Are YOU proud?

Last night I dragged the BF to watch 'I Have a Dream' - the show put on by Equal Ground to kick off Pride 2008 in Sri Lanka. The show was timed to coincide with the gay pride parades taking to the streets across India, in a unified initiative to celebrate equal rights for all sexes.

It was spectacular.

The show started off with a welcome speech by Sahran, who enlightened the not-so-gay folk (us) of Equal Ground's work in Sri Lanka, and the importance of developing a tolerant and accepting society. He got quite a hefty round of applause for that- mainly from the community members in the audience, but also from those of us who agreed wholeheartedly that society is nothing but a hypocritical snob. Then came the performances, that BLEW me away.

There were moments of sheer fun and hilarity, with the ever-fabulous Koluu doing his swan lake number (Imagine Koluu, in all his overweight glory, dressed up as a preening swan and shimmying his way on tiptoes. Then imagine Priyanka Holsinger, who is a good ten sizes smaller that Koluu, bouncing behind the swan as the eager prince. Are you laughing yet?) and sending us into fits of giggles. Another item that got the audience bursting was the 'Batta' number, where six heavyset gay men dressed up as little sinhala girls, pigtails and all, and pranced about to a famous local tune.

There were other moments of unbelievable glam, thanks to the likes of Lou Ching Wong, Jerome de Silva, Michael Holsinger, Sahran and a number of others. We witnessed fabulous drag renditions of Dreamgirls, Abba, Sex and the City and a couple of other numbers. Then came the items that put any choreographed musical performances I've ever done to downright shame. Excerpts from West Side Story, Moulin Rouge and Grease, to name a few. The nun's chorus in the Sound of Music was pretty funny too, but you had to be there to know what I'm talking about.

The evening ended with the rainbow-coloured Pride flags being waved by every single performer as they sang their anthem 'We are Family'... one couldn't help but sing along and clap to the beat of the finale.

All in all, it was true visual treat and an undeniable achievement for Equal Ground in terms of showcasing their cause. To those of us in the sudience who are straight, it was a fabulous show full of glitz and glamour... but I know that to the other different sex communities, it was much more than just a performance. It was a chance to shout out their differences proudly without shame or ostracism in a forum that was accepting of those differences. I felt proud FOR them.

The show made me think hard last night. All my life I have struggled for identity. Not sexually, but as a person... I've struggled both internally and externally for the right to be who I am, and for the independance to live my life as I choose. If I, being a heterosexual female, had to struggle that much and undergo the constant emotional trauma, I can just imagine how difficult it has been for those others out there who are of a different from what is deemed 'normal' by society. It takes a hell of a lot more strength than I could ever muster to be so strongly opinionated and stand up for oneself when the whole country points hating fingers at you for being unconventional.

Really... who are we to determine what sex is acceptable and what sex isn't? Why does sexual preference have to play a part in who you are as a person? If I liked girls, would that make me a bad human being?

All these social 'norms' of ours are nothing but bullshit. People just can't leave other people alone, and most of us turn against what we have little or no knowledge of. Just because we have no understanding of it does not give us the right to deem it abnormal. It's why this world is riddled with issues like racism and sexism. We just can't leave well enough alone, can we?

I for one applaud the gay/lesbian/transgender/bi/questioning communities. I may not have the same preferences as they do, but in my eyes they are ten feet tall for not allowing a prudish society trample them and subjugate them with archaic mindsets. I wish I could stand up for myself as much as they do.

Which brings me to a question.... are WE proud of OURSELVES? Can we look back with the satisfaction that we fought for what we believed in as much as the members of Equal Ground? Those of us who point accusing fingers... aren't WE the ones who are constantly trying to live up to a norm just to please society? Shouldn't we be trying to break through the barriers we allow OURSELVES to be roped into?

Hmmm. Food for thought.

Meanwhile, Pride 2008 ROCKS!

CHRISTMAS INC-orrigible? INC-apable?

A.k.a. "MY viewpoint of FBT's seasonal musical."

It wasn't even two weeks since I'd fagged myself out with 'Blood Brothers' when I staggered with the BF into the Johnpillai residence at Surein's invitation to be a part of Christmas Inc. At first glance we'd made up our minds that this was not what we expected. Rows and rows of little people... at least ten years our junior, seated around a be-spectacled guy thumping out notes on a piano, who by the way also seemed a good decade younger than I. In the course of the evening I found out that Mr. Specs was actually the musical director of the play, and the kids gaping at him were the cast. I also found out that he was leaving the country that night, and would be returning five days before opening night.

Uh oh.

Honestly speaking, my first insinct was to turn around and head home, but Surein is a long-time friend and theatrical comrade, and I owed him more than a "no way". BF and I were in the middle of giving each other worried looks, when all of a sudden Mr. Specs (hereinafter to be known as DAN the MAN) started playing the keyboard again.

And then the heavens parted.

I mean it quite literally... it felt like a who new realm just took over the place, right before my eyes. The motley crew before me opened their mouths and began to sing, and my mouth opened along with them... in shock and awe. These kids could sing, dammit! They sounded like a friggin' junior philharmonic choir! I could see BF's eyes open up too. Perhaps we were wrong to have judged so quickly, because this lot were sounding better than all the choirs and theatre groups I've worked with in my entire life, and they were all younger than 18. Suddenly, a show seemed quite possible. Even Surein was looking a bit astounded. One hour into the rehearsal, I decided this cast didn't need any outside intervention from us so-called 'actors'. Hell, they could certainly sing way better than I could, anyway. I asked Surein if I might help out backstage instead, simply out of fear of looking really, really bad in front of these kids, had I tried to display my theatrical experience to them and ended up sounding like a throttled chicken in comparison. That and the fact that I'd never had the chance to actually watch a play I'd been involved in
- my entire theatre experience being ON stage and never off. This would be a definite first for me. BF on the other hand, was conscripted to become part of the comic relief in the show. And so, Christmas Inc began.

The Process

I have to admit, the going was tougher than I'd thought. We had a completely new and inexperienced cast who could only commit to weekend rehearsing, a production budget of a tiny bit more than Rs. 0.00 thanks to a no-sponsorship philosophy, a production crew who'd never been a production crew before, a helluva funny (and yet helluva confusing script) with no particular plot and plenty of unfinished areas, a missing writer and music director, the pressure of obligation to three chosen charities that this play should benefit, and less than two months to make it happen. Not to mention a first-time 'choreographer' in the form of yours truly, who had no idea what she was doing half the time.

Argh.

I wasn't the only one writhing in skepticism and alarm. Enter Ruveen Dias, who walked in one afternoon in a sleepy daze, having agreed the previous night to take on the role of Herod in the show. He took a look around at what we had to offer, and raised one eyebrow, and then the next. He spent the next few days begging for reminders as to WHY he'd said yes to the part.

Over the next 6 weeks, havoc reigned supreme at the Johnpillai residence and a few other cost-effective (free) joints that doubled for rehearsal space. I learnt that when you work with people who've not done theatre before, you tend to be somewhat cool in their eyes because you have. I must say it was quite a welcome change to the bitching and insults I've dealt with at other rehearsals. These kids actually WANTED me to give them dance steps and advice, and what's more amazing is that they actually ACCEPTED it. Wow. What was more amazing was that Ruveen a.k.a Herod, who'd previously wanted to bang his head against a wall for getting involved, was actually starting to enjoy himself thoroughly. He even agreed to letting me teach HIM a few dance steps and furthermore, practiced them!

Surein gave me a free hand to do as I pleased with the choreography and anything else I wanted to get my hands dirty with, and I had the time of my life. True, the cast was no group of ballerinas, but they tried their best, and it was fun churning out silly bollywood and broadway numbers, and not getting slapped or slandered for it. The singing talent kept taking my breath away, as did the sheer determination of these kids to do their best, regardless of their shortcomings in experience.

I enjoyed watching BF having a ball of a time with his role as one of the three kings (and/or wise men), alongside the ever-hilarious Ashan Dias and extraordinary Gehan Cooray. Between the three of them, they kept the cast, Surein and I in stitches all throughout the Christmas Inc experience. Then came the puppets. If you didn't see the show, you missed a real treat by way of a puppet show featuring a cow in a bowler hat, a retarded sheep and two sick-looking goats, all manipulated by the show's wise men (and/or kings), who went to town with it. Handling his sheep puppet was like a wet dream to BF, who's always had this peculiar fascination for making his hands talk. His eyes would light up like a three year old on Christmas day whenever he took the puppet into his hand, and very soon, he and the sheep became one (in a COMPLETELY non-sexual way).

Closer to show date saw alot of stress coming out, and well as a whole new lesson in the power of prayer and work ethic for me. The set designs were entirely handled by one tiny and pretty Korean friend of the JPs, who worked harder than an ant on steroids. She cut, chopped, painted and pasted her way to putting up quite a decent looking stage set, which I thought was a fantastic achievement for someone who did it for the first time, and for free, out of the sheer goodness of her heart and an effort to help friends. Dan the Man returned five days before opening night and put together a superb orchestra that gave such life to the music. Surein's wife Anushka masterfully dedicated herself to raising funds for the production by selling CDs of the show that the JP siblings had tirelessly put together. Dominic JP ('Domkey') single-handedly did just about everything else, from helping with CD sales, recording tracks, assisting with musical direction, playing in the orchestra, and even taking on a stage role at the eleventh hour. Not having money for producing new costumes, we dug into the costume cupboard at the Wendt and put together somewhat decent lot of clothes together, with some help from a lady who sewed the rest, and the cast bringing in their own stuff. Three days to shownight, the Workshop Players trooped in and took their places as the backstage crew. They handled everything from lights to props to make-up, and gave a by-now-much-frazzled Surein a reason to relax a bit.

The Product

I watched it all happen, with an occasional poking of the nose into make-up and costuming. Slowly but surely, the play came to life on stage. It was wild, it was whacky, it was reeking of accidents and inexperience... but it was brilliant.

There's no doubt that my initial fears and hesitations had ben replaced with much excitement and pride at seeing Chirstmas Inc finally happen in front of audiences. The three nights of shows brought us mixed responses. A few people sadly missed out on the fact that this show was not meant to be a commericalized professional production, but rather a heartfelt effort to help people in need, and a community project to convey a very relevant message. There were the audience members who felt they'd been cheated out of their ticket money, because they didn't get the show quality they thought they deserved. How I wish we'd been able to please them all, but then again, this wasn't a professional theatre group... there's no way we could have lived up to the standards set by the more experienced entities out there. That's ok though... because to me, this show was far from disasterous, and because many others did get it, and enjoyed it thoroughly.

Whilst it's not fair to blame or fight a person for not having liked the show (to each his own prerogative, I say), there was much more to this production than the glamour and entertainment expected of it. Had the critics opened their eyes to more than what they saw on stage, then they would have understood what I understood in the process of working on this show. Here was a set of young people with more heart, more determination, and more promise than I've ever seen in any other group, coming together for what I personally think was a wonderful and worthy cause. It was not perfect by any means, but it was magical in it's own quirky way. Nearly three weeks since the show ended, I'm seated here still singing those goddamn tunes in my head.

After starting out as a full-on critic, I ended up being humbled and proud to have been a part of this production.

And the best part is... I got to watch the show.

EEK-quus

I find the abuse of animals in anyway distasteful, regardless of circumstance or reason. So yeah... I gasped and groaned through gritted teeth when Alan Strang first got off on and then blinded six horses in last night's performance of Equus. That's because the production (on a whole) was so damn good, it made me forget that it was a bloody stage play, and I got way too worked up over the story rather than watching the actors itself. And that rarely happens to me when watching a play, because my little experience in drama usually makes me immediately watch out for the technical glitches and individual performances from a critic's point of view, rather than letting the magic of it all take over me like it's supposed to.

So a standing ovation goes from me to His Lordship Steve for giving me my money's worth of entertainment and thought-provoking theatre. I've been reading the criticisms and comments from fellow audience members on other sites, and I have to say, I didn't care about the lack of originality in the local production. There were plenty of little things, in retrospect, that I have critical opinions on, but I was blown away by what I saw in the totality of the production, regardless of all that.

And now onto my OTHER not-so-positive personal opinions about the nuts and bolts of the Equus machine. By the way, I'm no expert... and these are only my viewpoints, and I do not, in any way, represent the mass audience or expert critics.

The Venue

SUCH a pain to go to. The show started at 7.30, and I was there from 6.45 trying to find parking, which wasn't available. The auditorium itself is marvellous, and ideal for this kind of intimate theatre experience, but I wish they'd done something on the logistics front, because it was annoyingly inconvenient.

The Organisers

Rude and inhospitable, from the point of ticket purchase to sitting down at the show. It's a good thing the show was good, because they certainly didn't do much for my enjoyment. There's professional efficiency, and then there's downright obnoxious.

The Script

Aiyo. For the average theatre-goer like me, the script had little to offer, save big words I didn't know the meaning of, and an ending that left me grappling for explantation. I'm used to the 'beginning, middle and end' concept in storylines, and this play made me question the point of it. It was one of those scripts that was so blatantly 'avante-garde' to me, that I figured I had to be an abstract artlover type to see sense in it. OK, so we figured out why this kid did what he did... er... so what? We question 'what is normal'... so what? What is this play supposed to DO for me, as an audience? The script left me unsatisfied.

The Set, Lights and Sound

Nice. It worked for me. minimalism focused on the intensity of the story rather than distracting the eye. The lights didn't shock my system, though, and I've heard some experts say they were predictable... but then again, do you go to watch the lighting, or do you go to watch the play? I did, however, wish they used more reds to bring out the passion and dangerous mental conflicts in certain scenes. But that's just me trying to be stereotypical.

The Acting

Ok.... THIS area I have plenty of things to speak on. But before I do, I also have to respect this cast for holding an audience captive for 2 and a half hours, despite the shortcomings. This is just me nit picking, but from an overall perspective, this cast outshone any other I've seen on the local stage.

I have never seen Rohan Ponniah act, but throughout my life have been told some marvellous things about him, so I went to see this play with great expectations. And... I'm sorry to say, I was bloody disappointed. The souvenir informed me of his many acting credits, but I failed to see the glory as many others did. To me, all he did was articulate and say everything in the same way. It was an ACT, and his portayal of Dysart lacked sincerety. Just too affected for me, and I say this without any bias, because I was so sure the man was the God of stage acting before watching Equus. It was tedious, and I personally felt he could have delivered some of those lines in better ways, but props to the man for having learned all of them! And his over-emphatic articulation did get my attention when it came to every single detail of the story.

Tracy shook her head around too much that it often distracted me from what she was saying. I don't know if she did that on purpose, to give a mild eccentricity and epileptic personality to Mrs. Strang, but it didn't work for me. Again, I felt there was too much 'playing', and less truth in her performance. Even Shanaka's acting was not really upto what I've seen him do in the past. I felt he could have done much more with his role, and I know this guy is a damn good actor. All in all, the parents were lack-lustre to me.

Subha wasn't seductive enough for me. A little too subtle. Ranmali was too wooden in her delivery. Not quite convincing enough for me. Janice, I thought, was awesome as the nurse. She needs to be on stage more... I would love to see some future peformances. Dominic came and went, but made his mark. As always.

The horses weren't all that, I afraid. At least not for me. I thought the visual representation was beautiful, but I didn't see the grace and power coming out of their movements, and they walked like they were blind before actually being blinded. Knowing full well of Shannon's ability as a dancer, I'd have expected so much more in the leg work and body movement to bring out the sexual elegance of a horse, but sadly I didn't see it last night.

And last but not least, Hiran as Alan Strang..... he stole the show. There is not one thing I found wrong in the guy's performance, except maybe for his gorgeous body which I found positively sinful. My hat is off to Hiran, for outshining and completely outdoing all the 'seasoned' actors on that stage last night. There was such truth and beauty in his portrayal of Strang, that I almost wept in sympathy by the end of the show. Enough said.

So there it is... my take on Equus. Negative nit-picking aside, it was a brilliant production on the whole, and one that justified my love for theatre. Would I watch it again? No. It was memorable enough to last.

Did you hear the story of the Johnstone twins....

I'm exhausted.
Just returned home after finishing off the second show night of the Workshhop Players' production of 'Blood Brothers'... a play that I've been putting the entireity of my time, health, heart and soul into for the last five months. I have the priviledge to play one of the lead roles on some of the nights, and has it been one hell of a ride or what....

Granted, we're not Broadway or the West End... but dammit I'll eat my hat if we don't come very, very close. And its not just a biased viewpoint either. Ask anyone who's watched the show . We received a fabulous standing ovation on our opening night, so that must mean something, right?

I'm not going to yap on about the details of the show... I'm too tired at this point anyway. f you want to know about the storyline, then I suggest you do the intelligent thing and google it. Or better yet, come watch.

What I will tell you is that this production, above all others, has replenished my ardent affection for theatre tenfold. The cast is like no other- united, passionate, committed, ridiculously talented and loads of fun. The director is the best thing that happened to my dramatic endeavours, and my personal idol when it comes to artitic direction. The production per say is one of a kind, and holds its own. It will make you cry, laugh, shiver and ponder on your own life. If it doesn't, then you're probably a goldfish with a memory span of two seconds.

SO get yourself down to the Lionel Wendt theatre before the 23rd of September and witness the show that is Willy Russell's 'Blood Brothers', presented by the Workshop Players.

And if chance decides, you'll spot me up on that stage, giving it my everything. ;)