Choral & Drama Nite Day 4 - The Lowdown

Finally attended C & D Nite as an audience member today. I could watch the plays properly and here's my take on them.

107B - Mai chi bang de xiao nan hai 'The Wing-seller boy'
So glad that my class was the first one to go. I think you must have something solid to be the opener in any performance. The chorus bits (where everyone spoke together) sounded quite musical, I think their voices blended quite nicely. This is a touching story of selfless love - how a boy supplied wings to needy people and animals all his life - blessing those around him. When he eventually died of exhaustion, he received a pair of white wings and became an angel. I think there must have been some wet eyes in the audience after the performance.

202A - She's Watching You
Have you received chain mail? Do you dutifully forward it to others? Will you really suffer some terrible fate if you do not do what the chain mail asks of you? These were some of the question this play asked. This was also a ghost story - with eerie green lights and a spirit which refused to let the protagonist Clara go, until her body was discovered. Some funny moments - a newscaster announcing the discovery of a dead body, then wishing viewers a happy halloween. I thought the opening, when Clara laughed off the 'threats' of the chain mail, could be played up more, to make her subsequent 'possession' more compelling.

107A - Zui chu de meng, zui zhen de meng "Our earliest dreams are the truest"
The second group from my class. This one is more idea-based than 107B's, and thus more abstract, but it touched me a lot. I think the idea of losing one's innocent dreams and youthful friendships as one grows up is very touching. As we grow up, we are often too caught up with the realistic requirements of society - chasing after money and career, trying to outdo others in school (especially so in competitive Singapore) etc, that we forget the true and childlike dreams and friendships we once had. The image of the childhood friends stacking up their chairs after playing their childish games, and waving goodbye to them, and in the next instant, they have grown up, and could hardly recognize one another on the street, was quite moving.

106A - Tai zi xuan fei ji "The Prince chooses his bride"
This was a very effective play, with fantasy and realistic elements, song, narration, dance and even martial arts (Cinderella hacking a 'brick' with her head!) thrown in. And very well put together too. The most memorable moment was when the three contenders for the prince's hand - Snow White, Cinderella and this impish girl in black and white (whom I couldn't recognize who) doing a talent show. They even asked the audience to vote the winner. (Whether or not the audience vote really counted, audience participation is one winning strategy for any live performance. Kudos!)

204B - I oso wanna learn Engerrish
A crowd-pleaser. This one is about a group of foreigners learning Engerrish (English) in a language school. And this group is as colourful and diverse as you can get - you have the overly frank Punjabi (who speaks of the language school principal's 'large bosom' without a blush and as casually as if he's referring to the ripe watermelons in the market); the serious Japanese student (done with perfect accent); the Ah Lian manicurist (who is aptly named Chow Ah Lian); the seductive French (or Spanish??) student who keeps making advances at the teacher; an overly preachy Ah Ma who perennially thinks others are not showing enough respect for her etc. Throw in a potential romance between the two new teachers, this was a rather good play. And one which I hope would be developed into a full length one. Lots of room for expansion. To keep to the allocated 15 minutes, a lot of things had to be hastened (eg. the burgeoning romance between the two teachers). Some things could be cut too - the national pledge bit didn't really work. Some roles could be expanded too. (I really wanted to see more of the comical Malay food seller!) But this certainly ended the first half with a bang.

106B - Qing xu guai shou - EMO
I wasn't able to catch this. Went in late. Was bombarded by the fund-raisers outside the audi and I consumed a lipton tea, 2 muffins and nacho with cheese (which I shared with Ms Lydia Teo and Ms Sarah Birchwood) :@

204A - A Happy Ending?
The ultimate screwball comedy of the evening! Judging by the enthusiastic cheers from the audience, they probably had the most fans present tonight. But what a riduculous plot and eccentric characters! You have this loud and over-the-top character who ejects his wife from the plane. She survives, but becomes a savage in a tribe. He remarries and his 2 kids have to put up with a horribly naggy stepmother. By some fantastic twist and turns in the plot, the original family of 4 are reunited and they all join the savage tribe! And who should they bump into but the horrible stepmother! And they cannibalize her!! All these drew mad laughter from the audience. I think our audiences enjoy slapstick a lot.

113 - Lao ren jia de da xiao gao di (sorry, i can't translate this, my chinese skills have sadly regressed :()
I like how this one's staged. They have this 4 groups of elderly people at 4 points in a circle, and they are all frozen until they are rotated to the spot at downstage centre (the spot closest to audience), where each group is in turn tricked of their possessions by this gang of swindlers. Natural acting throughout with a relevant (though familiar) message.

202B - Amore Cache
I checked up the title of this play. I think it means a place where you keep your love. After watching it, I guess it referred to the father's diary where the children discovered his unspoken love for them after he died. This one's about how a father has to cope with a mentally challenged daughter, a spoilt daughter, an unfaithful wife and his worsening health. He tries his best to protect his disabled daughter and to prevent his wife from leading the spoilt daughter further astray. His mercenary wife then runs off with another man. In order to hide his wife's unfaithfulness from his children, he lies that she is dead. The highlight of the show is the wonderful acting of the actress playing the spoilt daughter. She gets the 'Best Actress Award' tonight, if there was one. In the closing scene, she reads out her dead father's diary, and discovers how much he actually loved them. This was done with real emotional depth, with her voice gradually cracking and her person visibly breaking down. I couldn't see her face from where I was, but I heard that her eyes were puffy and teary while doing this scene earlier during the rehearsals.