eJournal Sept 2021 Volume 6 - Flipbook - Page 18
No. 2: How to be one?
Over the last six months, I was involved in staging a Tamil play here
in Singapore. With a huge cast (17 of them), huger canvas (2+
hours of play with period costumes, weaponry, 500+ audience,
high-tech graphics, live music, excellent lyrical dialogues… you get
the drift!), hugest challenges (rehearsals during COVID-19
restrictions were a nightmare; it became complex when one of the
crew was affected by the darn virus; changing government rules;
increasing costs…), it was an experience like none other.
I have always been fascinated by the performing arts industry.
After being part of a few productions – personal as well as another
company’s, the amount of planning that goes into each and every
aspect of the finished-product is mind-boggling.
It is not like the movie industry, where the end-product is kind of
available for posterity for many more years to come; whereas in a
live performance – dance or play, all that pre-struggle is for only
those few hours when the performance is on, right? Absolutely.
What drives that laser-like focus? It is the fire that keeps burning in
the creator’s mind and heart. One must give the best; one must
value the time that the audience has invested in the show; and one
must create a page in history that is worth a repeat – all these
factors drive it further. It is rare to find such creators as many eager
creators compromise at various steps of the process resulting in a
shoddy product.
#HowToFinish #sriGINthoughts
No. 2: How to be one?
SriG
