So, my first informal 'review'.
After all, if you've been reading my previous entries, you would know that the term 'formal' doesn't really tally with my blogposts.
SO...~!
Who's interested to hear me blab?
*Looks*
No one?
Oh well. I'll blab anyway. *grin*
It is times like these that I thank my job for enabling me to grab opportunities like these.
And also to my boss, who, in this case, gave me this assignment because he knew I was interested in Performing Arts. ^^
To be honest, I never really knew who the Footstool Players were before this, and if it's one thing I regret, it's this.
I must admit I was rather skeptical when I heard that they won an award. Not to be 'countryist' or anything (my term of 'racist' in the country form), but in my opinion, most (though not all) Malaysian productions seem a bit.. lacking, most of the time.
Maybe it's due to the fact that I've watched too many internationally acclaimed plays that I've grown unappreciative of our local plays.
Whatever the reason may be, I realise that more often than not, it is of my own doing.
The second thing I thought of was what a weird name 'Footstool Players' was.
Other people, whom I told about this play, would first either ask or exclaim "When did you like football?", "Yeah, I know futsal's great," or something along those lines.
I had to refrain from rolling my eyes, before reminding them that it was Footstool Players, not Football Players or Futsal Players.
Of course, I didn't know what it meant either, since I'm a Buddhist; though closer to a free thinker, to be exact.
But I decided to give it a go anyways.
What have I got to lose?
I arrived at Kuantan Chapel, and already, I started noticing a few familiar faces.
Well, I guess that ruled out the usual dread of being all alone in an event. ^^
I sat next to Erina and Burney in the.. 4th row, I think, and waited patiently for the play to begin.
The church was small but had a homey feeling to it; and the stage, even smaller.
I remembered wondering how the Footstool Players would be able to perform using such small space.
Because for the two years that I participated in my school's drama, we did complain about the size of our school's stage, though it was much bigger than this.
Be Real, the first sketch in the first act.
Before the play began, Ann gave a sort of welcome-cum-regulation speech, and from then on, I began to feel less skeptical about the play I was about to witness.
Ann was funny and witty, and immensely friendly with the audience.
And then the play began.
The first few acts were nothing short of funny, and I remembered comfortably enjoying the show, and slowly began my admiration for these actors.
I found myself relating to the skit titled 'Whatever', which, as it's title suggests, revolves around a couple's indecision to do something.
It kinda reminds me of Ashley and I whenever we had to make a decision on where to eat, whenever we were about to go out for a meal. xD
Although ALL (and I mean all) the acts were performed unbelievably well, the one that stood out most for me was 'Word Picture'.
Sure, I've said that the climax of the Beauty & The Beast musical in KL almost moved me to tears, but that was different.
The acting was so intense, so emotional, that I couldn't help admiring the two actors (Adrene and Soon Wei) for putting up such a front.
My eyes were almost out of their sockets; my heart beating like I've just ran a mile.
Adrene's desperate pleas and Soon Wei's roar of anger almost brought me to tears, but of course, I held it in.
Because I'm a wimp that can't shout like that for the life of me without bursting into tears. >.<
'Word Picture'
By the end of the entire play, I felt a newfound respect for the actors. With me, whenever I watch a movie or play, I would sometimes imagine myself as one of the characters and think "Hmm, I can do that," or "It would be interesting to play that character, since it's the total opposite of me," . But after watching Crazy Little Thing Called Love, not once (okay, so maybe there was a thought here and there in the more humourous acts... xD) did I imagine myself to be able to act out those roles.
They were so emotionally powerful, so heart wrenching, that it would take me ages to put forth emotions like that, if I ever did challenge myself to it.
To be able to switch emotions just like that, and slip in and out of a character so easily, now THAT's a true actor.
I've never questioned myself at being a dancer - I know for sure that it's what I want to do forever, no matter what kind of dance it may be.
But I'm now starting to question my potentials in acting.
The wimp side of me is wondering if I'll ever be that good, and to be that courageous to get so into character, as if it was a second skin.
But the other part of me is determined that I must try harder, to strive to at least reach their level in acting.
'Impasse'
'Billy'
I've never been so glad to be proved wrong from my misconception before.
And as I interviewed them after the performance, I found they were all a sporting bunch.
Sean was literally as hilarious as the character he plays, Colin is probably a genius for coming up with ideas for plays such as these (and equally humourous, though in my opinion he had the kind of fatherly aura about him too, like he was the father and took care of all his 'kids' in the team), Adrene, Ann and Linora were so sisterly and funny, it was as if they were real sisters. Soon Wei, though not as dorky as his character in 'Be Real' nor as fierce as his character in 'Word Picture', was funny in his own way.
After I finished interviewing them, they decided to team up, (Colin and Ann excluded) turn the tables around and throw the same questions at me that I gave them, namely;
"How do you prepare yourself before an interview?"
"Don't worry, it's all easy questions."
"Are there any special preparations you do before you write a report?"
xDD
Too bad it was their last performance, I would have really loved to see these bunch of people again in the future.^^
The awesome gang, and a performance I'll never forget.^^
Sean(back row, left of all) and (anti-clockwise from Sean) Colin, Soon Wei, Ann (Red shirt), Adrene and Linora, with the crew of FP.
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