brybry's drama blog!

Evaluation

2008-07-18T10:52:00.000-07:00

The exam is overrrr~~~~

I felt that i fared not too badly.
This will be a quick evaluation as I will hear more from Mrs Kamal in the weeks to come.

My lines lost it's humour when i emoted them differently. Especially the quotations. What made my friends roar with laughter caused the audiene to reciprocate silence. I guess sometimes its a choice to make between feelings and dramatic effect. I failed to find a balance between the two and as a result, the play lost its humour.

The music was also not loud enough and the mad negative energy failed to fill the space and the madness scene came about weaker than it should have been. I felt my performance lost it's glaring impact there. Nonetheless, the scene still went smoothly.

It was good, but it could have been much better.

I felt my emotions coming through during the piece. I digested what Mrs Kamal said the last time about letting the feelings take control and i made a conscious effort to feel for my lines (especially since it's devised, it wasnt very difficult) and i felt that the effort pulled through and it boosted my performance quite abit.

The set design worked wonders. There were many comments from people saying that they loved my set and that it contributed greatly to my performance as it denoted the space as a surreal world and gave a clear insight to my character. this was a plus plus point as it showed my set achieved it's effect.

When I ask my audience for the message of my performance, they are able to tell me that it is about "dreams not coming true" or about "dreams being shattered". It shows that the devising and the lines have achieved the desired effect on the audience. When asked about my character, the words "nerd" and "workaholic" surfaced, showing that my character work did help.

Overall, i'm satisfied with my performance! More evaluation next time i guess. :D

Dress Run

2008-07-18T10:39:00.000-07:00

Today after school, we got ready and did some hair and costuming to get ready for our performance. I had my hair combed backwards to give the nerd looking, surreal effect. My costume was a school uniform.

I was the first to perform and Mrs Kamal gave me my notes after that. I feel Afiqa's performance is the most entertaining and dramatically interesting piece, it captured my attention the most. I must aspire to be like her and fill the space with my energy.

My notes:

1) "What are you looking at?!" The feeling of irritation needs to be magnified and I need to feel the lines more, respond to them and feel the motivation to say them
I wish this wouldnt come, but it did. I will have to work harder and amplify the feeling of irritation i have now.

2) Talk to the audience, dont always stare at the paper.
I was nervous and was referring to my script. I wont have my script there on the actual day to reduce temptation to follow it.

3) You need more attitude towards the quotes
There was some attitude, as Mrs Kamal said, I will amplify it.

4) The post-its are too small and become weak images for the quotes.
I will write the quotes on big pieces of paper and stick them to my set. i can pull them off the set when i need them. That will be a more powerful image.

5)"That's it!" --> use this as a contrast, let a new thought move you and not you move a thought.
I looked overrehearsed that my "that's it" line with a new beat did not seem natural, i will have to make it look more natural and feel my lines instead of remember them.

6) there must be a growing intensity of madness
Noted. Development is important in a performance. i must inculcate this in. possibly with my tone of voice, my volume of voice and my movements.

7) We must see you when you say "STOP!"
I will have to do a good turn on the ladder way before the music ends in order to achieve the effect. My facial expression must also show that i want the madness to stop. this would mean more rehearsing to do.

8) The plate must break
The plate didnt break this time round. I glued too much and thought it too fragile. For my actual performance, whist grabbing the plate in my hand, i will bend it first to losen the glued edges, this will secure it's breaking.

Today i learnt a very important lesson; feelings are extremely important in acting. I need to feel the line and not rehearse it. And let the new feeling drive movement, not just blocking. The feelings will add depth and make the performance look more natural. This would make it more convincing and less rehearsed. a good point learnt!

Character Work

2008-07-18T10:24:00.000-07:00

I spent the weekend doing character work for my monologue.
Since mine is a devised piece, the character work came as a breeze.
I modelled the character mostly after myself.

My character is a boy.
He is 15 years old.
His biggest problem is an inferiority complex.
He used to have a fantastic past, balancing both work and play.
He got ditched by a girl who said he was too playful and would never be with him.
From that moment on, he only devoted himself to studying and nothing else.
She shattered his dream of the perfect love.
Hence, to escape from the pain of a shattered dream, he becomes a junkfood loving nerd.
His remains of his childhood are still present in his room, but overcrowded by his books and his potato chip wrappers.
He wishes for better grades so that he can regain his perfect love. then his dreams would come true.

Why he liked that girl? He started off as friends with her, but soon he started becoming closer to her and eventually fell in love with her. His love was amplified by his numerous dreams of them being together. However, with her rejection, she shattered all the beautiful dreams together with his heart, causing him to deform to the state he is in now.

His parents are happy that their child studies. Being both working parents, they have little time for caring about his well being and are unaware of his mental degradation. They only see his results and feel proud to be his parents. They are oblivious to his plight.

His friends began to distance themselves from him when they realized he was becoming nerd-ier. His emphasis on his studies also causes him to distance himself from his friends. his friends see him as an embarrassment and shun him.

Physically, my character is of average built but normally slouches due to his lack of self esteem. He is not ugly but definitely not good looking. He wishes for better looks to charm the girl of his dreams.

From this session i did by myself, i manage to explore the past mentality and the present context of my character and enable myself to live the soul and mindset of the character. definitely this will help me for my performance.

Sunday Session

2008-07-18T10:10:00.000-07:00

I am now 5 days away from my performance. Nervous, you bet!
I still have a huge problem feeling what my character should feel in the performance
And that affects my overall acting. So I decided to dedicate a sunday to get my feelings, sorted out.

Firstly, the feeling of annoyance. I engaged the help of my brother to come and disturb me (ironic!) while i'm doing work on my computer. He came with food temptations and loud noises but none of those made me irritated with him. Howver, the feeling of him looking at what i'm typing (an english essay) on the screen felt very awkward and uncomfortable. Somehow, he picked up the hint and continued staring. Being self conscious, i shifted my body and tried to close the window with the word document. But after awhile, i got annoyed with his breathing beside my ear and finally managed to remember that feeling - emotional memory.

Secondly, the feeling of guilt. I didnt need to plan any of this. It came naturally. I forgot to let out the clothes to dry and my mother scolded me. I argued back and it eventually became rather nasty at dinner. That feeling of immense guilt and discomfort was something i reflected and realized i could use for my performance. I immediately made a mental note to include it here!

lastly was the feeling of madness. This one i needed nobody's help. I played the music of Liberali Fatali over and over for half an hour with many newspapers on the floor. I literally went mad because of the oppressive atmosphere set by the music and i managed to recall that feeling. My muscles tensed up and my mind started to whirl. It felt immensely uncomfortable and i just wanted it to stop, but i forced myself to go on and to find motivation to tear the newspapers and throw them around. Honestly, i was having lots of fun going mad in my room.

Today's session was productive as i used the stanislavski method of muscular and emotional memory. I learnt how to draw parallels to the context in my play and managed to get the emotions i wanted.

Decisions

2008-07-18T09:46:00.000-07:00

I made a few decisions to my performance after much consideration. Below are my thought processes and decisions.

Firstly, I have chosen the song Liberali Fatali as my soundtrack for my character's insanity.
the song is sang in latin and by sopranos. The beginning of the song feels like something is speaking meekly, developing into someone screaming. The song then builds up to a fast paced momentum and strong and hard beats denote changes in the verses. The pace and the intensity of the music builds up to a climax and suddenly falls... only to rise again more rapidly and faster.
I choose this song because in the beginning, the works said meekly progressing to screaming show the words of the essay coming out stronger and stronger to haunt my character. Then the buildup of music can denote his insanity getting stronger and more intense, the beats can show his wrecking things in his room, a strong and striking visual and audio presentation. His madness can be building higher and higher until the climax of the song, where he can fall to the ground. During the slow interval, he can slowly tilt his head towards the ladder and notice the plate. The stronger, more rapid beats can show and amplify his movement up the ladder towards the plate. the entire song can stop with a line cue saying STOP, showing that he's had enough of his insanity. Thus, the song works very well with what i want to show on stage and helps me to choreograph my movement.

Secondly, I have decided to do away with the dumbbell and change my character to a junk food addict. firstly, in our last meeting, Mrs Kamal talked about how people did eat junk food when they are stressed and how other people worked out immensely. she told me to try both out and maybe combine the two to form one new kind of action a person does in immense stress. I've gone through the thought processes for both kinds of behaviors and realized that it is quite difficult to combine the two as they are entirely contradicting; one to gain weight and one to lose weight. And also, based on emotional memory, i can relate to the junk food binging behavior more than the crazily working out one. Hence it would be easier for me to get into role if my character is solely a junk food lover, more than a workaholic.

Lastly, I decided that I should in a sense "destroy" my front set. I would, in my insanity, throw newspapers down from the cubes and throw my papers and pens all over the floor, overturning the tables as the intensity of the madness increases. this will be symbolic of his dislike for the current time (in the previous post i mentioned about the stage being divided to show his past and present). the back set will not be destroyed but the front set will be, showing how much he misses his perfect past but hates his life after his dreams were destroyed. Moreover, in the messy front stage, the plate will be smashed. This will allow padding naturally and serves a symbolic purpose as well. The last item to add to the mess is the plate. The plate is a symbolic representation of the character and shows that living on top and amongst all the messed up and ruined life is the character himself. This adds another layer of meaning to the drama and makes it aesthatically pleasing as well.

These are currently the decisions i've made. definitely i made more decisions subconsciously. Will note them down when i find the time.

Research

2008-07-18T09:01:00.000-07:00

Presenting.... My research on the authors of the quotes i use!

1) Carl Sandburg:
Nothing happens unless first we dream.

Carl Sandburg in 1955Carl August Sandburg (January 6, 1878 – July 22, 1967) was an American film critic, poet, historian, novelist, balladeer, and folklorist.

I will pose like Sandburg in the picture when i say his quote

2) John Lennon:

You may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one, I hope someday you will join us, and the world will live as one

John Ono Lennon, MBE (born John Winston Lennon; 9 October 1940 – 8 December 1980) was an English rock musician, singer, songwriter, artist, and peace activist who gained worldwide fame as one of the founding members of The Beatles. As a member of the group, Lennon was one of the lead vocalists and co-wrote the majority of the band's songs with bassist Paul McCartney.In his solo career, Lennon wrote and recorded songs such as "Give Peace a Chance".

I will use sunglasses and pose as with the picture to denote John Lennon when i read his quote

3)Victor Hugo:

There is nothing like a dream to create the future.

Victor-Marie Hugo (February 26, 1802 – May 22, 1885) was a French poet, playwright, novelist, essayist, visual artist, statesman, human rights activist and perhaps the most influential exponent of the Romantic movement in France.
In France, Hugo's literary reputation rests primarily on his poetic and dramatic output and only secondarily on his novels. Among many volumes of poetry, Les Contemplations and La Légende des siècles stand particularly high in critical esteem, and Hugo is sometimes identified as the greatest French poet. Outside France, his best-known works are the novels Les Misérables and Notre-Dame de Paris (sometimes translated into English as The Hunchback of Notre-Dame).

I will use a french accent when reading Victor Hugo's quotes to denote his character

4) Steven Spielburg:

I don't dream at night, I dream all day; I dream for a living.

highest grossing filmmaker of all time; his films having made nearly $8 billion internationally.[citations needed] Forbes magazine places Spielberg's net worth at $3 billion.[2] In 2006, the magazine Premiere listed him as the most powerful and influential figure in the motion picture industry. Time listed him as one of the 100 Greatest People of the Century. At the end of the twentieth century, Life named him the most influential person of his generation.[3]
In a career that spans almost four decades, Spielberg's films have touched many themes and genres. During the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s, four of his films, Jaws, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Raiders of the Lost Ark and Jurassic Park became the highest grossing films for their time. During his early years as a director, his sci-fi and adventure films were often seen as the archetype of modern Hollywood blockbuster filmmaking. In later years, his movies began addressing such historical issues as the Holocaust, slavery, war, and terrorism.

I am using the poster of the movie JAWS to denote the presence of Spielburg in my play.

Symbolism

2008-07-09T08:49:00.000-07:00

Hello! I was just thinking, you know, like pre-exam nerves.

And i thought of what was going to be on stage. And i realized that each object had a symbolism behind it. I have about 5 other posts not up but i feel like posting this one here first. (It's pure sloth to type in microsoft word that's why. other times i dont have internet when i want to post my posts)

The items on stage and the symbols!

1) Newspapers - Reality (shows reluctance to indulge in reality when they are torn)

2) Potatochips - escapism (Shows running from pressure of doing work)

3) Homework - obsession (My character is surviving on doing homework to get away from his shattered dreams)

4) Ladder - Symbolic of the pains and obstacles my character went through, only to get his dreams shattered.

5) Smashed plate glued together - symbolic of the broken dreams that my character has, seemingly put together to form one whole dream again.

6) trophies and certificates - achievements of my character in the past.

7) Books - symbolic of the people he tries to go to for answers but give him none.

the positions of my set are also symbolic.
Most of my set is at the back, with pictures of movies, playstation and a rugby ball. The stage is artistically divided into the front and the back, showing the transition in time. When my character was young, he used to love all these things, now they are cast to the back of his room while he only focuses on books and newspapers in the front of the stage.

The tall sets with piles of books everywhere are symbolic of the oppressive atmosphere the character lives in - the oppression caused by his dreams which never come true.

Hence, with this journal entry i've realized that i have many sybols on stage, my only hope is that the audience can see it in such a short time...

ciao

Rehearsal 1

2008-06-26T01:50:00.000-07:00

Today was the day my greatest set design was ever born!
After spending half an hour yesterday planning my set design, i had this afternoon to realize it!
Here is a picture of my fantastic set! hahaha. i'm proud of it, really proud.

I also improvised and added a few things here and there which were not planned. But all in all it contributed to the effect of a messy, oppressive and almost crazy room and it got great feedback from Mrs Kamal! I wanted to add more things to the design but Mrs. Kamal said it would be too overboard to do so as the set looks fine now.

Having done well for my design, we went straight into the performance. At the starting of the rehearsal she asked me questions to find out the motivation behind the lines and clarified most of my thoughts for me by asking me questions and making me think in character. It was like hot seating mixed with forum theatre, an experience i really enjoyed as it was purposeful and meaningful. I now now exactly how to transit from emotion to emotion and from phase to phase in my character smoothly. It is just refining and perfecting the acting bit.

Next problem we faced was the quotes. What was established was that the quotes were important for the performance as they clearly state why the character hates dreams so much. However, the problem was the quotes were not embodied enough. For one, the character's tone of voice - which shows his reaction to the quotes, is not intense enough and the research behind the figures of fame saying the quotes is not done so that the tone and the reason and context is not set properly for my character to react. in short, the quotes lacked a personality and feeling.
But fear not! Research is being done and will be updated asap!

Lastly was my use of my set. I had weights around which Mrs Kamal felt were underutilised and the ladder as well. We quickly solved the problem by incooperating such items into the performance by means of changing the stage action to still suit a purpose and yet add another layer of depth beneath the performance by giving the stage actions meanings and attitudes. Such things do not come easy and i'm very happy to have been able to realize them.

Today i learnt (or rather, found out) a few things:
1) Downstage is the STRONGEST position
2) Status is depicted by the blocking and the levels at which the character is at.
3) Emotions can have parallals to help the actor remember them.
4) The set can really be used to set the atmosphere and mood of the performance
5) The best way to solve a problem regarding dramatic realization is to talk it out
6) Visual images and symbols can cause a big impact
7) Research is very important in putting up a performance =X

I felt like I had a very purposeful session today and achieved much more. I also have some other issues to think about (ie. the ending and the lines) as well as much trying out to do. I'm looking forward to such a lesson again!

First performance

2008-06-25T05:40:00.000-07:00

Hello hello!

I'm here to update my drama journal about the session we had during the holidays. (i'm about a week late, ONLY). Was busy studying for exams but the drama bit is still clear in my head as crystal.

Okay, during the last week of the holidays, we had a session with Mrs Kamal to showcase our performance for the individual monologue which i devised.

Basically I thought of possible blocking methods to use the space and different levels as i went about my day, thinking of my lines and all. I had some ways of rehearsing it, alone in the bathroom at least. I found methods to intonate properly. And it was finally time to put it all together... i was a nervous wreck.

Thankfully, I was not alone. Most of the performers had came even unprepared.
However, with some character preparation and simultaneous rehearsals, we more more prepared than before and decided to go ahead with the showcase.

During my performance, things went rather smoothly without me forgetting much lines. I did forgo the part on Practicality killing dreams, however, it did not affect my message or my performance and it felt weird later on when i tried to put it back inside. Other than that, the use of space and my emoting of the lines went well.

Some feedback given by my peers was that:

Good points
-There was focus in the character
-There were funny bits
-Feelings for character are drawn
-Good movement
-Dream quotes worked

Bad points
-My intention is not clear
-The starting needs to be more powerful
-The writing in the air does not make sense
-I stomp around too much
-Ending is abrupt and weird
-Need to recognize the audience more
-Frustration of character not shown clearly
-Cannot sense the passion for the essay writing

With these feedback from my friends, i can relook at my devising process and see which parts i might have left out and fill up for my intention. Obviously the good points will be kept and those bad points will be reminded.

I have more ideas for the performance which i will show mrs kamal tomorrow. One of which will include music and more movement to make the piece clearer. The fustration will be showen and the ending will be even more crazier than it was.

I intend to use the piece of music that I began drama with, symbolic, powerful, a boost to my performance.

Mrs Kamal also talked to me about enhancing the set design which i worked at and found many ideas and ways. Tomorrow will be a good rehearsal!

Devising 5 - Reporting in Class

2008-05-26T13:10:00.000-07:00

Today in drama class, we sat in a circle and gave each other feedback on our performances.
All my fellow classmates are either doing textwork or undecided on what to do.

I gave a report on my performance, the themes and the concept. It was met with a good response from my classmates and they said it seemed sound. The symbol of the toy car that I used in my performance was strong and they said it sounded interesting.

With this analysis, I can safely write my script draft one for Mrs. Kamal to see. This boosted my morale and confidence in my devising skills and encouraged me to try my best with this idea.

I felt this part of the module is key in our development as by talking through our performances, we are able to think through what we like and what we wanted to perform and hence become able to clarify our thoughts about the performance itself. This is important as the feedback from our fellow classmates is ideal as they would be looking at it, not from the perspective of an actor but of an audience member. They will hence be able to tell you what is interesting and what is not interesting to see on stage.

Hence I feel that this lesson was very successful in helping me to think about my concept. Honestly, I never felt more clear about my idea than when i explained it to the class. This enabled me to think through my idea and clarify my own thoughts on the spot. This was a very worthwhile activity for me to invest my time in and i certainly benefitted from it.

Devising 4: Meeting with Mrs. Kamal 2

2008-05-26T11:48:00.000-07:00

In this meeting I gave Mrs. Kamal my report on what work i've done since the previous meeting.
Basically I interviewed a school cleaner and got a new concept of the dreams of a cleaner.

She thought it sounded interesting but felt that there were too many themes to be woven into one 5 minute performance. She asked me a few questions and I felt like a piece of tuna being grilled on a bbq.

She mentioned a few things about who i interviewed, as the cleaner was a female. Mrs. Kamal said that the female perspective is different from the male one. This brings out a whole new dimention of inspiration and thoughts which will differ and probably affect the performance as a whole.

Moreover, the cleaner was an old lady. She mentioned that it would be difficult for me to get into the psyche of a cleaner and asked me to think more about it.

As follow up, she asked me to think through my concepts and give her a proper proposal with a backup text in case my devising process does not work. Therefore I wrote a proposal about the theme of Time Burning Away the Dreams of an Old Cleaner. As a backup, I used THE COFFIN IS TOO BIG FOR THE HOLE.

Hopefully things would work out with the devising.

Devising 3: Meeting with Mrs. Kamal 1

2008-05-26T11:14:00.000-07:00

Today I met with Mrs. Kamal to convince her about my interest in devised work with a proper concept.

I spoke with her about the concept of the occupational beggar and how I felt that the folks down at the underpasses and at the coffeeshops could be fakes and doing this just for a living rather than because they were in dire need of the money.

Mrs Kamal seemed interested in the idea and asked more. However, the idea got more or less rejected when she asked if i had the resources and the emotional and mascular memory for the devising process. The pool of resources I have for such a performance is very limited and unless i'm able to go through the process of interviewing such a person to get into their psyche, it will be extremely difficult for me to do a strong performance.

Reflecting on what Mrs Kamal said, i felt that the purpose of the meeting was not met. I did not manage to convince Mrs Kamal i was capable of doing devised work. However I gained more insight about the requirements of devising. Even if the meeting felt awkward and unpleasant, I felt that the message of the meeting was brought across as I now realize what more I need to do.

After much thinking, with the difficulty of doing a piece on the life of a beggar, i looked around for more inspiration for my devising process. On taking a walk around the school, I saw a cleaner toiling about in her daily chores. I was inspired by the fact that the cleaner was working very hard for our benefit. I told Mrs Kamal in a rather post-script manner about cleaners and she agreed with the idea. Now I need to work hard at getting my ideas out.

I plan to interview a cleaner.

Devising 2: Text Reading

2008-05-26T11:03:00.000-07:00

Today Mrs. Kamal gave out a few scripts to each of us, recommending what she thinks we should do for text work. We had 2 external teaches coming to observe our dramatized reading of the performance and the focus of the day was to get us exposed to more varieties of texts. The guys were given THE COFFIN IS TOO BIG FOR THE HOLE, NO PARKING ON ODD DAYS and THE BLOOD KNOT. I was given the... awkward honour of reading the blood knot.

After preparing for my dramatized reading, i had a good look at the other 2 monologues as well. Personally I've read THE COFFIN IS TOO BIG FOR THE HOLE before prior to this as I did my research on the playwright Kuo Pao Kun in my Secondary 1 Literature Class. I enjoyed the hiliarity of the script and found it amusing at certain parts. It was my first time reading NO PARKING ON ODD DAYS and I too found it rather enjoyable. However, THE BLOOD KNOT had almost nothing I enjoyed. The slang and the content were not captivating at all.

I've done a performance of Kuo Pao Kun before and I must admit, I rather like his works. Hence I decided; as Mrs. Kamal wanted me to have a back-up in case my devising fails, that I would choose THE COFFIN IS TOO BIG FOR THE HOLE as it is something I am familiar with and am comfortable doing. The dark humour seems captivating and I can almost envision myself performing that script. Hence I decided to take it up as plan B.

The Dramatized reading was helpful as it exposed me to these plays which I never thought I would consider doing if I would go out and look for performances myself. They helped me to see the meanings and the social sattire behind the plays and understand the context better. Apart from the marvelling at my classmate's wonderful dramatization skills, they also helped me to pick a better monologue as a backup. The activity was a huge success for me.

Devising process 1

2008-05-26T07:44:00.000-07:00

Today during drama we were encouraged to tell Mrs. Kamal about our thoughts for the next assessment which is the individual monologue for the GCE O level.

It was a short meeting and I spoke up saying I wanted to do devised work in place of text work.

I personally am able to feel more for the pieces i devise rather than the pieces i analyse. Perhaps it is due to my own want of a more personal feel in the words I say or the things I put on stage. I am always able to interject my own feelings and put my heart and soul into the performance which always works to my advantage when I perform.

Moreover, I have a keen interest in script writing. This began probably in primary 5 when I first began writing scripts. However, the processes of devising are tiring and will consume alot of time. I am willing to do so as it gives me a better control over my performance and boosts my confidence. And as we all know, a more confident actor is a better improved one.

As for text work, I have a fair bit of literature skills which will be handy for the work. However, the process of analysing and figuring out a huge chunk of words which probably have layers and layers of hidden meaning does not appeal to me as much as the researching for devise work. Perhaps that is another reason why I prefer devised work.

I'm more or less sure that my devised work will be stronger than my text work.

Showcase 1

2008-04-19T12:15:00.000-07:00

Today both groups showcased their performances for peer comment as well as to get a sense of a full run to see our timing.

After the performance, we were given some feedback.

The good ones:

The themes of each scene and the methods we showcased them were very clear.
We asked questions regarding the scenes and the message and the audience were able to get the message.

Characters could engage the audience.
The audience felt for the characters and could understand their plights.

The areas for improvement / questions by the audience.

Plot:
1) The ending was too abrupt.
2) Why do the family members not come on during the ending?
3) last scene should be used to show that pluto binds the family together.

These questions would be solved on monday during our rehearsal

My character:
1) As a father, i am not convincing enough.
To solve this, i will have to do my own research and observe other fathers as they walk along the streets more, to have a wider choice of characterization to study and compare with. From that i will be able to derive my own character and further enhance it. What's more, maybe even an interview with a father who loves his daughter alot might help.

2) As the president, i am not scary enough.
Today i have been hearing and listening again and again to the music of diavolo the president. i will have to make a few changes to his staging and his blocking in the scene. His voice also needs to instill fear in the audience. His character must be strong. I will need to list out the dramatic possibilities and explore them in my time.

Update

2008-04-17T08:16:00.000-07:00

Hello! I'm here to revive my blog.
Apologies for the super last minute post.
It looks like i never do any work right, its NOT!
I've been working hard and working long.
now i shall tell you what's been happening.

Session 1 - 17/3/08
We discussed the basics of the performance, based on what kinds of expectations and standards and hence came up with a timeline on what to do during our rehearsals. As decided by Mrs Kamal, majority of our rehearsals would take place during lessons, however, i feel the need to have some after school rehearsals to polish it up further. Mrs Kamal briefed us on what was expected and what was to come, including our upcoming performance at the Arts House on 24th of March

Session 2 - 20/3/08
Today we decided that for the performance at the Arts House, we would be going to perform our family scene and voting scene for them to watch. However, we had problems to solve. Many, many problems. Given that the performance was 4 days away. We had no proper breakfast to eat, our acting was not up to scratch, we had no idea how the voting would take place and we didnt know what costumes to wear. Hence we had a discussion.

It was decided that we would have a test tube breakfast and i would be in charge of getting the testtube holder and clean test tubes for us to put food inside.

The voting would hence be done on drawing block and so all those who had to vote, (the other 5), would have to make their own voting slips. It would be done tribal council (survivor) style.

As for costumes, we would just salvage what we can from the black box store and the MPS store room to give our characters varying shades of colours.

Acting wise, it was just practicing and rehearsing.

Session 3 - 21/3/08
During this rehearsal, we practiced and workshopped further, our family scene. We managed to get more conflict and tension between the relationships of the family and managed to work a few contrasts out. For instance, the relationship between pluto and venus vs the relationship between pluto and her father.

However, all the emotions returned back during the scene where pluto leaves for war. It is to show that the family, influenced by diavolo, is becoming more and more able to feel for one another. We agreed on the different feelings each character should have and left each one to return home and explore further.

Performance wise, i plotted the lights for the upcoming external live moderation and the breakfast props were done. The food for breakfast would be brought individually on monday. Costume wise, everything is settled!

Session 4 - 24/3/08
Today we took some time to do a few runs after school and prepare ourselves for our performance. Touching up some of the props and having bits of fun here and there, we slowly got into character and travelled to the arts house.

Our performance at the Arts House lacked climax and tension. The conflict was very vague and the energy level was low. Overall i felt that our performance was weak. However, it was work in progress and we will just have to improve.

On my part, i felt that my character was more or less strongly developed. However, my portrayal as the father is a little bit weaker than as the president and it hence brings out contrast and confuses the audience, i feel. Therefore i will need to try and balance both my roles. After all, they are the same person.

Session 5 - 25/3/08
Today, we gathered in a circle and gave feedback about yesterday's performance. I felt that the arguements and bickering between siblings could be much much much more intensified than it was at the arts house. The actors also need to pay attention to each other and not dream in their own worlds. Following the feedback session, we had one run before the examiners came for our live moderation.

We performed slightly better than yesterday. The energy levels were higher and more conflict could be seen. However, the characters felt under developed and some characters like mars were not doing or saying much. That made me feel uneasy. Her additions of comments about the screen which were supposed to be about the family did not work and many things felt awkward after it happened.

I missed a line today. During pluto's farewell. But i managed to save myself by bringing it up again. The dislike for the performance starts to fade.

Session 6 - 4/4/08
"All of you are like talking heads!", exclaimed Mrs Kamal. For today's lesson, mrs kamal made us redo the prologue, at first miming and then later only allowing us to say 2 lines each. This was to reduce the lines we had as the script was too "talky" and we would be restricted by our lines and stage actions. We tried many methods and eventually managed to reduce our prologue.

I was the one who complied the ideas into a script. For me, i never noticed how much dialogue my script had until mrs kamal pointed out. This just goes to show how much we think we know will never be enough. It was time to decide which scenes we didnt want. We went back and thought about the significance of each scene and contemplated cutting the scenes.

Session 7 - 10/4/08
Today we sat down as a group and decided specifically which scenes were dismissable. There were some who felt that the president's scene was not important and should be taken out. personally i felt that the president scene is important, both for our characterization sake and for the means of getting the message across. I argued my case, saying that the president scene is needed to show the "what's so special about this family?" question being answered.

For one, nothing is special about the family except that it is the presidents. That would need to be depicted by showing the entire brainwashing of society and hence the president's power needs to be firmly established before he can appear later on and show his power. Hence this scene shows the social setting and the psyche of the society and would definately be needed.

Convinced, the group decided to sit down and take away lines, not the plot. Things which were redundant were removed, but the storyline remains.

Session 8 - 14/4/08

Today Mrs Kamal watched our group perform the prologue and gave us even more suggestions for improvement. I realized my character was weak nearer the floor and she advised me on how to shift. Following that, we workshopped the president scene. This time round, without a blackout for scene change. This then brought about the idea of Diavolo wearing a mask. I immediately thought of my mask from ze masquarade - last year's farewell party for seniors. We would use it as a symbol of facade in the performance.

The teen also now has much lesser lines to say and the entire scene is short, concise and to the point. It was a mark improvement with Mrs Kamal guiding us.

Session 9 - 16/4/08
During this rehearsal, we workshopped the family scene which we had already more or less done for our external live moderation. For a start, we sat down and talked about what worked and what did not work in the previous scene. Then we cheorographed the waking up movement to syncronize with each other.

Finally, we went down to the basics of the performance and improvised, based on the lines, what we felt the script should be. We changed many of the lines and stage actions. As Afiqa and I had little parts in this scene, we substituted those not present and made the performance more cohesive. The workshopping was done by the actors bouncing off each other and breaking out of character to give comments and feedback to improve the performance.

After this rehersal session, i felt that the performance was more or less coming into place. All was left is the war scene.

Session 10 - 17/7/08
Today during lesson, we did a full run from the top of the performance, filling the other group members who were not present about their roles and stage actions. We also discussed about the costumes each member was to have. Finally, we decided to colour code them so that each character would be distinct and have a colour to show their character trait. Hence we made plans on what to do during the rehearsals.

After school, i went to buy black cloth for my costume. It would be made by my grandmother to show diavolo's darkness, a little inspiration from lord voldemort and the sith lord. Interestingly enough, i have the feeling my cape would add to the erieness of the whole performance.

During rehersals, Mrs Kamal sat in and gave us audience feedback for our performance, it was felt that i was not scary enough and that our blocking is not appropriate to maximize the uses of the stage. Hence we changed and decided that instead of chairs, each character would use something else to differentiate themselves and their corner of the room from another. That would solve the awkward setting during the president scene as well as give the play more life. Following that, We took our sticks (soon to be light sabres), and i cheorographed the war scene to suit the movement of Pluto being finally killed and taught the rest. We ended off stripping the current poles and planning to replace their coverings.

Power Hungry

2008-02-29T20:33:00.000-08:00

On Thursday, we spent our drama lesson doing one activity:

I call it the power game.

We had to pair up with one person from a different group. The members from the "Abuse" performance group were supposed to follow, using their faces, the palms of the "War" performance piece. Whatever it is, they cannot break out or resist the control by the other group. They can only say the words "no you cant!" as a form of resistance.

I first paired up with Prakash and we experimented with different ways of moving and just played with movement for awhile.

Then Mrs Kamal got us to swap partners and I paired with Sofihah. This time, we were to supress our partners with the power of our hands.

Hang on, i'm going to stop discribing as i need to reflect as well.

After the activity, we had to go into our own corners and reflect on the activity with nothing but a pen and a piece of paper. my reflection (complete with horrid handwriting) is here:

i basically tried to link power to the performance. which is not difficult seeing as my character is the president who is power hungry and power loving. This activity will serve as muscle memory for me when i flaunt my power, possibly during the president's scene. This performance also gave me an idea on how to depict the president.

A scene showing the president doing this power game with a few people who try to overthrow him would be key in showing how this president is just perverted and loves war. There could be an interrogation to show whatever that happens and can further develop the character of diavolo.

As i mentioned, metaphorically, during drama class. Diavolo is like a fish, without power, he would be like out of water, lacking oxygen and eventualy dying.

The family scene

2008-02-27T04:17:00.001-08:00

Yatta! I'm finally up to date with my journals! (congratulates myself)
This is the most current post.

The past two days we stayed back after school and after lessons to polish and refine the family scenes. The group of us made great progress and roughly forged out the skeleton of the performance! Now all that's left is to put the muscles and flesh into the skeleton to form one wholesome performance!

Firstly, Yesterday.
We played a "game", as i would call it. We acted as our characters and did a SIMS computer game style of devising. We just acted as a family and interracted with each other on a day to day basis, forging stronger characters and at the same time, developing the storyline. After some time, we got clearer and clearer stories and eventually stopped the "game" to craft out the performance properly.

The introduction would be done by Mars. She will be reading a script to the screen(television) which requires her to introduce her family. When she comes to the point about her father, Diavolo enters the stage as the president and makes the announcement that war will soon be declared to the country. This is the scene which needs working on the most. That interview must be done as soon as possible.

It will then move on to the family scene. This was the section that was crafted today. Pluto would go around and, being very inquisitive, ask many questions about life and war to show her ignorance to the matter and hence, give the sense that there is hope for mankind, however, her siblings and even ber mother would shun her. That would represent society blatantly rejecting the hope that they have, to be once again, thinking individuals.

Diavolo will come home and immediately spends time with Pluto, loving her as a father would. He then gives Suzy numerical value which sparks off questions by Suzy. The couple reminisce about how they met and what happened and Diavolo realizes that Suzy doesnt remember. Venus then comes and provokes Diavolo who leaves the home. This then sparks the President's response to order that every household sends one member to participate in the war.

Back to yesterday's crafting, the family, without Diavolo, will vote for someone to go for war. They will do it in a Survivor Tribal Council style which evidently shows the back to basics with modernization theme. Hence, Pluto is sent for war. this shows that the hope for mankind is condamned by the family. Suzy is unable to vote as she feels for her children. She, under the influence of Diavolo, shows some form of thinking. This is queer as the people of their society doesnt think. This increases the audience's suspicion to Diavolo.

When Diavolo announces that Pluto is to be sent for war, He rushes back home. The president is heard running in the dark and Diavolo comes home. This further creates suspicion in Diavolo. The family then reacts to Pluto's being sent for war. Diavolo is devastated. Pluto asks her father to send her to the teleportation pod to the warfront. That would be her last time seeing her father.

Tomorrow, more crafting and ideas will surface!

Improvisation

2008-02-26T08:09:00.000-08:00

Today I had my improvisation assesment.

It was followed with the completion of my worksheet to be handed up for the assesment itself.
Okay granted i only completed the worksheet today(as in, actually today) in class as it slipped my mind, i still managed to think of the questions.

I felt that for Diavolo, the most interesting concept would be death.
For a character who has caused so much death and misery, i wanted to explore how he would die.
First, I had to think of the causes and the time at which this took place.
It was already decided that Pluto would go for war.
I hence decided that Guerra lost the war, shockingly and Pluto was killed in the war as the context of my monologue.

Hence, the scene starts with Diavolo entering hell. With the walk which he was so familiar with, he walks through the gates of hell to announce that he was president of Guerra. He would then proceed to recount the day he died, how he was giving an account for the lives lost during the war and overcame with guilt, he blew himself, as well as the whole country of Guerra up.

This ties back to one of our theme of modernization: the more you modernize, the more back to basics you become. Set in the future almost 6decades away from now, our current suicide bombers would be considered history in their time. Hence I decided to let Diavolo die in an ancient tactic of the old.

Afterthought:
Diavolo seems to be developing very interestingly as a character. It will give him even more depth when he actually shows emotions to his family.

Characterization

2008-02-26T08:03:00.001-08:00

Today, I've developed my character fully to prepare for the improvisation assesment coming up.
The name of the president will be Diavolo which actually means Devil in Itallian. The name of the country formerly known as WTC will be Guerra which means war.

Naming the character is the first step in preparing for a role.
The next would be his distinguishing feature.

For Diavolo, his feature would be the cloak which he hides himself in. This creates a sense of suspense and fear as to what is under the cloak and is significant of the president's loner and selfish personality.

The feature has already determined the personality!
What is the character like? His traits will come into play next.

To help with the crafting, I shall simply list 10 points about him.

1) He is very intelligent
2) He is selfish
3) He is power hungry
4) He loves Pluto and Suzy alot.
5) He doesnt really care about the rest of his family
6) He is passionate about his job
7) He wants to retain his presidentship for as long as he can.
8) He doesnt want to be the equal of another
9) He is actually a coward
10) He is extremely 2 faced.

These points would be sufficient for the improvisation tomorrow. From there, i would be able to find more infomation about him

Devising

2008-02-26T07:13:00.000-08:00

Today we stayed back to do some devising and compilling of infomation.

We began with the cause of war.
Since the performance is situated in the future, we wanted the cause of the war to be special and something that is not bothered or fought about now.
Hence we brain stormed about the possible causes and derived the cause: trees.

The War Torn Country (WTC) would go for war against Goleckgostan (GG) because of trees.

The idea of trees is a symbol.

Due to the photosynthetic ability of trees, they provide oxygen for all living things to sustain life.
WTC, being modernized and urbanized, has gotten rid of all the trees to build their homes and machinery. Hence they lack trees and the country is suffering from a lack of oxygen and everyone is relying on ventilators to breathe. Such ventilators will not last last and a solution must come fast. Hence the idea to invade GG and steal their resources.

Trees also signify being rooted to the ground. The wanting of trees shows that WTC has modernized more than it should and has lost its roots with the basic human nature, behavior and traditions.

Other than deciding on the cause of war, we also brainstormed about the theme. The results are as follows:

The new character

2008-02-26T06:48:00.000-08:00

The next few days after we decided to renew our performance to take on a separate, more human involved approach, we did not meet up or discuss much about the performance.

We began by saying we would want a narrative introduction with a Goddess and the President competing for the support of the people. This would then show the struggle between modernization and religion there and then. However, this idea was scrapped as it was relatively boring and there could be more interesting aspects to look at. Moreover, the excessive characterization and involving another theme would make the performance even more complicated.

Most of our talks were present during our corridor conversations and talking whilst lessons were going on about our performance.

With the hope of putting up a better performance, i decided to build the foundation of the performance on the background of it all. Hence I started to find causes and reasons for the situation that was occuring - war. As well as the background of the family.

Following that, I planned an interview with my social studies and the school's history teacher (HOD for humanities) to understand the concept of war even better.

I also dedicated my free time to finding a link between the president and the family as well as the background of the family.
The interview has not yet occurred, however, the backgrounds are clarifying.

The president would be a two faced man.
He would be the father of Pluto, Suzy's family's youngest daughter.
He met Suzy when he lost his previous wife and was looking for a grave for her.
Hence he would be the father figure in the family and yet the evil president as well.
Suzy's family would be more complex. She has lost 3 husbands to war and the president is the longest husband she has had.

This would be the basis on which we would further investigate the relationships between the family.

As for the reason for war, it was still not clear and we couldnt think of anything yet.

One thing's for sure. The President is no longer the short, stubby and squeaky old man he used to be. Now, he is evil and two faced. A new character has surfaced.

Reviewing the devised performance

2008-02-25T05:40:00.000-08:00

(Inserted into 31st Jan)

We've left the realms of textwork and moved into devising!

Ahhh, remember the good ol' war piece.

For the lesson a few weeks ago (at the time this entry would be considered punctual)

we tried acting out our previous piece on "why war?"

Naturally, a few lines were forgotten and the focus and energy level was not there at all.

However, following the performance, we relatively reviewed what we did and hence concluded:

1) The storyline was too long
2) Many points that we wanted to make were repeated in scenes
3) The performance was too comic to be taken seriously

Hence, with aid from Mrs Kamal, we wrote out the scaffold for our performance.
We listed down the scenes and the point we wanted to make.
From there, we managed to merge the scenes and from 7 scenes, we developed 3 parts.
They would be: President, Family and War.

Mrs. Kamal did make a note, as we also realized later, that the only human context was found in the family scene and that could really be developed further.

We then ended the sessions by formulating a to-do-list by which we would revisit the scenes and rework the family scene as well.

Stand Up Improvisation

2008-01-07T05:41:00.000-08:00

Today our task was to get a sense of what we will be doing for our CA1 test.
We were asked to take a character from our plays thatwe are playing and do a short improvisation.

Round 1:
Take your chair neutrally and move to the front of the class, introduce yourself and your character and say the line "How did you know that" in your character

Descendants of the Eunuch Admiral is an episodic piece with abstract characters given the way we interprete the text. Hence Prakash and I play multiroles in the performance and we have many characters to choose from. For this character, as there is a chair given, i decided to use the character of the Emperor. Applying the glide effort i worked on with the laban last lesson, i delivered the line smoothly and focusedly. However i felt that there wasnt a clear beginning and ending as every drama piece should have. Hence there was this bit of awkwardness then.

Round 2
Going to a corner of the room, do a one minute improvisation with a character frm your performance to the lines "why why why"

This time, to spare the awkwardness of the one minute performance, i decided to change character. It is also because i wanted to try and vary the exercise with a different character. However, i chose a character with the smallest role in the performance. The minion. With laban punch and glide movements with my body, i moved around the chair, sensing someone and finally taunting that someone with the words "why why why". This time, there was a clear beginning, however, the ending was not as clear as i wanted a cliffhanger to round things up. I did not get to perform this. But based on my rehearsal, i realized that i might not have defined the space clearly with my movement and neither did i define my character. I might want to use a little bit more time to change my movement so that it will define the environment and the persona more.

In a nutshell,
Today i learnt more about how to define your space and character. With the notes Mrs Kamal gave others i realized how different an act can be, with or without the definition of space and character. these are important techniques which i must do well to remember in my performance.

the laban efforts

2008-01-04T06:39:00.000-08:00

Laban created 8 efforts to use for vocal intonation:
Slash, Glide, Float, Flick, Wring, Punch, Push and dab

Amongst these 8, today's lesson was for us to take two or more of the efforts and experiment with them with respect to incooperating them into our perfornace.

We chose Glide, Float and Punch to work on.

For float, it worked will with the liquid movement and our lines. However, it only worked well for some lines and not others as the emotions would be lost when we said them. For instance, "I have come to realize of late that dreaming has become the centre of my life" cannot be said with the float effect as it is rather grounded in meaning. However, other extracts of part 1 can be used with the float effect to create the dream-ish effect we wanted to introduce. However, as I have learnt from this, too much of one effort in the text makes it boring. So Prakash and I intend to incooperate it with some parts of glide as well.

For glide, it worked in creating the dream world effect when mixed with float. However, I felt it worked best during part 2. The glide movement makes me think of the Chinese exercise Qi Gong and I normally end up projecting my words to the Chinese accent, something which the emperor in part 2 would do. It made my character sound refined and of high status when containted to only the vocal part and not the movement. It enhanced my character and definately i will use it in my performance.

Lastly, for punch, it did not really coincide with the performance of the descendants of the eunuch admiral well as the performance is rather rooted in meaning and subtext and not so angsty and full of fiery such as to use a punch effort. However, I found that it worked relatively well for the minion segment in part 1. This, incooperated with the glide to make it a smoother punch, gave a fantastic minion effect.

After my lesson, i've been thinking which laban effort would suit the part 3 children's segment well. And i derived that children normally talk in dabs and flicks and hence to make part 3 a lighter, more childish performance, the conversation would be best held in dabs and flicks such as to give it a more children-like atmosphere. This thought would need to be explored some other time.

Moving around

2008-01-03T00:11:00.000-08:00

Today the focus of my journal, as requested, will be my reflections about the movement we did today. But before that, i would like to put in a quote which i found rather profound today.

"There is sense, even in nonsense" - Mrs Kamal.

Which is rather true. Today Mrs Kamal made us stretch out our arms and legs and walk around like starfish on 2 of its legs. It was an interestingly painful way to walk.

I felt big and clumsy to walk around like that, so i was rather glad when she told us to relax. However, she told us to continue like that and say our lines. My aching arms cried out in pain but i perservered.

After that apparently nonsensical process. We were told to make sense out of it. Mission impossible? We'll here's my attempt.

My third part of the performance of The Descendants of the Eunuch Admiral has been interpreted as two children playing by myself and Prakash. And this movement reminds me, being in touch with my inner self, of terriermon. A digimon i used to like in my childhood days. It had big ears that were the size of hands and a minute body. I felt pretty much like i was mimicking it and decided that since we're acting as children in part 3, the child who loses the sissors paper stone game can have a funny forefeit! This could be part of the dream's nonsensical movements as anything - even the weirdest of things, can happen in a dream.

Another way is that this movement can show the floating of actors, as if in an abstract dimention. Just like the dream world. However, it does not corrospond with us wanting the two actors to seem as one character and hence we decided not to use it during this point in time. But it is still in consideration.

The movement, if done staccato and slow and moving gradually to liquified form could give a reasonable melting effect to show something dissolving or melting into a liquid. This form of movement can also be used; however, not in our performance as it will take too much reconstruction. We could use it in the sense that instead of feeling around with blindfolds, we be floating and slowly liquifying, as if the waves that Zheng He's fleet of ships ride on, telling the story of his past. This would mean a totally new interpretation of the text and we will find ourselves back to square one.

Hence, we have decided to incooperate this movement, minimally into our 3rd scene. Whoever loses, shall talk like that for one sentence!

Aching arms, tired body, improved performance!

The Get Together

2007-12-29T04:37:00.000-08:00

On Wednesday, the entire group of O level drama students met up in the black box, (or hopefully will be named The Play Ground) to showcase their work in progress.

We did our performances and gave each other feedback.
Prakash and I performed with one music short.
The performance was not too bad and some useful feedback was given.

1) My improved movement with the fan in part 2 worked.
I bought a fan from Chinatown a few days back and decided to use it in the performance when I am playing emperor. The fan is a symbol of the high and mighty in China as only the rich afford it. Hence the decision to use it.

2) Why go scary in part 1?
Well, we wanted to show "the dreams of life becoming a nightmare" kind of thing. But due to the lack of music to set this mood, it came as abrupt and shocking for the audience. They suggested something gradual as scary worked for the lines.

3) Music has to be lower in volume!
This is the first time we worked in the blackbox and we do not know how loud the music is as we are acting. However, this is key to take note as with loud music, the lines will be drowned out.

4) Find the meaning of the lines you say.
Due to my discomfort from my health, i forgot to interject some emotions into the lines and I feel that that is what caused it to come across as meaningless. The meaning of the lines were clear to some and not to others.

5) Who are you?
This is a question ONE person asked. The rest made it clear that the starting movement bit showed that Prakash and I are the same person. However, the chances of another few people in the audience getting the idea is still there and we need to fine tune the movement.

6) Play more!
The child in us have to come out more during part 3!

7) Famous eunuch tableaux
We might consider doing the tableaux of the famous eunuchs as mentioned in part 3 to boost the understanding of the audience.

8) More liquified movement and a buildup in the beginning.
Definately worth working for!

It was a fruitful session! Now we have more materials to work on.

(PS: this is not a drama ATC blog. its a drama journal for o level drama students!)

touchy touchy

2007-12-15T04:28:00.001-08:00

And yes, it is yet another day of rehearsing and another meeting with mrs kamal.
After a relaxing holiday in bali, i almost forgot all my lines! (Sorry Prakash!)
Today we did the same drama experiment again.
Blindfolded, with a slightly altered space and Afiqa and Sofihah calling the emotions.
We experimented with Longing, Realization, Anger, Scary, Happy and Curious for the lines today.
The blindfold effect did not work as nicely as in the MPS because the freshness of the experiment was lost. Instead we tried something different.
We played a game for group dynamics.
Prakash and I had to sit back to back and get up mainintaing body contact. We then had to move around the room and constantly allow different parts of our body to touch at different instances. (perverted as that may sound it only involves hands and legs and backs).
The whole idea was to forge a common throughline to show that both of us are actually the same character and make it clear to the audience that both actors are one character.

After the rehearsal, my idea is that we use a choral effect for the first lines of
"i have come to realize of late that dreaming has become the center of my life"
As we do that "ritual" to symbolize that we are one, finally ending off with both of us saying the line.
It will include the fade in and out effect we wanted as well.

That's all for my touchy touchy experiment. More to come with other rehearsals! Ciao!

groping in the dark

2007-12-05T20:14:00.000-08:00

A very few days ago, on the 30th of november,
Prakash and I had a meeting with Mrs Kamal.
After laughing at the silliness of our first scene together,
We explored other possibilities.

First we went the melodramatic way.
being both drunk actors trying to find their way.
I felt myself laughing harder.

Then,
Mrs Kamal took blindfolds for us.
she made us put them on and start groping around and saying our lines.
The experience was magical.
In the dark, you lose your sense of vision and you rely on your other senses.
In turn, this will make you feel around as if you're searching for something.
As we said our lines, Mrs Kamal called out emotions for us to modulate the lines
And as we progressed, we got scarier and scarier and scarier!
This would be the new feel of our first scene since we liked it so much.

However, i want to talk about the magic of being coincidence.

Sometimes, the things you do wrong will become magically right.
For intance, at times when either of us forgot our lines,
the other person gave a hint by personally saying it out.
This allowed the other person to recall his lines and deliver them.
As the other person delivered their lines, the first person faded out.
This gave the effect of two actors being one same person.

Another conincidence that occurred was the effect of one person standing up and the other moving down. As we were behind the blindfold, we didnt know what each other was doing and magically, at more than one instance, prakash stood up and i went lower to the floor and vice versa. the way we reacted to each other's voices was also extremely interesting.

With this meeting, we discovered new insight and areas to work on with blindfolds.
Also, i learnt that when we tape down our performance and look at it, we learn and gain much much more.

Super productive rehearsal!

The first post

2007-11-29T23:45:00.000-08:00

Muahahaha!

Listening to Mrs Kamal, I shall not be lazy.
I was contemplating if i should start a drama blog.
Today, she said a very simple "Start lah!" and here I am!

This posting page reminds me of my other blog, and it makes me feel awkward to write in perfect english here. The urge to put in a smilie face is also extremely strong. I wonder why... this awkward feeling. And no, i'm not talking about awkward silence!

Goldfinger's still the best!

Anyway, this is my first post here and I'll update tonight about today's rehearsal.

PS: Do you like the skin? I did it myself! Wheeeee..... *ahem* Sorry.