翔鹰 2007

翔鹰 2007 is a show that I watched in the middle of Huay Guan rehearsals on Sunday.....

Just an update. I have been so busy since Saturday..... Both Saturday and Sunday I rushed about madly attending all rehearsal slots and doing all sorts of administrative stuff......

Was damn tired...... It was totally non-stop from morning all the way to night.....

Then got this very troublesome person called Gekleng who is a good friend..... He wrote and directed one of the shows in 翔鹰(Xiangying). So had to go down and support.... In the middle of a super busy day known to all as Sunday.....

Xiangying is a school production that is done by Anglican High School bi-annually. One of my closest teacher Lan Lao Shi teaches at Anglican High as well.....

Gekleng is doing a show as an alumnus of the school

I fell alseep during the second and third show because really damn tired..... Halfway through the first show, I got a call (which I didn't pick up) and a few messages which disturbed me from watching.....

So finally, after the break, I made sure I stayed awake for Gekleng's show and fortunately, I managed to finish watching it......

Gekleng's show, 心里有树 is essentially an exploration of how people deal with emotions of reminiscense, sentimentality.

In terms of the narrative, there was largely high aesthetic unity, meaning that most parts manage to propel the plot forward. However, there were some parts that I felt could have been done away with to tighten the plot.....

Besides, I also felt that the script was rather uneven, as there were some parts that were brilliantly written but also it had parts where the whole narrative seems to sag.....

I don't know what's wrong with me.... but lately I get agitated easily and always feel tears well up in my eyes easily..... At some parts in the show, it seems that I could feel the emotions projected by the cast and the script so strongly that I got all emotional

Perhaps its just me.... But I would rather credit the director for moving me as an audience

I felt the thematics of the script were not convincingly written and I couldn't really feel the conviction that the playwright had of the thematics that he explored

In addition, it also seems to me that the script decided to border on a preaching tone. A moral has two sides but the script seems to have taken the voice of one side of the moral more strongly than the other.....

Despite these problems, the actors were brilliantly and focused throughout the whole show.....

They were able to grasp the rhythm of the lines quite impressively, some of them more so than the others....

It is the cast that managed to bring a so-so script to look like a fantastic show......

Though the cast were good, they were not without flaws. Dewei couldn't inject a certain degree of flexibility and softless in his articulation and Andrew lost control of his emotions on stage, making the show look melodramatic at some point....

The set design was quite good despite the technical limitations that NAFA theatre had. Lights were okay but not particularly impressive....

Though this show's standard is still not close to a fantastic play 夜长梦多 I watched at the last 翔鹰, I would say it is a breakthrough from 全民恋爱

So in the end, 心里有树 gets 3.5 stars from me.

I would like to thank Nat, Karin, Rachel, Hazel, Weiliang Eugene, ShanShan Kunhua and especially Gekleng for the wonderful presents that I received for my birthday.....

To be honest, I am quite touched and surprised.... because no friend had ever remembered the small small things that I said.... No friend ever keeps my taste in mind before they buy presents also.... Not in a long time at least.....

Thank you very much......

AND I want to thank you.

It might really look like nothing at all at first sight, but when I read the words on it, I know its a really special thing...... And I can't believe you took the effort.....

In the end, its the thought that counts.... And I am glad to know it had thought in it....