9 May 2012:
I want to act, be a drama king.
Okay maybe not drama king, but rather king of drama. Drama king is a male who habitually responds to situations in a melodramatic way. (I thought this phrase was Singlish, turns out Oxford carries this entry.)Anyway, back to where I was. On Monday I went to the library with S. After she left I stayed for a while, looking for local scripts. Thankfully I found works by Haresh Sharma and Alfian Sa'at.
I've read about the controversy over Alfian Sa'at. He was denied a relief teaching post simply because (not 100% confirmed lah) he was too anti-government, and the top guns at MOE were afraid that he'll stop the students from getting brainwashed by PAP. (Okay the last part was my description only.) The HOD said he was satisfied with Mr Sa'at, yet unfortunately he just had to leave.
This - in terms of History - sounds exactly like a purge, just like what dictators would do. The MOE can't blame us netizens for thinking the wrong way, if they really had a decent reason. All they bothered to do was to send a bureaucratic e-mail back to Mr Sa'at stating again that he had failed to meet the criteria. In his clarification e-mail, he had asked specifically what criteria he failed. There was no reply. It's either (1) MOE is simply too inflexible by even refusing to release their criteria so that others can better improve themselves or (2) they are simply purging him.
Alright, alright. In the library, I found Cooling Off Day by Mr Sa'at. It was a very, very recent book, since it carried details of its second run in March 2012. The script's not exactly anti-government (although I only flipped through it), but it does highlight normal people's concerns regarding the elections. Why it was named as such, I infer (hopefully correctly) that it was because Mr Sa'at did not believe a cooling-off day was needed before the elections last year, and he was ridiculing it.
Frankly speaking, I was almost certain that such politically sensitive books won't be found in library bookshelves, since National Library Board is somehow linked to the government. (Everything is linked, lah.) Surprisingly, I was wrong. There it was, 2 brand-new copies of it. Which is a good thing, cos I believe that Singaporeans should be more politically aware, since Singapore's future (a.k.a. government) can be changed by the people if necessary.
Perhaps it was because I was in drama when I was young. That's why I am so inclined to drama now. To some, drama is about watching people act out a story. That's it.
What? No! That's not it! Drama is about the story, it's a form of art as well. The story would be nothing without costumes, sound, lighting, directing. A story can only remain as a story (perhaps in a novel) without all these elements.
I feel like directing. (Of course, I'm not even qualified to act, how can I direct?) I like directing, because I enjoy it when under my direction, the play goes well. Some say that "oh, the director's the easiest, he just has to bark instructions". Please. If it were that easy, people would be flocking to be directors.
To be a director you need some sort of flair. You need to know the script inside-out, to be able to understand every character. When you tell the character to move from here to there, would there be any special meaning? Would the sequence of events be affected in any way? It's not that simple.
... I wish I studied in CCHMS 40 years ago. Then, it was really chi-na. (Note: chi-na ≠ PRC, but that was then.) People were either doing Chinese Literature, or passionate in Chinese Drama. It was like a golden age for such things. What a good atmosphere it was to be able to pursue such interests.
TTFN.