Theatre Talkback: I hope it works.

Sat, 27 Oct 2012
3 min read
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Theatre Talkback!

I just heard about this project called Theatre Talkback, so I thought I’d do my bit and help spread the word.

However, I thought I’d also do my bit and say something about it as well (as usual… LOL).

***

As someone who supports artistic development in Singapore, I’m quite supportive of efforts like these.

But as someone trained in both education and writing, I’m also worried this effort may not be as efficacious as it could be because of the following:

  1. A seeming lack of sustainability: Time is required for incubation and revision during the process of art creation.

    Hence, will the process be sustained after this session? If no, why have it in the first place? And why not spend the money/time/effort on something more sustainable?

  2. The lack of a filtering mechanism: Feedback will be provided by “the general public and…an acclaimed line up of panelist (sic) (consisting of a playwright, a director and an educator…)” to a target audience of “budding artists”.

    How will budding artists filter out information that is crucial and relevant to them from noise/irrelevant feedback?

  3. The probability of ineffective feedback: I have, on many occasions, asked myself – via an interior monologue – this question upon receiving feedback from a countless number of individuals, both useful and useless: “How is what you’re saying going to help my life or help me become a better teacher/writer?”

    Reason: a lot of the feedback tended to focus on one thing – what I was doing wrong.

    But any hmstrfckr can tell you what you’re doing wrong. It’s a great teacher, however, who can tell you what to do instead and how to do it, in order to be more effective.

***

To practice what I preach, I’m now going to work some of my LareMagic and suggest that:

  • The organisers should please, please adopt this feedback mechanism for the project:
    1. Tell the playwright what s/he is doing wrong;
    2. Tell the playwright what to do instead;
    3. Show the playwright what to do through an example.

      For example:

      • You’re narrating what’s going on to the audience. This reduces dramatic tension.
      • Show, don’t tell.
      • Instead of getting your character to say “I’m so angry with what you’ve just said!”, is it possible to ‘show’ it via the use of this stage direction e.g. CHARACTER slams his cup down on the table. Silence.
  • The organisers should please, please make it mandatory for every hmstrfckr who wants to provide feedback to adopt this feedback mechanism, otherwise her/his feedback will be ignored.

These two measures will solve problems (2) and (3) which I outlined above.

I can’t solve (1) but I hope some sort of workshopping will eventually take place over a prolonged period, much like TheatreWorks’s Writers’ Lab.

***

I expect some criticism about what I’ve just raised. That’s fair.

But let me work my LareMindReading LareMagic and pre-empt the criticism:

  1. This is too pedantic/structured.
    No – this is friggin’ education. You have to be pedantic and provide an order and a structure before creativity can flourish.

    But I say again – it must be a good order and structure that is derived soundly from theory and not something stated on a whim.

  2. But this is art! Art is supposed to be felt! How can you –
    Bye.

musee.sg: Curating creativity.

Thu, 10 May 2012
2 min read
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I don't know why this is considered creative? But it was the first Google Image search result and it looked eye-catching so I thought I'd use it.

So I’m trying something a little different this year with my students.

In the past, whenever I wanted to show them something creative to students for the purposes of school work (and also just to generally expose them to good aesthetics, intelligent design, etc.), I’d e-mail them to ‘push’ the info to them.

That doesn’t work because students don’t always check their mail (or e-mail from me tends to be ignored… I don’t condone this but I don’t blame them either.)

Also, we have a school-based Content Management System (CMS), but students have to ‘pull’ the info from the site.

And knowing how human beings are like i.e. we follow the path of least resistance, it ain’t gonna happen… (in this case.)

So based on some feedback several of my ex-students gave me last year, I thought I’d set up musee.sg in my own personal capacity to ‘curate creativity’.

I think teaching creative thinking isn’t enough; people also have to be immersed in a creative environment or at least exposed to creative things on a regular basis to become creative too.

So students and anyone who’s interested in this can:

I thought I’d use social media because it just pushes everything to the students who are always on Tumblr/Twitter/Facebook anyway.

BTW I’m developing this organically so everything’s a bit spartan now in terms of design and stuff.

Also, organic means that it might die or it might evolve, but what the hell – let’s see where this goes.

Appreciate any support if you can spare some!

To my ex-students: The truth about the ‘A’ levels.

Sat, 3 Mar 2012
4 min read
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(This was written by Ivan Gn, an ex-colleague of mine and has been edited slightly for style.)

I wanted to use a S'porean/Asian picture but everything I got from 'getting exam results singapore' looked so subdued!

I know that many of you are having the jitters about the impending release of the ‘A’ level results tomorrow.

So am I, for I – like you – have no idea what your results are like.

Nevertheless, I want to share with you some things I learned since I took my ‘A’ levels.

***

Tomorrow, you might find that you did well for your ‘A’ levels. Or you might not.

Either way, I hope you accept the reality of your results as they are and deal with it maturely.

Cry. Tears of joy; tears of sadness – let it all out. It was a tiring two years (for some, three). At the very least, you deserve a pat on the back for sticking it out.

You may not do well for the ‘A’ levels, but you’ve gained many other things like friends who will be there for you for the rest of your life.

If you do well, be the pillar of strength for the friends who haven’t. They need you now.

But remember – this isn’t the end. When the tears have been wept and the emotions have died down, all of you will need to find the strength to take the next step.

So don’t be left behind. Don’t let the results of an examination run your life.

***

Many of my friends who didn’t do well for the ‘A’ levels turned out to be the most successful in life.

One of them is a millionaire running his own business. The other is a social worker who was featured in the Straits Times some years ago doing “the most fulfilling work of her life”.

Many of them are earning more than me, or are living a happier and a more carefree life, simply because they had a great attitude and wanted to succeed regardless of their results.

They never gave up, even though they didn’t succeed at the ‘A’ levels.

They all took different paths to success, many of which might be unfamiliar to you right now.

University and higher education might not be your options tomorrow – but neither are they pre-requisites of success.

Some of these ‘failures’ worked hard in night school and worked hard to earn their dreams.

Others took it upon themselves to build an empire instead.

A few decided that life sucked and lingered in the darkness.

Who will you be?

***

If you do well, be humble and remember that a piece of paper is by no means a ticket to success either.

No one really cares about your results beyond the university you apply to or your first job offer.

Compared to your peers, your results might open more doors. But whichever doorway you step through is a very important choice.

Ask yourself what you want in life, and do something you’ll enjoy. Life’ll be more fun and meaningful down the road.

Don’t read a subject just because it’s cool or because your parents want you to.

Make an informed decision about your choice of course and live with it. From here on, no one is going to babysit you like we did.

Enjoy your life in university.

Do things you never had a chance to do, or things you never will do after you graduate.

Because this might be your ONLY chance to do these things, don’t live to regret not doing what you could’ve done.

Be open; make more friends; see the world.

Have a good attitude and if anything, remember these words from someone who’s been there and done that – things will always turn out fine.