made me fear the concept of rape and has allowed me to feel a fraction of the agony and vulnerability that comes along with it. The despair, helplessness, I could feel every strand of it from the emotions of the female protagonist. For which I applaud the talented Ashley Smith for such an outstanding performance. In fact, all the actors were extremely successful in portraying the bits and pieces of emotion from each character and how they all entwine.

I can't fathom what actual victims of rape actually feel.

Symbolism and Imagery is loaded in this play, especially with regard to making kites and catching butterflies; a lot was up to interpretation as a result and the play can mean different things to different people. I really questioned my sense of reality because time and space was something which was greatly manipulated in this play.

I was confused, but to a good degree.
But I did leave the space feeling a little emotionally exhausted.

(Review) Red by Blank Space Theatre & The Studios

Hello there, it's been a while since I last reviewed another theatre piece and I'm really glad to be writing again today. Caught Red by John Logan last night after I was done with work and really didn’t know what I was getting myself into!

Before I discovered drama and theatre in secondary school, I was really into arts and crafts, from pottery to painting. Although rationality eventually led to the demise my hopes of becoming a painter, it didn’t kill my love for viewing art, which exploded when I went to Europe in 2012 and visited many museums which carries pieces from across the ages.

I loved art from the Renaissance period the most, and abstract art the least.

So imagine my furrowed brows when I walked into the set of Red featuring replicas of Mark Rothko, which mainly comprised of blocks of reds, blacks and maroons.

First reaction, “Dear lord, is this going to be pretentious?”

(Credits: SISTIC)

Synopsis:
It is 1958. Mark Rothko, one of the most influential artists of the Abstract Expressionist Movement, is in his studio working on a major commission-known later as the infamous Seagram Murals-for the opening of The Four Seasons restaurant, in New York. It is his new assistant Ken's first day of work.

A man of fierce opinions and didactic conversation, Rothko fires questions at his nervous assistant about art; which sparks a surprisingly intense philosophical debate on life, art, culture and Nietzsche. Finding himself challenged intellectually and emotionally by Ken, Rothko begins to face some truths about himself as he reveals his struggles and fears as an artist, his disdain for the modern world, and his inner turmoil over the commissioned work.

The Review:

The set was a sight to behold, down to the creation of wooden floors in the Esplanade’s black box theatre. Every single detail was immaculate, from the painted on rust on the pipes to the splotches and stained paint on the floor and furnishing. The set designer, Wong Chee Wai, previously designed the set for The House of Bernada Alba, which I was absolutely sold by as well.

I previously heard of Daniel Jenkins when one of my close friends watched The Pillowman in 2008 and raved about his performance.

I could see why, he was really immersed in the character of Mark Ruthko and brought out the fierceness and tension of Mark Ruthko’s character in the play, from the long lectures about what he feels art is, to his despair on finding someone who could see what he saw.

Gavin Yap, who plays Mark Ruthko’s assistant, managed to bring out a certain tenderness to his character, considering his character’s deeper and darker past. 

Together these actors worked well, and knew how to balance and portray the dynamic and power play between a master and his apprentice.

Humor was understated and unexpected; made possible with Jenkin’s on point delivery and the attention to detail down to the way his character chews his food.

Although the subtleties may have been more obvious on someone who has studied literature because of the many literary devices and elements detected, the message was loud and clear, even to someone who hasn’t. It really spoke to that deep fear of not having someone understand you, despite knowing there probably isn’t someone who can.

I’m still in disbelief I paid $10 (student price) to watch this.

It’s definitely worth so much more!

Can't wait to watch my next play!

See you all soon (:

Books Actually

Stumbled upon Books Actually on Instagram when I found that they were selling one of my best friend's favorite books of all times. The cover art was gorgeous so I had to make my way down to get my hands on it for her birthday present.

I was quite stoked to learn that this quirky little bookstore was having a 25% off store wide for the month of June in a bid to fund raise for their own space since rent keeps increasing.

Everything about Books Actually screamed hipster, from their titles to the back of their shop selling vintage trinkets and even black and white or sepia-toned photographs of random people which dates back from decades ago.

I felt more intelligent just being in the book store.

What really made this place unique was how they have a cat and a kitten roaming around, jumping from the counter to random shelves of books. I kinda got the vibe that the cat hates the kitten though.

The aforementioned photographs can be located at the gift section at the back of the store (if you're not a book kind of person). There are also others retro objects like old coke bottles, cutlery and maps.

They feature many local works and I found many different plays here to my pleasant surprise, and I left with a full volume of Kuo Pao Kun's plays which really brought me much nostalgia since I performed The Coffin Is Too Big For The Hole in secondary school for the Singapore Youth Festival (SYF) competition.

If I had more money I would have bought all the local plays I could get my hands on the works of
Alfian Sa'at, Haresh Sharma and other local writers like Verena Tay.

Currently haven't a clue where else in Singapore sells the works of local playwrights (if someone could enlighten me that would be great!)

Went in to get a book for my friend because I found the cover so beautiful.
Left with a treat for myself.

Loved this place so much, I wish them well and hope they would be able to find their own space soon to house all these beautiful books!

No. 9 Yong Siak Street 

Tiong Bahru 

Singapore 168645 

+ 65 6222 9195 

booksellers@booksactually.com

(Review) #UnicornMoment by Checkpoint Theatre & The Studios

Photo credits: Citynomads

I first heard of #UnicornMoment when I was browsing YouTube for my daily dose of subscribed videos and the videos of it from Shu An's channel came up on my "What to Watch" list.

Ever since I started watching Tried and Tested, a webcast on Clicknetwork, I had always been a fan of the bubbly Oon Shu An and her various reviews on popular as well as interesting beauty products, some of which I have incorporated into my own beauty routine like the Bioderma Sensibio H20 and hair tools such as the velcro hair donut, comb pins and hair bun sponge.

Photo credit: Tried and Tested

Her keen involvement in the local theatre scene was also something which came as a pleasant surprise to me, since I always thought she seemed like someone who had more of a commercial presence. I heard about her involvement in Lightseeker the Musical when I was still working at Universal Studios Singapore.

When I found out about #UnicornMoment, I immediately knew that I wanted to go catch it just simply because I was curious about her style as a theatre practitioner and support her since I am a fan of Tried and Tested.

That and how there was a student price on the tickets (I am a theatre lover on a budget, unfortunately.)

In all honesty I was not sure entirely sure of what to expect because I only watched a few videos from her #UnicornMoment video logs (vlogs) on her YouTube channel so I only managed to put two and two together during the show, after reading more about it in the brochure, Sistic website, and watching nearly all the videos.

The choice of venue at the Esplanade Theatre Studio was extremely on point due to the cozy nature of the black box setting. It also brought a lot of nostalgia for me because I used to rehearse in that very space when I was in secondary school; I was in a drama workshop, training for a school musical.

Production side was impressive, especially with the use of different sized fridges which were all white in color. These fridges served as props for Shu An to execute her one-woman show and also doubled up as screens to hold projected images which helped to set the scene and backdrop.

Content wise, Shu An address some really close and heartfelt topics which resonates with the masses because she talks about topics which almost anyone would face at some point in their life like death, loss and self-doubt. I found myself turning to my companion for the evening and nodding in agreement to her points every so often.

The play emphasizes on the importance of "Connection" and had surprising depth for matters which seem rather lighthearted.

Shu An also talked about the process of interview the various people from her life and how that impacted her because it begun to change her perspective and view of how she remembered her past.

Delivery wise, Shu An was riveting. I was completely sucked into the play and her personal stories which are easy to relate to. She was very humorous and energetic, especially with the use of dolls to portray difficult friendships, and 朋友 by Emil Chua playing in the background.

Although my companion was really skeptical of someone pulling off a Natalie Tran (from Community Channel) live, he was quite impressed by Shu An's successful delivery. She made the characters of her mother and sister in particular really easy to distinguish from the other people in her life whom she interviewed.

However, as much as I enjoyed the show, there were many elements which I weren't too thrilled about. Some aspects of the choreography hardly made any sense to me, particularly the ending sequence. It really challenged me to draw links to the issues and anecdotes which she discussed earlier on in the play.

From the audience's seat and the view of someone who appreciates such symbolic movements to represent a cycle and closure, I also found the ending too abstract. There could have been a more straightforward yet meaningful way to end the play.

Despite the negativity, I really enjoyed the performance on a whole and truly respect Shu An and her team for the great amount of effort exhausted in putting this play together, from interviewing people from her life, even the ones whom she did not want to see, to coordinating such simple yet mind blowing props such as the fridges which doubled up as screens, doors and cupboards to set the scene.

It was definitely a refreshing change from all the Wild Rice plays I have been seeing since last year, and I really look forward to checking out what Checkpoint Theatre and Esplanade's The Studios has to offer in the near future.

Vox Pop UB

Seeing how it is the holidays now, I would like to get down to how I have been occupying my time in school this Spring semester, and possibly reflect on the time spent with the activities and people I love.

Spring pretty much swooped by, so much to a point I didn’t even have time to catch my breath and take in what was happening. 

I still find it hard to believe that I am currently beginning what is potentially one of the longest holidays I have, ever since I graduated from junior college.

My time in UB has been pretty hectic, and amazing. Being part of nearly four orientation camps as a facilitator really expanded my networks, so did writing for two school publications. I am currently preparing for my final camp this quickly approaching Summer.

But… out of all the things I have done in SIM-UB, starting up Vox Pop UB is easily one of the best decisions I have ever made to get active in school, aside from academic pursuits which ties my GPA to my progress.

All of this would not have been possible without the support from my friends and community.

Vox Pop UB is a student-run initiative started by a group of friends and I who love theatre and wish to make the arts and theatre scene in our SIM-UB community livelier.

We managed to organize two guerrilla productions with the help of many UB students and members of the faculty. We created this community to provide more platforms for networking and expressing oneself through the performing arts.

The people I had with me from the start of this journey to the end were Char and Iskandar whom I met in the UB-Student Council (UBSC), as well as Lilin, one of my closest friends in UB.

Remember how I mentioned in my previous post about that itch when you haven’t done a theatre production in a long time? 

Char and I felt that way and that was how the inspiration for Vox Pop came about. We were discussing it while helping out for the SIM Open House in 2013 when we realized we both had theatre background!

Char and I took hold of the creative direction and drama training aspect of Vox Pop. While I looked at things from a bird's eye view to ensure flow, Char refined our play down to the minute details to make our play perfect.

Lilin was our Treasurer and Secretary built into one, she took care of attendance, and took over welfare without knowing it because she is really motherly by nature.

Iskandar, an active UBSC Director of Welfare, was the most informed about the administrative procedures in SIM and the UBSC, so he became our main liaison between us and the Student Council.

Thet joined us later in the second production as a committee member. He was responsible for a lot of the humor present in our second play and characters. He had been helping out as a part of the Script committee for both productions.

I have them to thank for starting up Vox Pop with me. If not for them, I would have had a difficult time trying to coordinate the events and allowing the community to grow. Having so many great teams to work with also made coordinating less daunting than it already was.

Our first production was called "Class", it was written by our talented Char and involved five extremely different personalities (picture below) who are stuck together in a classroom during what seems to be an apocalyptic setting. The themes we had revolved around the struggle of power, normality and questioning what true leadership really means.

In short it was a 15 minute play with five scenes, executed with little props and our cast was our crew!

"Class", our pilot production!

We came up with this play in two to three months, meeting up to three times a week to rehearse and rehearse. Vox Pop was still small during this time so there were only about ten of us trying to make this production happen, so we were trying to figure out how to make this happen in view of the many bumps and obstacles that we faced.

We had Beryl and Thet helping out backstage, Eamon aiding me on lights and sounds. Suan also shot our beautiful cast photographs from the profile to the group shots. 

Turnout was unexpectedly great seeing how we relied mainly on word of mouth even though we did utilize most forms of social media. Everyone grew really close and tight too, because of this I found myself two housemates (Desiree and Daphne!) to share my apartment with when I complete my degree in the States this coming Fall semester, which happens in August.

When it came to our second production, we were definitely more prepared because we knew what to expect. We had a lot more members this time because the word spread in school from the first production.

It was a 30 minute play with seven scenes!

Spring Fling 2014 Cast Promotional Poster

The story was about a boy and girl who go on a blind date, and the events which follow it. It questions societal views on marriage and dating from the perspectives of people from different generations and backgrounds. This script was jointly written by Char, Thet, Lilin and I.

We decided to call it "Spring Fling" and definitely planned our time much better. We also had a solid Crew and Publicity Team, whom I am all very thankful for.

Because we had the fortune of having more members, we had the luxury of a more substantial publicity campaign. We had online posters and daily teasers on our event page counting down to show day. Courtesy of Timothy our designer, Alvin our photographer and Denise our Publicity Head!

LIKE THIS!

Thanks Timothy for all the great work!

Our props, set design and costumes were really well planned too by Beryl (the head!), Daphne, Adeline and Denise who joined both departments. Tessa came in to help out for sounds while I operated the lights.

Eventually everyone from the various departments helped one another out and we merged into one ensemble and community, which was definitely what we had hoped.

Spring Fling also had the fortune of getting the permission of various lecturers who allowed us to use their classrooms after their class so we could conduct our full dress and technical rehearsal. Although we could not secure an official venue, we are nevertheless grateful to the Student Council for supporting our event.

Overall, the turnout for this was overwhelming as well. We managed to fill up all the seats on the first day and about 80 percent on the second day, probably because there was a UB music event happening downstairs, organized by the MUS264 classes.

Managing Vox Pop really pushed me out of my comfort zone; I learnt many things about myself and how to manage my time as well as how to work with so many talented people to create something so beautiful.

To the people in the Vox Pop UB Community... 

I love you guys and I am so proud of all that we have achieved. 

Thank you all for making my UB experience the best it can ever be and giving so many memories and friends I can keep for a lifetime.

My experience as a Wild Rice volunteer

My journey as a regular Wild Rice volunteer began in university, when it dawned on me that I would no longer have the chance to engage in drama-related activities.

Well, not unless I joined the Film and Performing Arts Society.

But having to pay $60++ for workshops teaching me things I already know and trained in during my tertiary school years? I'll pass thanks.

There's something about being in drama for so long, after you stop doing productions for an extended period of time, every cell of your body starts to itch.

That itch then turns to longing, longing for that camaraderie once more, the times when you start to see your ensemble seven days a week and easily up to eight hours a day.

That longing, that feeling of looking forward to something, and having the people close to you come view the fruits of your laborious effort.

Rehearsals, I love rehearsals, the anticipation, the openness.
Being in a drama club has always pretty much been my safe place, a place where I could finally be myself.

So yeah, that's why I started to look for avenues to feel connected to theatre again, even if it wasn't doing stuff on the technical side.

Before I digress, let's get down to the topic today:
Being a Wild Rice Front of House volunteer.

I have been volunteering for more than a year now and I have helped out in four productions:

The Importance of Being Earnest, 

Alfian Sa'at - In the Spotlight,

Jack and the Beansprout and my most recent

The House of Bernada Alba

Photo credits: Wild Rice

So basically, volunteering for...
4 shows gets you 1 ticket
6 shows gets you 2 tickets

There would be a day in a week where there would be no show, presumably a rest day for everyone.
I signed up to be a volunteer via their email: info@wildrice.com.sg

Usually I would have to be dressed in smart casual or semi formal. Just look presentable!

I would also be required to turn up about 90 minutes before show starts to be briefed and allocated my role for the day.

Proof of participation would also be available upon request (for those who need the CIP hours)

My experience during all the shows have been nothing short of fun and a great way to meet new people. I also made many new friends during my time as a volunteer and managed to expand my network to people who love theatre just as much as I do.

And based on what I heard from quite a few of the volunteers who volunteer at other theatre companies in Singapore, Wild Rice is one of the top places which places emphasis on volunteer welfare.

And its not hard to see why.

To make things easier let me explain things via Maslow's hierarchy of needs

A diagram I can agree with
Photo credits: Strangedaysblog

In terms of Physiological needs, (basic things like health and hunger):
There would be a free flow of mineral water as well as a snacks basket for you to choose from in case you got thirsty or hungry.

For Safety needs (also another basic need):
Well the only risk of injury you have here is probably the occasional paper cut you may or may not get if you are not careful with the programme booklets.

Next, Social needs (how much we feel loved or a sense of belonging):
No matter what type of job you are allocated, you have to interact with patrons. This is from handling the merchandise table, getting people to join the mailing list and roaming sales for programme booklets.

When it comes to other volunteers, I have been surprised time and time again. The kind of volunteers would depend on what type of production Wild Rice is holding.

If there are more mature themes, it would mainly consist of students like myself, ranging from university to polytechnic students who need the extra CIP (Community Involvement Project) hours.

During pantomimes at the end of the year, productions are more family friendly, so the number of younger volunteers would shoot up, the youngest I  met being around eight years old.

It was also that time of the year where most primary and secondary schools have a longer holiday period.

Photo credits: Wild Rice

Effect on Esteem (self-respect, being accepted and valued):
In terms of esteem, I do feel valued as a volunteer because the people there are polite and happy that you set aside time to come help them out.

On numerous occasions, we got to see the maestro himself, Ivan Heng, who comes out to thank us and chat with us.

Lastly, avenues for Self-actualization:
I wouldn't say there is a lot of opportunities for self-actualization though because the job scope is rather simple and easy to accomplish if you are comfortable with talking to people you barely know.

That and making friends with different volunteers on different show days.

So I hope this post was something informative and useful for everyone out there who is interested in volunteering for a theatre company!

I'll probably note down my thoughts about Wild Rice and their style of performing another day, because I feel that deserves another post all by itself.

All in all, I really enjoyed my experience as a volunteer, and for a broke student such as myself, I can't afford to go watch theatre productions and musical as and when I feel like it.

So volunteering my time instead and being able to watch a show for free is really worth it in my opinion, seeing how tickets could easily cost $50-60 a pop.

Till I see you again!