Hello everyone! As some may know, Drama has been my passion since I was young. I love acting, I love the adrenaline from performing and the thrill from the applause. When I was in Sec 1 and joined TKGS' Drama Club, the seniors had already started rehearsing for the 2013 SYF piece, so my batch performed a Lim Bo Seng Memorial Play instead. The seniors' play was Shakespeare and comedy and with the new SYF marking scheme, they got a distinction for their hard work and talent! This year, however, our drama instructor decided to try out something different, something special.
Instead of sticking to the classic comedy genre Drama Club has been doing, we decided on a Physical Ensemble piece, a chinese-translated and adapted "The Silly Little Girl and The Funny Old Tree".
We carried out auditions and I think there were 12 girls auditioning for the role of Girl. We were asked to sing, act and dance and although my singing was lacking, I used some of my ballet moves for the dance part haha. (My character didn't have to dance in the end though as the play would be too long)
I wanted the role so so badly as knew it would probably be the first and last time I perform for SYF :( On the same day she announced that I got the role and I was overjoyed, ecstatic and just really really thankful :)
The story is about a lonely and immature yet bubbly and talkative 13 year old who finds a friend in a tree. The tree reminds her of her late 'Gong Gong'. When the girl shows her love for the tree and sings, she wakes the beautiful, wise and calm tree spirit. However, the sad truth is that the Bulldozers are going to cut the tree down. Driven hysterical by their actions, she bursts into all these questions that she has about the world. She tries to save her tree but to no avail, she's too small, too weak, too young.
The story seems simple, doesn't it? Translated into a shadow-play/stylised movement physical ensemble piece, it's beautiful :)
We've chose the script during the November holidays and practiced from January to April, every Monday and Friday then subsequently had morning rehearsals everyday at the Void Deck. My instructor also invited her friend to teach us more about physical drama movements and it was quite fun haha
After months of hard work... THE DAY HAD ARRIVED!
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| The love for trees is real |
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| They wanted to be featured on my blog lol |
Credits: Ili for the photoshoot with the tree outside the void deck hehe
Rehearsals!
We started rehearsing from 8.50am all the way till we went to Goodman Arts Centre. We had 2 rehearsals, a break for food and make-up and 1 more full dress rehearsal that the school principal stopped by to witness (Since she couldn't come for the actual SYF performance, so sad). Some of us were worried we would be drained of energy but with food, energising games and warm ups and the excitement of it all was enough to keep us hyped up :)
Warm ups are really important as breathing properly through our diaphragm helps us project our voices better, feel more energized and focused.
The Tree ensemble and Bulldozers really suffered, to be honest. Imagine holding your body and arms at a painful angle with as minimal fidgeting as possible for 15 minutes!
Our seniors and teachers were happy that I could do my own makeup since there were 8 trees and 12 bulldozers to put on make up for hahaha I think they spent $400 on Daiso makeup and face paint!
The bulldozers had to look like tough men, fierce and dirty whereas the trees had to glow and radiate elegance. The teachers and seniors did a really good job with the make up! To be honest, the teachers (especially Mr Fi) had so much fun drawing on people's faces lol
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| The Silly Little Girl & The Funny Old Tree |
There is this one scene where I become very angry and asks 6 questions and my instructor said I have to built the tension and anger up. Every 'Why' must sound different and more aggressive and furious than the previous until I finally burst out the question I've been holding in for the longest.
"WHY MUST PEOPLE CUT DOWN TREES?!"
When the bulldozers finally come after many warnings, I have to scream at them to go away, and scream that trees are capable of thought, speech and fun too. I have to shriek, it's no longer plain shouting where I can just use my diaghram. I have to use my throat and scream it out shrilly.
Let me just say, IT HURTS. Every time we rehearsed that scene, I could feel my voice becoming rougher. A week before SYF, I fell sick with flu, sore throat and a bad cough because of my nose block. I think it was mainly due to over-exhaustion as the morning and afternoon rehearsals, heavy school work and stress hit me really hard even when I slept as early as 9.30 every night.
The day before SYF, when we had our rehearsals, I did the 2 powerful screaming scenes 3 times and my voice changed. It became really hoarse and uncomfortable for me to talk. I felt light-headed and tired most of the times as I was not completely recovered.
However, with the constant concern from my lovely club mates, instructors and teachers-in-charge and their advice for me to drink lots of water and warm honey water remedies, I was in a good shape in time for the actual performance.
Although, I was still really tired but that problem was solved after I ate a big bowl of noodles and drank Milo!
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| My last monologue to the tree before she dies... |
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| Feedback and notes are really important |
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| Tired also must pose for picture |
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| Can you see the exhaustion in our eyes? |
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| We're leaving for Goodman Arts Centre! |
Did I mention that whenever we take pictures there is always a huge commotion when we all pose and there will always be someone that will most definitely fall down? Drama girls... Hahahahaha I love how bonded we are :)
SYF TIME!
Tampines Secondary was sharing the Drama SYF Performers' Waiting Room with us and we were told to keep in mind that SYF is not supposed to be a competition
Don't outdo others, outdo yourself.
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| We were on SYF's official Facebook! |
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| Tree Dance starting the play with a BANG |
The nearly flawless syncronisation of the tree ensemble's dance, positioning and shadow abandoned tree story. The bulldozers ensemble's precise movements, sound and facial expression. They were all due to their effort, focus and hard work! The instructors and teachers pinpointed every small little detail, and it really paid off in the end.
From late November to April, we invested our time and effort into what was then a mere Chinese translated adaptation printed in black and white on paper into something greater than life. And we poured all of our heart and soul into this play that onstage, ran for less than 15 minutes but offstage, took 6 months of practice.
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| Concentration in the bulldozers' fierce eyes! |
This picture was uploaded on SYF's official Instagram!
After I said the last sentence while hugging the dead tree spirit I see for the first time, I was on the verge of bawling. When the music played for the curtain call, I wiped my tears away and smiled as the lights turned on and my fellow drama girls came back on stage to take a final bow. Once we stepped out of the black box and all the emotions started flooding in, I started crying because it was over.
Working for so long, so hard, it was over! Everyone gave their all, the instructor cried happily and said it was the best run we have ever had! We all group hugged her and she had tears in her eyes. She said we were the best, she had a joy working with us, she was very very proud of us and she loved us. That meant a lot because she played the key role of piecing this play together and I'm sure she and the other instructor pondered and stressed about this play for many days and nights.
There's no other word to describe my feelings of the play, no point in pretending to be humble, we worked hard and the play was PERFECT. I am sure, we are all proud of it :)
After SYF :)
Drama SYF is officially over and I feel so... Empty. The day after the performance I went to the Void Deck, just out of habit, and sat at the same spot where Drama Club usually has our morning rehearsals. During those periods of times I would be thinking: We have not even fully woke up and have to act early in the morning with mosquitoes and people staring at us?! Now it feels strange :(
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| Yi Fei and Humaira photobombed in the background lol |
Credits: Drama girls and Iffah for some of the photos
Deep down in my heart, I will always be the happy-go-lucky, tree-loving and bubbly girl who made friends with a tree and had to watch it get cut down... The purity of this character and moral of this play has become a part of me.
Lastly, thank you. Thank you to my Drama family for all the ups and downs. From pains to the laughters, from joy to sadness, we experienced it all together, as one. While some may not have been a huge fan of the script and some may have thought that it was too overwhelming, we got through it together, as one :)
Oh yes! And now what I'm sure most of you know already...
WE GOT DISTINCTION!!!
To be honest, I expected it because I could feel the energy but we were all crazy excited as a club when we found out together as a club on Monday. (Although I think most of us already found out through our friends) We cried and cheered together because we knew all of our hard work finally paid off! We did the school proud, we did our friends proud, but most importantly we did ourselves proud :)
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Thank you for reading! Please share and leave a comment down below about what you thought of this blog post! Have you participated in any SYF or competitions before? How was it like? Let me know! :)
Lastly, thank you. Thank you to my Drama family for all the ups and downs. From pains to the laughters, from joy to sadness, we experienced it all together, as one. While some may not have been a huge fan of the script and some may have thought that it was too overwhelming, we got through it together, as one :)
Oh yes! And now what I'm sure most of you know already...
WE GOT DISTINCTION!!!
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| After we got our results! |
To be honest, I expected it because I could feel the energy but we were all crazy excited as a club when we found out together as a club on Monday. (Although I think most of us already found out through our friends) We cried and cheered together because we knew all of our hard work finally paid off! We did the school proud, we did our friends proud, but most importantly we did ourselves proud :)
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Thank you for reading! Please share and leave a comment down below about what you thought of this blog post! Have you participated in any SYF or competitions before? How was it like? Let me know! :)
❤,
Jemainex
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