Charades

We began as usual with some warm up exercises. I did sparkles!

Then we went on to discuss our individual evaluation script, which we were supposed to re-look/write and improve upon based on the list given after our last script writing session. I tell you, every week is a revelation. Everybody is getting dumped or dumping people or getting laid or abused or something. My life seems so dull. Sigh! Then we just sat around talking about the work. Somehow or other we started discussing the stupidity of schools.

I can’t remember much because I have a sieve for a memory. But I do remember Arif asking about the evaluation, “What right do you have to know about my past?” and questioned what was the purpose of the individual evaluation. I did not really understand what Arif was trying to say. But I guess it goes something like this: Arif believes that the individual evaluation was about our voice. It does not matter what the content is. It does not have to be about a personal experience. But if you have found your voice, the content becomes personalised and it will show. Your voice will be heard no matter what the writing is about. With his interestingly scripted piece, Arif was tyring to write about ironies in life.

Ghafir made an interesting point, which I will attempt to articulate: Arif is not wrong but it is worthwhile considering that one’s voice can be best heard when it relates to some personal experience or as in Arif’s case, about a slice of life. Sometimes one’s voice is loudest when relating a personal story.

What I think this means is that whether you want to tell some deep dark unmentionable secrets or say something about the world according to you or a character you are trying to portray or write for, it is vital to convey the importance of the piece to you/that character. When we write or perform something that we did not experience it becomes more difficult to relate to and what we cannot relate to tends to become unimportant. Which brings me to the first quote of the day which comes from Victor, who before being thrown out of the classroom asked his chemistry teacher (politely he added): “Cikgu, kenapa kita belajar ni?”

At around 8 pm, Edora finally showed up but still we did not manage to see our evaluation video after not sleeping for 4 days. She apologised profusely. Not necessary, I think, we love you for trying. She also shared with us 4 of her video installation works. Before that, we saw a clip she made and presented, on behalf of YAs, to Ghafir who will be leaving us. Sigh.

Afterwards, we trooped down to Chili’s at Bangsar Shopping Centre for dinner. There, many imparted their knowledge of oral pleasure or how to tell if you are being offered one at a KTV. Tip on how to pleasure your woman: Use a straw. Blow through it and she will feel it like a soft caress. For other tips: Read Mike’s blog.

Later, we decided to go back to sspace where we played Charades. The best was Mike doing - Dirty Dancing. After guessing correctly, Edora said “You call that dancing?” Just to see him dancing again, I made him do “Dirty Dancing 2”. Hilarity ensued.

Farewell Dato' Nordin

This was a clip we did for Dato' Nordin Baharuddin, Toastmaster Charter President.

Write

It is a difficult thing to do. Especially when you are writing to make an impact and grab the attention of the audience. We (Ollie, David, Paik Yin, Alia, Teresa, Azmir, Edora and Mike) played Round Robin – a writing game where we are given a few minutes to write something based on a picture that Ghafir gave us. After, we pass the piece of paper to the next person, until we have all contributed to the work.

Ghafir’s instructions: Pay attention to the details: the ugly 70’s wall paper, the ash tray, the Heinz ketchup, the cookie (only Mike saw that: he must be hungry), the way she held her cup, the position of the chairs, the gaze of the character, the time of day, the crappy electrical wiring, then write. Write a piece to be performed and not just read. Write in the first or the third person, whatever, just write. But not a short story but a performance piece.

Many versions materialised. One involved a Russian princess and a Neo Nazi. Thanks to me! Half the time, somebody died. While more than half the time, somebody was in the toilet.

In the next part of the session. we were asked to write about stuff based on a word or beginning with a phrase. A very interesting exercise.

Ghafir’s instructions: Just write. Make it personal. The words and phrases were:
“Lies”
“Aaargh”
“What I really want to do right now is…”
“Sink” and
“I wish I could get back at…”

Some of you shared very personal stories (of lost innocence, roads not taken, abandonment, rejection, deceipt and betrayal) and others stories with just a dash of personal touch. But all of you made me feel something which I did not know what. That is, until this morning: Envy. I was envious of Alia and Edora because they had suffered (what is Life without suffering - without suffering there is no joy?), survived and had the guts to tell us. Of Mike because he is struggling to become this Magnanimous Man (Google it!). But most of all, I am envious of David because of his beautiful words. Glad that he chose to come back.

Afterwards, we pasted the stories in the VTC bathroom. Ghafir wanted us to choose the most personal one. I almost didn’t because -.

Before we left, we were also given an assignment: Improve on the script we used for our individual evaluation based on what Ghafir gave us: A list of questions about the character that we played or ourselves (as the case may be) and the situation as well as the character’s motivation in that instance or what this character would have done/did differently etc. It’s a long list.

First Evaluation

I hate evaluations. It's always a nightmare. No one likes being criticised, least of all me. Luckily for the individual evaluation, I got Ghafir and Victor who are more forgiving. Rey's comments would have been too frightening!

We had to do an individual and a group piece.

For the Group performance, we were once again given a random script:
1: Hey
2: New
3: Yeah
2: Look
1: Hello
3: No
1: Yes
2: Maybe
1: Don’t
3: What
1: See
3: Run
2: Hmm
3: Big
2: Yeah

My group comprised Azmir, Michael and myself. We were supposed to come up with one light show and a heavy piece. We did a hair commercial scene which everybody thought was a hair salon scene. It was concluded that we did not establish the scene properly. For the heavy one, we did a torture scene. Teresa’s group performed a torture scene too –causing Rey to comment that “this group is really big on torture”.

For my individual scene, the comments were pretty okay. Was not too devastated by it.

After everyone had done their individual evaluation, we celebrated Victor’s birthday. Ghafir was semi-miffed that we did not remember his birthday. So, we sang Happy Birthday again. Truth is I never remember anybody’s birthday. I hate birthdays. It’s like a stupid marker that you are one year closer to the coffin. The session sort of ended there.

Afterwards, Victor worked with Mike and on his music. The rest played "Props". I was waiting for us to play a group game which never materialised. By 9.30pm I had to run an errand and left sspace.

At 10.30pm after I had completed my errand and having nowhere else to go, I called Sums to see if there were still people there. She said "Come now!"

When I got to sspace, people were dancing in the dark. Candles were everywhere and Sums was handling the camera like some drugged out porn film director. Or maybe she naturally looks like that when it’s dim. Every one was drunk! When I say everyone, I mean Arif, Sums and Victor.

Just when we thought it was safe to go home, Ghafir decided to do some mystical Chakra shit. I, personally, am not into this mystical stuff. But he made a compelling case: “Everyone is so in tune”. I presumed when he says “in tune” he means –High!

As explained by Ghafir, we have six Chakra points:
(1) Between our feet: lies the primitive point which harbours our most base energy;
(2) In our groin: our lusty/pleasure zone;
(3) At our navel: the core energy- our strength;
(4) In our chest: the heart – where the energy for people and spaces reside;
(5) Lodged in our throat: the Truth;
(6) Between our eyes: the Self; and
(7) Just above our head: the higher self –our subconscious.

The session involved the ‘breathing’ from each of the Chakra points. After the session which lasted for about forty minutes, everyone shared their thoughts. The purpose of the exercise was to expand your mind. It worked for me!

Quotable quotes by Arif:
On David’s resignation and the reason behind it -“People are like onions.”
On Victor’s realisation that YA’s a tough job -“Shit happens!”
On Paik Yun’s comment about conflicts and personal attacks -“This is not like other teams. When I kiss you, I will do it with passion! Everything is personal.”

Voice Again and Weakness

I missed the last session because I was away for work and then the Raya holidays came. Haah!

Using a totally ambiguous script by Victor, we split up into groups of twos and did some impromptu work. I was teamed up with Teresa. Was v pleased with our performance. Later we had a discussion on what we felt were our weaknesses. V useful exchanges. This was followed by a free concert by Michael Chen. Totally ambient. Quotable quotes for the session: Practically everyone: "You're funny, Jane."

Sydney 2004

I, EL, HML, ASMK, AA, KAA and LMY went to Sydney from November 5 to 11.

Some quotable quotes:

Anuar on the photo video I took of us at the Sydney Bridge: "Oh look at that bald spot! Oh.. It's not me!"

HML on her shopping experience with EL: "We both had a really good release!"

LMY trying to locate the toaster which she is is looking at: "Where is the toaster?"

I and Elaine while waiting for the bus (which was really late!) to get to the airport:
EL: "I want my pie. Should I get it?"
WA:"Get it. Or else the bus will never get here! I bet the moment you go, it will come."
The bus arrives 10 seconds later!

Azman after walking 5kms around the city: "I've never walked so much in my entire life!"

More pix here. And a video!

Voice

Not many attended the one on Voice.

Quotable Quote From last week: Victor- "Have you guys ever used a vibrator?"

Session Conclusion: The voice is an actor's tool. You must really know your tools, i.e. not only must one try to gain possession of as many tools as possible, one nust learn how to use it and master it. In order to master the Voice, one must Listen. For in listening we become better at knowing sound and its elements, such as: tombre (?), texture, volume, projection, placement, pitch, sustain. Good exercise to improve our listening and hence our voice: Try singing a line using the same note and then move up the scale for the next line thus practice stretching our vocal limits.

Halloween: We all went home afterwards. Despite my better judgement, we all went for the halloween party. But first a stop at Victor's place, where he expertly turned all of us into ghouls and fiends. Still there were others who refuse to be made up- insisting that they are frightening as they are. The whole make-up process took three hours. When we finally left the house, it was almost midnight. We went to Zouk first. They had hotties and baddies. I even found my twin! Creepy. Zouk also had what was called "The Happy Side Show" consisting of a couple doing stupid human tricks like sword swallowing, whip dexterity and the like. Unsurprising the couple were from Australia. Afterwards, we went to Club 1919. There was no food there. Sigh! I was damn hungry. Danced a bit and decided to go for some eats at Bangsar. Failed miserably and went home at 4.00a.m.

Presence

Last session on Presence was pretty nice. Was very impressed with everyone.

Top Three Quotable Quotes From last week:
(1) David- "You can't say Fuck Ahmah - it is a bad word" "Please think of the muruku"
(2) Paik Yun (I cant spell her name) - "But I have to go to school. It's the law"
(3) Teresa -"I like both your titties"

Conclusion derived from the previous session: Presence is an integral part of acting. In order to garner any kind of pathos from the audience (or your woman) presence is important. Being able to fine tune your presence makes you king of the world or just a speck in the universe. Sometimes, we can choose not to say it with words. Instead speak through our actions or inactions. Or if the situation calls it- one should just get up and leave because sometimes, absence will result in a form of presence.

Start

This is the beginning of a journey. Move over Odyseus.