FC: POAE

Forbidden City: Portrait of An Empress, which will be referred to as FC, was fantastic. It took my breath away at certain parts of the show and was way better than what I was anticipating. I did hear lots of good stuff about it before going to watch but well, you know how getting your hopes up too high tends to spoil it in the end, so I tried to keep it real.

Okay, to be honest, the fact that it was locally produced, I had my initial reservations. I didn’t think that Singapore theatre had reached the international standard yet. FC totally proved me wrong. I was very impressed with some of the artistic elements in the show, which I think worked very very well for the show.

The singing was good. Kit Chan was straining to reach some notes at one point, but it was alright. The poor lady’s been singing every day. Kudos to her. I don’t think many people would have noticed it anyway. Singaporeans aren’t the most musically-inclined people around…

Acting was good. The cast really transported the audience back in time and every emotion was very clearly communicated, which of course was very felt. Probably worked for them since most of the cast have been around for the past two runs as well.

I was particularly impressed by the setting. It was a modernistic impression of what the real FC was like, rather than attempting to portray it in an extravagant and perhaps frivolous manner. It could very well have turned out, for lack of a better word, lame. Anyway, the artistic direction was fabulous. Simple is always nice.

I wasn’t too blown away by the music though. Sitting through the first half, I was kind of irritated by the out-of-tune bamboo flute. Another side note, the conductor is very misleading – there is no orchestra. It’s just synthesizers and a drum set. Jiali and I went to peer over the railing into the pit, only to find (may I add: to my dismay) that the music was mechanized and electronic. Which is kind of baffling. How then can the bamboo flute be out-of-tune? I’m puzzled. Then again, I don’t think people felt it a problem. Blame my oversensitive ears from ten years of band playing.

Well, that said. My money was really well spent. Thoroughly enjoyable. Hah, I’m going to say it here. “Gladys, you should have come. It was so the bomb.”

Well done SRT and all the best for the FC world tour!

For the first time in a long time, I felt proud to be Singaporean.

Being the nocturnal animal that I am, I just decided to pay my fridge a visit and whip up something. Haha, there was leftover plain pasta that had already been boiled and so I googled “carbonara recipe”.

At first glance, seemed simple enough. In fact, seemed too simple. If cooking was that simple, I think anyone can do it.

Well, the recipe said boil and drain the pasta. Mine was previously cooked so okay, don’t have to do that.

Prepare egg, 2 tablespoons of milk, 2 cloves of garlic and mix them together. Yes I did that.. I think this is supposed to be a healthier alternative to cream? No idea.

Stir-fly bacon strips without adding oil. I don’t eat pork, so I used chicken franks instead. And I added butter cos franks do give out oil naturally, plus I remember someone saying before butter is more fragrant (even though it is more fattening too).

And I added button mushrooms for good measure.

So I stir-fried the chicken franks and then added the mushrooms. Some discretion was required. Then I added the pasta, let it heat up for a while.

Then came the egg/milk/garlic mixture. Instead of becoming creamy, it became scrabbled eggs. Okay, never mind. Then stir and mix and it’s done.

Garnish with black pepper and grated cheese.

And I was done.

Well.

Let’s just say I don’t know how come the recipe had no mention of salt. And how come the egg/milk mixture became scrabbled egg with pasta.

But everything else was fine.

Wasn’t that difficult, was it?

Prometheus

After Prometheus ended, I think I suffered from PPWS, despite many efforts at denial. Haha, the people around me like Moyy were my victims.

Yes, it’s hard to immediately move on. After all, it was many months of hard work. Frustrating at times, but all said, a pretty satisfying and eventful experience.

And yesterday, something ugly just had to happen. Oh well.. Let’s just say some people like making themselves public enemies. Zero EQ and zero teamwork. I mean, I know I can’t expect everyone to be perfect, but come on, at least try. I can’t even say “take it with a pinch of salt”. I need a whole barrel.

Tomorrow’s the debrief. Looking forward to what’s going to happen. Haha, the mischievous me is brilliantly hatching up a plan to stir up shit. Sometimes in life, we need some excitement, especially at the closure of a chapter. And so, “one more for love”…

I absolutely love the mirrors.

“It’s only you, standing in my way. With dreams to guide me, well I won’t sway.” Dreams… They came true for us those two nights.

Des Reves was staged at the DBS Arts Centre early September. Months of hard work culminated in two spectacular performances that showed off our talent in the areas of acting, singing and dancing. Like how jigsaw pieces fit nicely into a picture, or the dynamics in a food chain that keeps the cycle going, the cast and crew of Prometheus came together.

Rehearsals got intensive during the month of August. It was then that the cast and crew bonded together and worked towards a common goal of putting up not just a good show, but a great one. The experience was a fruitful and rewarding one. We made new friends, strengthened existing friendships and in that process, learnt so much about each other.

More significantly, I witnessed the dedication and commitment of everyone, from the main cast, supporting cast, main committee to the backstage crew. Each had a role to play and a task to fulfill. You were all important, plankton or not.

Eight dancers. Eight stories. Lives on display, testimonies of our dreams. Des Reves captured the dreams of anyone who wanted to make it, to prove their worth, to put their lives, just like the eight dancers, on the line.

We might not have related personally to any of the characters in Des Reves. We may never go through what Nina did, or become as great a dancer as Inferus. But they had their happy times, their struggles, their pain, their love, their loss, their memories and their dreams. And we have ours.

Cheers to Prometheus Productions 2006!

Prometheus

Prometheus came and went about 2 weeks ago.

Felt high on the first night cos it went better than expected.

Was extremely proud those two nights. It is a tremendous experience watching the fruits of your labor.

I can’t even start to properly describe how much everyone’s effort and commitment meant to me. Thanks.

Thanks to all who came to support.

Learnt lots from this virgin experience, have so much to take with me.

“Stuff and nonsense, sir!”

I’m taking a drama module this semester and we have been exploring realist plays for about a month now. Did Chekhov. Today I performed a 10-minute extract of Sure Thing, by American playwright, David Ives, together with Raz.

It was a very interesting short play. And quite a challenge too. It’s set in a cafe. Betty is enjoying her book when Bill comes in and asks to sit with her. The superobjective of the scene was for Bill to persuade Betty into giving him her name and number. But as they interact, Bill screws up. Each time that happens, a bell goes off and he gets to start again as if he didn’t screw up. Yes, very much like Groundhog Day’s Bill Murray. Everytime that darn bell rings, he has to try something different because he knows he’s failed the previous time. At the end of the day, he does manage to achieve his intention, but not without a zillion rings of the bell.

Hall 7 Dinner and Dance

Some photos of the night’s proceedings…

3 things I learnt that night.

One. I enjoy my time spent with hall people. Kiboko pals and their roomies.

Two. I should probably wear the damn aviators more!

Three. I have a nice right profile. Hahaha.

New blog

Heard of WordPress but never did do anything about it. Decided to after checking it out. It’s more user-friendly for sure.

I even managed to import my old blog in here. Rather amazing. But somehow the titles of the old posts turned into a series of numbers. It’s baffling.

Anyway post-Prometheus… Many thoughts, many feelings. Shall share them in a later post. Plus lots of photos, from FOC, DND and Prometheus. Haha. More to come.

Right now just trying to get settled back into the workflow and catch up on stuff. I’m so far behind…