Debut Performance in English

Today marks my first theatrical performance in English.

Well, it isn't really a theatrical production; it is actually a dramatised reading of a new play titled "Pink Kisses" written by my classmate. But then, since there's some bit of acting involved (with our scripts on hand though) and that it was performed in a theatrical space with real basic theatrical light, it can somewhat be called a theatrical performance nevertheless.

Come to think of it, I first stepped into the world of theatre as an actor 12 years ago (that is excluding the time I performed as an owl in a fairytale poem in Primary 5 and performing in a street-side Hokkien opera when I was 15) with a Chinese drama club, but it wasn't long before I called it quits (due to some conflicts with one of their senior members), and since then I had performed solely with my Hokkien opera troupe. Hence, this is my first contemporary performance after a 12-year absence.

There are a number of first-time experiences for me too: first time performing without any projection devices or amplifiers, first time involved in dramatised reading, first time stepping into the role as a "cast member" in my school's theatre space, first time working with directors outside my opera troupe as an actor. The experience was great, although I felt that I could have done better. Somehow, being no longer confined by the strict set of bodily gestures I am so used to in my Chinese opera performances, there were times I just wasn't sure how I should compose myself. Perhaps I'm just more suited to perform in Chinese opera, but then again, I won't dismiss the fact that I might get involved in other contemporary theatrical shows again in future. That's not to say I will give up Chinese opera, just that I always feel that it's always good to try a bit of everything, for there'll always be things to learn form in every aspects of theatre. That's what I feel is the best way to upgrade oneself artistically, instead of just focusing on things that is of direct relation to oneself.

A Hokkien Song That Sounded Terribly Wrong

Recently there's a Hokkien song that I constantly hear over Rediffusion that caused me to get choked on my food, for it sounded terribly wrong, as if it's a vulgar song. Of course, I know well it is not the case, for such songs will definitely get banned by MDA (or whatever relevant authorities). But the words to the song really sounded like some very common Hokkien vulgarities that even after hearing it for so many times over and over again, I still found it very wrong. So, I went to did a search on this song using part of the lyrics as keywords, and I found out that this song is "Super Sales" (超级卖 in Chinese, see what I mean now?) by Cai Qiufeng. If you're still not convinced, have a listen at it:


To be honest, despite its weird-sounding nature, I quite like the song. Not only is the melody catchy, I like how it takes a more light-hearted and nonchalant approach to all the social problems in this present day Taiwan. But then again, I wonder if any of the people involved in the production of Cai's album realised this vulgarity-soundalike issue or not?

The Modeling Cat

I attended Necessary Stage's "Sofaman" this afternoon at Marine Parade Community Club, after which I walked towards a nearby multistorey carpark to retrieve my motorbike. Along my way there, I chanced upon a stray cat on a grasspatch staring at two pigeons on a tree. Feeling that it is very hard to come by a cat that is not staring blanking at nothing or giving hard glares at people approaching them, I decided to take out my handphone and take a snapshot.


Alas, my handphone does not have zoom function, hence I decided to try inch in a little to take a close-up, but I had a hunch that it might just panicked and ran away. Surprisingly, it didn't, and on the contrary it walked to a spot within a metre from me and laid down. It is very rare to have a stray cat that isn't afraid of human presence, hence I carried on snapping pictures of it.





As you can see, my camera was actually less than half a metre from the cat, and yet it isn't at very least bothered by it. This is about one of the very few moments I can actually take pictures of a stray cat at such a close distance!

My "Professional" Site

So I now finally have my own "professional" site! Why the quotation marks you may ask. Well, that's because I'm still new to the technical theatre industry, and I don't dare to call myself a real professional designer yet! So basically what you can expect in my "professional" site is to showcase my lighting and scenic design works, and blog about my design concepts and other related stuffs. Currently I only have my design for "Bloodshed in the Imperial Palace" posted up, but more will come (if I manage to engage in more design works, that is!), so please give me your support!

Model Box of a One Room Flat (Finalised)

So, I've finally finished my scenic design assignment of making a model box on the theme of a room with a view and here you have it:




I'm relieved that I've finished it ahead of time, but that doesn't mean I'm now totally free. I'm now involved in another school production called "The Greeks", and I'm the assistant set designer. It's going to be a very complex set, almost architectural even, and the model construction is almost killing me. Well, there's really nothing I can do much about that, but just press on..

One Room Flat Model Updated

This is my updated model for my one-room flat for scenic design module in school, made to a size of 1:25.


Of course, this is not a realistic scale down of a one-room flat, afterall I'm doing scenic design, not interior or architectural design. And thankfully I'm just doing the former, for this model is just too difficult to build and paint, especially the smaller elements. It's nevertheless an interesting experience and kind of fulfilling once it is done. Having said that, it's still not yet finished and I have still to add more stuffs to make relate more to the given poem by my lecturer.

Twinkle Twinkle Indian Star

I was doing random surfing again and I found this very hilarious video featuring "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" being sung in various traditional Indian musical styles. Of course, this is meant to be just for fun and not intended to make fun to either the old nursery rhyme or to the Indian musical culture. Enjoy!

It's a Messy Show...

Yesterday I went to attend "The Story of Dongpo and Chaoyun" by Guangdong Cantonese Opera First Troupe at the Esplanade. To be honest I had mixed feelings about this production on the whole. The acting and stage direction is great, but there're a few big flaws which I just can't accept.

First, the lighting was horrible. Despite being designed by the famous Zhou Zhengping (he'd designed lighting for many big shows in China), but it was painful to look at. Like for the final scene where by Su Dongpo was lamenting at Chaoyun's grave, the constant changing of coloured lighting was distracting. At several other scenes too, specials were lit for no apparent reason, misleading the audience to look at areas whereby there was totally no actions taking place. Of course, that is not to say Zhou's design sucks. I believed it is the fault of the programmer and/ or assistant lighting designer. Afterall, Zhou is only a guest lighting designer who designed the whole lighting (and to be honest I feel in general the lighting mood was good), and it is actually the assistant lighting designer who followed the troupe to Singapore and executed it. Somehow I think the assistant lighting designer or the lighting programmer failed to translate Zhou's lighting plan effectively, and it was very obvious on stage.

Secondly, the script contained severe factual problems. No doubt a playwright can change historical facts a bit to suit the whole script and the message he wish to convey to the audience, but geographical facts shouldn't be compromised. For this show, the playwright actually mentioned the West Lake constantly, even though Su Dongpo was supposed to be in Huizhou, Guangdong province. Now Huizhou and Hangzhou is thousands of miles apart!

It's a dismay that a professional troupe like this can make such big blunders. Luckily, the cast and music saved the show, and I believe they should still be given the credit.

Model Box of a One Room Flat

So we had to do a model box based on a given poem by our lecturer for Scenic Design module. The scenic set I came out with is a room that's derived from a one-room HDB flat. Well doing a model box is really a tedious process, because I have to admit I don't have very nimble fingers, and doing miniature models on a scale of 1:25 is really tough, and these models had to be as realistic as possible. Perhaps that's why I preferred more abstract set designs than going for realism? I had targeted to complete at least 50% of my model by Tuesday, and I believe I'm still on time, but I just feel lethargic, and I think even electrocution will not make me move much!

Unseen Shots from "You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown"

Earlier on I've said that we crew members parodied the cast before the show started. So here are some of them, courtesy of Caitanya who played Schroeder.

An elongated dog... Adam's (our drummer) upper body and my lower body...

Me parodying Lucy in "Lucy Opens Shop"

Me parodying as Lucy and Adam as Schroeder in "Schroeder"

Closing of "You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown"

"You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown" is finally closed last night and it was a good performance by the Level 3 Musical Theatre students, in collaboration with our Technical Theatre faculty. Other than yesterday's matinee which was like 60% full, all other performances were close to full house if not filled up to the max. Yesterday night's turnout even overstretched the seating capacity and I believed more chairs had to be added so as not to turn away anyone (I'm not sure though if anyone had been turned away).

My props table at a dark corner of the backstage

For those who still don't know what's my role in the production, I was one of the two assistant stage managers for the show. Over the intercom, other than identifying myself as "stage left" (since I'm stationed on the stage left side), I was also known as "the man on the stage left", or "Mr Stool" or "Mr. Baseball Bat", as I need to throw stool and baseball bat to my fellow actor as required by the director. Generally speaking, stage crew like me are not supposed to be seen by audience when the show is running. Hence, to make up for the loss of exposure, I had some fun with my other crew members while the cast is not around by parodying them on stage. Unfortunately, I don't think anyone had footages of these monkeying scenes of us, so I won't be able to post them up here. But to be honest, if I'm at least taller by 10cm, I might have joined the acting or musical theatre course instead. I'm actually equally interested in the performance aspect of theatre, so seeing others perform on stage tends to make to itch for acting opportunities too. But for now, I'll just stick to technical theatre.

Queen Julia from the Queendom of BopIt, also known as Miss Dogbone for having a throw a 1m dogbone on stage to Snoopy.

The cast of "You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown"

Right now, I'm relieved that the production is over, but on the other hand I'm starting to miss working on this production already, because I really like this show since ages ago. Hopefully I'll get to work with the same group of actors again, though I'm not sure if there'll be any chance till the end of this academic year...

The backstage crew, finally exposed to public...

Burning of the damned leaf that refused to listen to the SM's cue by the SM after last night's performance.

Performance at Yilan

I returned from Yilan last Tuesday after a five-day performance tour with my opera troupe and it is only now that I have the time to blog about it.

Part of our troupe's suitcases... but none of which is mine..

This performance is the second of the troupe's overseas performance tour to Taiwan for the year, but it's my first time traveling with them. Of course, I do not get to act due to my busy schedule. I decided to give up my role to someone else in view that I had to juggle between doing scenic design, lighting design, scenic construction, school production and school homework all at the same time.

Rigging in progress, with Ah-Long, my light op and great assistant to me throughout our stay in theatre.

Reflecting back, this performance is very hectic, as day in day out, everyone of us was stuck in the theatre since morning till late night, and hence there's totally no time for personal leisure. For me it's even worse; due to some communication breakdown, I had to do last minute lighting and scenic changes to accomodate the change in stage configuration, and one of our major scenic elements could not be pieced up in time, even with the assistance of many other troupe members. Luckily for me, everyone went on smoothly.

The lighting console: ETC Insigh 2X (oh my god it's so antique!)

A view of my symbolic scenic design without the lights; as usual, me with my drapes

Having said so, there're things which I was very sore about. First, I wasn't given any credit in the programme booklet. I don't know if this is the usual practice for the Taiwanese that the creative team is usually not credited, or that it has been left out due to space constraints. Well, they were kind enough to include it in for me after I raised it up, but then an amended programme booklet is no longer original anymore. Another thing is I wasn't able to take pictures of my own scenic and lighting design, despite being promised that someone would do that for me. No doubt I can extract the stills from the DVD recording, but how can still images be compared to high-res photographs, when it comes to compilation of portfolio? It's all about compromising of my professionalism, although I'm still not yet a professional.

Rigging again... with a bit of lighting

Bad moments aside, I still feel this is a rather nice experience. I learnt quite a lot, like coming out with contingency plans within 5 hours, planning a technical schedule (even though it may not be a perfect one), and cueing a show entirely in Mandarin. Say, how many newbies in the industry can have the luck to do all these?

Numbers from "You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown" animated version

I can't wait for the actual rehearsal for the musical theatre level 3's "You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown". Personally I'm a fan of "Peanuts", and I'm curious how it would be staged. Not so much because it's comic-turned-musical, but I want to see how a seemingly innocent on the surface but very adult-orientated (as in the characters actually speak more like adults instead of kiddy language) cartoon is like on stage, played by real young adults.

"You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown"


"Schroeder"


"Snoopy"


"The Kite"


"Book Report"


"T-E-A-M" a.k.a. "The Red Baron"


"Glee Club Rehearsal"


"Suppertime"


"Happiness"

I know some numbers in this musical is not in list of clips above, but these are all I can find. Hopefully I can find the DVD version of this musical locally someday...

End/Start of Performance Season

Amai was last saying that it was the end of her performance season for now. Well, before mine could start, I'd terminated it already.

You see, although my opera troupe is going Taiwan at the end of the month to perform and I was assigned to take on a rather big role in the production, I've decided to give it up due to my very tight schedule. The lighting and scenic design job for this production is killing me, and on top of that I'm about to start on the rehearsal for "You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown", in which I'd be the assistant SM. Feeling that I would not have time to even attend rehearsals for this Taiwan performance for just once a week, I decided that I shouldn't take on the role.

If you asked if I'm disappointed not being able to perform in Taiwan, I'd say it's a "yes" and "no". Of course, it's a pity that I can't take part in a major, overseas performance. But then again, thinking that I'd be designing for a production that is to be staged out of my homeland when I'm still relatively green in the industry is nevertheless exciting.

But there's something else that's making me excited; it's my involvement in "You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown"! Although I'm not going to perform in it, but then again I loved this musical (I've not watched it before, but I've heard the songs over and over again many times) and it came as a surprise to me that our Musical Theatre Level 3 students are going to stage this next month.

Excitement aside for now, it's time to get back to the stressful design work for the Taiwan performance!

Mad Mad Crafts

In my previous post I was talking about doing paper mache of a giant cat for a project. Well, this is not a follow-up of it, because I was being taken away from it to be involved in another project since mid last week.

This time round, I am working with a children education and entertainment company to conceive and produce crafts based on a specific festive theme where they'll produce videos teaching children how to make them. Initially I thought it would be easy for me, but it turned out elsewise. No doubt I have interests in arts and craft, but coming out with ideas for crafts that is easily manageable for kids is not really easy. According to the creative director, they have to be simple for kids to handle on their own with little supervision, yet have to look sophisticated. Sounds very oxymoronic, but that's how kids craft are like, as I've found out. Not only that, there're many restrictions to the construction too: no potentially dangerous stuffs like hot glue and saws, and materials used must be very easily available in homes (including homes in some middle eastern countries where these videos will be aired).

Sometimes, the creative process is frustrating as ideas just don't come easily, but at times it's fun though, as it forces me to think out of the "convention". Hence, despite this project has got nothing to do with scenic design, in a sense, through engaging in this project, it makes me think more and to challenge myself in terms of creativity. At the end of the day, I still learn something, and that's more crucial.

Hey You Guys!!!

Suddenly out of the blue I decided to do a search on "Electric Company" on Youtube (don't ask me why I did that; I always do strange things for no reasons) and found some videos on this old-skool children programme.

To be honest I couldn't quite remember the contents of this programme already; all I can remember clearly is a woman screaming "Hey you guysssss!!" at the start of the opening credits, and that back during my childhood, I liked this show more than Seasame Street.

Time to recollect the past!

Working Against the Forces of Nature

Today I went to a quiet part of East Coast Park early in the morning.

The quiet East Coast Park on a Tuesday morning...

Rest and seclusion you may think, but it's not! I was supposed to meet up with some of my colleagues (actually school mates and lecturers) to do a scenic design project. What we were supposed to do is to build a 1.7m tall cat, which we had to first built on sand, then do papier-mache on it.

Our sand model of the Japanese doll cat; the reference cat was on there on the sand.

Our finished sand model.

Alas, the forces of nature (tidal waves) were too strong for us, and we had to abort halfway. It was a pity, but what can we do? We can only try again tomorrow, and hopefully it will be better tomorrow...

The waves were coming in and the legs of the cat were almost gone; we had to abort because the waves would just wash everything into the sea before the papier mache can even dry...

Crewing After-thoughts

Finally, I have something to blog about.

I had just finished two school productions in a row, and it was real hectic. Being a stage crew and assistant stage manager respectively for both these shows, I finally had a chance to see how a school production (out of LASALLE context) works. To be honest, I don't think school productions are my cup of tea due to various reasons. First it's tough working with students and school teachers, and secondly school productions usually have an unusually large number of performers which can be a nightmare at times. However, there's one thing I do like about school productions though, and that is the finale. With the amount of performers on stage, plus the naturally-high energy level of students in general, curtain calls are always loud and fun.

At the moment, I can't say for certain if I'd ever crew for school productions again. I might if I'm in desperate need of money, but I think I can consider doing scenic design. Although school performances generally have nothing artistic for me to really take pride in, but I believe it is a challenge, to design sets based on limited budgets. Well, I'll see...

Something Random...

This post comes in two parts, of which are totally not related.

First, I've just got the email from NAC asking me to go down for interview early next time with regards to my application for bursary. Hopefully I can get it!

Second, here's a parody of a Korean soap opera by MadTV (it's not quite new already, actually) which I thought is quite funny:

Heineken Spoofed

I know I haven't been updating this blog for quite some time, partly because there's nothing worth updating for the time being. But for now, here's a spoof for that funny Heineken beer ad on TV now..