A Midsummer's Night's Dream
By ACSian theatre, at ACS Barker’s Tan Cheng Siong hall (where Sunday School worship’s held!). Went down to support Nicole (CAP head councilor 2003) but later realized fellow Sunday school-er Joanna was performing too. Went with a CAPper’s bunch (Luke, his bro Matthew, Stella, Siak) Saw numerous church friends—no surprise there. Felt old amongst the audience, but have written on numerous occasions about this so shall not go and on about this. A rather lengthy review follows…
Actors were overall good. Good voice projection, aided by the naturally good acoustics of the hall. The sheer amount of effort they put in showed through in their effortlessness of acting (the Performer’s Paradox: the more effort apparent in rehearsals = the less effort apparent on the actual night). I must however comment on the (faux?) accents. I suppose one has to switch voice when projecting, but speaking with a fake Western accent is pushing it a bit. It’s one thing that’s always bugged me, and even adult performers speak with an accent so it’s not just an ACSian thing.
Had a rather mixed reaction to Puck, who IMHO is THE main character for MND. My ideal vision for Robin G. would be a 10-year-old acrobatic boy expert in tumbling, with exuberant flips, rolls and cartwheels. Clearly impossible since this is ACSian theatre not the Royal Shakespeare Company (which I really must catch sometime when overseas!). Instead, ACJC fielded an impish girl who spoke with a Brit accent, and, though not acrobatic, came close with energy and grace instead. Found her interruptive asides a bit disruptive at times though overall the Puck-Oberon relationship rather well-defined. The “invisibility” of the faeries was in general decently handled (the Athenians didn’t look at them, weren’t physically influenced by them most of the time). Puck was, in the final analysis, one of the best and most energetic of performers present that night. The other performers were hilarious too (Bottom's hee-haws come to mind) and all were obviously more than competent but none stick in my mind so the lead-acting Puck's the only one I've noted in detail.
Of course, the dance sequences were of typically high quality (though disagreed with the timing of a rare couple of them). I’ve always respected dancers (and people who can do things that I can’t, in general) so I shan’t go on about it.
I must also say I'm impressed by the faithfulness to the text. Except for the ending (which I will comment on below) the words were faithfully memorised and recited, down to the very last "thou". Splendid work, I know how hard script-retention is!
Was however miffed that they never really did the tragedy of Pyramus and Thisbe at the end—I’m a sucker for the old play-in-a-play trick. In fact, the ending was rather abrupt and not fully played to the hilt.
Disagreed with interpretation at some points (in particular “I’ll put a girdle round the earth in….40 minutes” –why the inappropriate pause, I ask? Puck is never hesitant but says the first thing to come to his mind) but I’m not about to go off arguing with Ye Mighty Mrs Creffield.=p
Another minus point was the general “muchness” of the play/dance-ical. Too many people on stage at many points in the play, causing me to miss the real action onstage at times. I know it’s a very unfair comparison to make, but I must note Lim Kay Tong’s one-man minimalist performance showed how much can be done with so little, so I was unimpressed by ACSian’s flashbangs like lights, sparklers, glitterdust, dry ice sprayers and its highly sophisticated set. (To be fair, I give their Herculean and meticulous efforts full credit, though I don’t let it take the place of real theatrical substance when I review it.)
Such flash-bangs do not a great production make, but ACSian managed to pull it off without looking cheesy I guess. Overall score 8.5/10. I gave Lim Kay Tong 9/10 so I'm afraid ACSian can’t be given that same score. I’m also giving them benefit of the doubt since the exuberance of youth is excuse for practically all mistakes =). Heck, they (and the audience) clearly enjoyed themselves, so why’m I turning all prosaic about this anyway? As a final comment (which I also told Nicole): I like their constant and genuine smiles! Performers should keep smiling always! It’s Rule #1 in the Performer’s Handbook. =D
By ACSian theatre, at ACS Barker’s Tan Cheng Siong hall (where Sunday School worship’s held!). Went down to support Nicole (CAP head councilor 2003) but later realized fellow Sunday school-er Joanna was performing too. Went with a CAPper’s bunch (Luke, his bro Matthew, Stella, Siak) Saw numerous church friends—no surprise there. Felt old amongst the audience, but have written on numerous occasions about this so shall not go and on about this. A rather lengthy review follows…
Actors were overall good. Good voice projection, aided by the naturally good acoustics of the hall. The sheer amount of effort they put in showed through in their effortlessness of acting (the Performer’s Paradox: the more effort apparent in rehearsals = the less effort apparent on the actual night). I must however comment on the (faux?) accents. I suppose one has to switch voice when projecting, but speaking with a fake Western accent is pushing it a bit. It’s one thing that’s always bugged me, and even adult performers speak with an accent so it’s not just an ACSian thing.
Had a rather mixed reaction to Puck, who IMHO is THE main character for MND. My ideal vision for Robin G. would be a 10-year-old acrobatic boy expert in tumbling, with exuberant flips, rolls and cartwheels. Clearly impossible since this is ACSian theatre not the Royal Shakespeare Company (which I really must catch sometime when overseas!). Instead, ACJC fielded an impish girl who spoke with a Brit accent, and, though not acrobatic, came close with energy and grace instead. Found her interruptive asides a bit disruptive at times though overall the Puck-Oberon relationship rather well-defined. The “invisibility” of the faeries was in general decently handled (the Athenians didn’t look at them, weren’t physically influenced by them most of the time). Puck was, in the final analysis, one of the best and most energetic of performers present that night. The other performers were hilarious too (Bottom's hee-haws come to mind) and all were obviously more than competent but none stick in my mind so the lead-acting Puck's the only one I've noted in detail.
Of course, the dance sequences were of typically high quality (though disagreed with the timing of a rare couple of them). I’ve always respected dancers (and people who can do things that I can’t, in general) so I shan’t go on about it.
I must also say I'm impressed by the faithfulness to the text. Except for the ending (which I will comment on below) the words were faithfully memorised and recited, down to the very last "thou". Splendid work, I know how hard script-retention is!
Was however miffed that they never really did the tragedy of Pyramus and Thisbe at the end—I’m a sucker for the old play-in-a-play trick. In fact, the ending was rather abrupt and not fully played to the hilt.
Disagreed with interpretation at some points (in particular “I’ll put a girdle round the earth in….40 minutes” –why the inappropriate pause, I ask? Puck is never hesitant but says the first thing to come to his mind) but I’m not about to go off arguing with Ye Mighty Mrs Creffield.=p
Another minus point was the general “muchness” of the play/dance-ical. Too many people on stage at many points in the play, causing me to miss the real action onstage at times. I know it’s a very unfair comparison to make, but I must note Lim Kay Tong’s one-man minimalist performance showed how much can be done with so little, so I was unimpressed by ACSian’s flashbangs like lights, sparklers, glitterdust, dry ice sprayers and its highly sophisticated set. (To be fair, I give their Herculean and meticulous efforts full credit, though I don’t let it take the place of real theatrical substance when I review it.)
Such flash-bangs do not a great production make, but ACSian managed to pull it off without looking cheesy I guess. Overall score 8.5/10. I gave Lim Kay Tong 9/10 so I'm afraid ACSian can’t be given that same score. I’m also giving them benefit of the doubt since the exuberance of youth is excuse for practically all mistakes =). Heck, they (and the audience) clearly enjoyed themselves, so why’m I turning all prosaic about this anyway? As a final comment (which I also told Nicole): I like their constant and genuine smiles! Performers should keep smiling always! It’s Rule #1 in the Performer’s Handbook. =D
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