1 out of 4 isn't all that bad

Anglican High's Chinese Drama Society had their once every 2 years public performance today at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts Theatre. I've actually been to almost all the public performances after I graduated and well... as an alumni (Yes. I'm a Chink), I'm obligated to purchase tickets once every 2 years. Which isn't all that bad considering I'll be watching fellow alumnis' contributions as well. I'm actually only there for them. Don't really give a shit about the current sec school brats. Sorry I digress.

There were four plays presented. 2 by the juniors and 2 by the alumnis. Needless to say, the juniors were forgettable. To some extent, even highly annoying in their renditions of current affairs. Or rather trying to. I recall the days when effects in the scripts were written based not on how it can help the storyline. But rather based on what the venue had and what they could utilise. It's still the same 7 years on. Basically the production became an overkill of UV lights and projection screens. Oh. And a cock revolving stage. Highly unimpressive and totally totally annoying. A theatre isn't always about the sfx one can pull out. They fucked up even the most basic lighting and positioning. How hard can it be to mark your positions during dry runs? I expected a certain decent level of professionalism since the tickets are going public. But I guess kids will be kids. They can't run a show by themselves. They had pretty nice props but it was under utilised. Or rather it was damn fei. Coz they didn't interact with it at all. I need not comment on the scripts. I can't even remember them. I need not comment on the actors. I was covering my face going 'no no no' most of the time. It's harsh but somebody has to tell them that sometimes being natural and not over-enunciating everything might be a better option than trying to fake that fucking accent. Morning Glory mumbled through everything. These kids over-pronounced everything and the emcee made me wanna take the mike and shove it down her throat with her over-enthusiastic greetings. My ears still ring.

Au contrary, the alumni put up a better show (duh). They didn't rely on any fancy special effects but rather on a solid script. Which sadly isn't universal in both plays. One sucked eggs and the other was quite solid. But only because the idea was interesting. One still had to suspend a certain level of disbelief but hey. It's theatre. It works thanks to the interesting interaction between the actors and because it wasn't trying to shove some moral value down your throat. It was more so an observation kinda thing about reality. I would say it's better not because it hit home (it didn't) but rather it just gives you an opinon. Whilst the juniors are about as subtle in their views as Jack Neo, the alumni try to just tell you a story and leave it as so. One story came out quite nicely. The other came out as an elongated mess with cringing moments and sad to say, it disappointed me. You know sometimes somebody wants to do a comedy? Yet they wanna add a serious side to it? A moral value mayhaps. So they have like stupid scenes peppered with serious moments. It just doesn't work. It can work. But it's hard. (as said by wmx) I for one found that it was TRYING too hard. Trying to be something it wasn't. As such, it degenerated itself to be on level with the juniors production. Pretty sad. But hey. You suck you suck.

Sometimes such writers are really just pretentious little fucks (I like the sound of that. PLF) with huge egos, thinking that they're the best in the business and that whatever they churn out is gold. Not so really. I'm surprised it even got the green light for production. Maybe they were desperate. Maybe they didn't know better. But hey. For an alumni, it's quite a bad attempt. Please stop writing. Save us all. Thank you. (I tried to like it. I really tried. But in the end, I still hated it)

Overall, 1 out of 4 isn't that bad. But if the alumni aren't coming back for 2007, I think they're better off performing in school. Less of an embarrassment I'd say.