With one scheduled performance down, it didn't mean we could relax a little the following day. With our major performance just 2 days away, it meant that we would have to go to the theatre to set up our scenopgraphy and lighting first. Hence, we still have to wake up early, had our breakfast at 7 and depart for the theatre at 8. Previously, we had an agreement that the lighting designer for Xiamen Municipality Gezi Opera Troupe's show would come to the theatre to help us with the rigging up of lamps. However, we got more than what we had requested for: the entire movers crew for the troupe actually stormed into the theatre with all their props! Hence instead of solely helping us rig up what we need for our show, the stage crew had to go help out with the unloading of Xiamen troupe's props. We were performing the following night, while they were only performing on the 15th! So why were they so eager to shift all their things into the theatre so early? That wasted quite a lot of time and we weren't happy. However, we couldn't do anything as it was us who requested their assistance.
The props we had for the scenography was actually very basic; just 9 pieces of vertical cloth drapes and 1 piece of translucent sash. Actually I wasn't too happy with my own design. It was too bare for a big stage like this, and a little too "ordinary". I had a better design, but it was rejected by my leader as she felt that it would incur too much money. However, when I saw the props for Xiamen's show, I realised that their concept were similar in certain ways to mine, and according to their scenographer, Mr. Huang Yongying, making such props back in their country only cost afew hundred Singapore dollars! That really made my heart sunk; if my leader had considered this step, I would have been a happier scenographer! What stung me real hard was the ironic news that we received some last minute funds from some people. If these funds could have arrived earlier, we could have a bigger budget for the props already. Art then commented that I was considered luckier than her, and she wasn't allocated any budget to hire a lighting designer. I had to correct her that the scenography and lighting team are actually the same team, and there shouldn't be any distinction between the two (though the job scopes for both teams are not the same).
Art and I sat at the front of the stage, waiting for the stage crew to finish hanging up the props and lighting equipments so that we could carry on adjusting the lights. By then, many of our other troupe members had taken their nap, went for a short shopping spree and started their rehearsals in the rehearsal studio downstairs. We then realised that the stage crew were all distracted by the Xiamen people to help them with their props instead. That was the last straw! We decided to report this to our troupe leader, and let her settle the case. However, she was in the midst of her own rehearsal when we went down, and by the time she came up, the stage crew had already finished doing Xiamen's props, so we had nothing left to say. "Not having syncronised the whole show before" was what the Xiamen troupe said when it comes to why they were so anxious to move everything into the theatre so early, but then it was still demanding and unreasonable for them to so this on the eve of another troupe's show!
The whole stage was done by evening, including laying of carpets and rigging of platforms. However, the lights and flyers had not been co-ordinated yet, but then my troupe leader still wanted to incorporate all into the rehearsal for that night. We couldn't make her see the logic, so we just abide to her decision, and you can forsee the outcome: everything was a mess. At the end of the day, while on our journey back to the hotel, our leader kept harping on the point that the lighting and scenography designers had to buck up and get everything ready by noon the next day, and that really made me fuming mad. I think everything would run much more smoothly without her regular intervention, but she just don't see the point!
The props we had for the scenography was actually very basic; just 9 pieces of vertical cloth drapes and 1 piece of translucent sash. Actually I wasn't too happy with my own design. It was too bare for a big stage like this, and a little too "ordinary". I had a better design, but it was rejected by my leader as she felt that it would incur too much money. However, when I saw the props for Xiamen's show, I realised that their concept were similar in certain ways to mine, and according to their scenographer, Mr. Huang Yongying, making such props back in their country only cost afew hundred Singapore dollars! That really made my heart sunk; if my leader had considered this step, I would have been a happier scenographer! What stung me real hard was the ironic news that we received some last minute funds from some people. If these funds could have arrived earlier, we could have a bigger budget for the props already. Art then commented that I was considered luckier than her, and she wasn't allocated any budget to hire a lighting designer. I had to correct her that the scenography and lighting team are actually the same team, and there shouldn't be any distinction between the two (though the job scopes for both teams are not the same).
Art and I sat at the front of the stage, waiting for the stage crew to finish hanging up the props and lighting equipments so that we could carry on adjusting the lights. By then, many of our other troupe members had taken their nap, went for a short shopping spree and started their rehearsals in the rehearsal studio downstairs. We then realised that the stage crew were all distracted by the Xiamen people to help them with their props instead. That was the last straw! We decided to report this to our troupe leader, and let her settle the case. However, she was in the midst of her own rehearsal when we went down, and by the time she came up, the stage crew had already finished doing Xiamen's props, so we had nothing left to say. "Not having syncronised the whole show before" was what the Xiamen troupe said when it comes to why they were so anxious to move everything into the theatre so early, but then it was still demanding and unreasonable for them to so this on the eve of another troupe's show!
The whole stage was done by evening, including laying of carpets and rigging of platforms. However, the lights and flyers had not been co-ordinated yet, but then my troupe leader still wanted to incorporate all into the rehearsal for that night. We couldn't make her see the logic, so we just abide to her decision, and you can forsee the outcome: everything was a mess. At the end of the day, while on our journey back to the hotel, our leader kept harping on the point that the lighting and scenography designers had to buck up and get everything ready by noon the next day, and that really made me fuming mad. I think everything would run much more smoothly without her regular intervention, but she just don't see the point!
1 comment:
understand how u feel.
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