(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.