Mark's Direction of Hungry

I thought about Hungry as a very flexible piece in terms of direction with, as what Priscilla mentioned, its many themes and possible directorial approaches. The playwright, I feel, approached the problems he saw in society today in a very wholesale and rounded approach. There would always be one character there that everyone can relate to, even with Mug.

Because it is so flexible, I do somewhat disagree with Priscilla's viewpoint of a realistic set. Whatever the play stated about the toilet bowls, may not be. Sarah may not be eating shit, Mug may not really have been a Sri Vijayan God, Death may not be dressed up as say... the grim reaper. We should not be cooped in by the demands of the text because this script, was not the manuscript. It may have been a transcript of the original performance. Whatever is in here may have been the directorial vision of the original director. If we were to make it relatable to our audience (say the general theatre public) we need to make them realize that "Hey! I've been here before! I've felt like this before!. Simply, it need not be a bio lab or a canteen.

If I'm not mistaken we are exploring how people only realize how good something is after it is gone. Just to remind myself before I go off track. =P


Cat, Lost and Found:
One interesting part about "Cat" was how the characters were very exaggerated. Be it overly dramatic, overly shy, overly er... Neanderthal-ish, and this does reflect their own character in the play and what it brought to the play. Hungry's script is very short for 6 characters to be properly fleshed out and shown on stage. This exaggeration of characteristics does allow us to let the audience immediately know what our character is without even saying a word. Note, I don't just mean characteristics, but the emotion behind the words as well. Perhaps, instead of distressed and desperate, Sarah could speak in monotone to represent her monotonous lifestyle and search for answers she could never find. Gwak could be overly emotional and melodramatic to display her hunger for recognition and perhaps even attention.

Another thing I liked about Cat was how the set changed to be a bus, cinema, cliff, boat... The flexibility of the set solved many logistical issues but also allowed us to think that, in Cat, we are all looking for something. That's what we all share, and that is why, no matter where we are, we will always be looking. The blankness of the set in Cat also meant that there was no definition to the set piece. A chair could easily become a cliff face or a piece of a boat. Once again, no matter where we are, no matter what we are looking for, we are all searching. That's why it's blank! It's all the same. At least that was one aspect of it. Perhaps like what the others have said, the use of a recurrent object to create different things could easily represent the similarity in each character's "hunger". We are all hungry for something.


Destinies of Flowers:
Before I start, I'm going to say that I tend to be more sensitive to sets after doing a lot of set design the past month or so.

One word that came to mind when I think of Destinies was Death. I don't know if it was an intended effect from the director but now that I think of it, it felt like death, and the chaos in death. You may still be alive but it felt... deathly. =P Actually, the destiny of flowers is for them to wilt anyway... hmmmm... that came like a bolt of lightning. Anyway, the set did portray death quite well. The spikes, the sharp edges, and that thing that flower was standing on looked like a coffin I think. What we are looking at with Hungry is much more peaceful I think. Not so much bulimia or hanging but more of the post death thing. I had recently visited a chinese crematorium in Bukit Timah and I do have a few images we could use. To emphasize death, and perhaps how it has happened to everyone, we could use the image of rows and rows of these little marble tablets with people's name and picture on them. They represent each person who has passed away, almost like a long list of dead people. One interesting thing though was when my grandmother was telling me about those with no name but an orange piece of paper on them with the word "shou" on it, it was people who have yet to die. My Grandma pointed out her slot. Like preparing to die while you're still alive. Or is it acceptance?


Misc:

At the same place I saw a huge black obelisk that paid homage to the nameless dead in Singapore. The immigrants who have no one left to accept them. I think the image of something huge, like a huge epitaph, gives a very strong sense of monumental er... greatness. Something huge happened. It also gives the play a large focus and a nucleus around which the electrons can revolve around and energy can be concentrated. Perhaps we could use this idea to focus our energy in the play and perhaps play around with its symbolism. A bit dry here but put it out so that we could work on it perhaps.

When we use puppets, we not only need to think about why we are using them but also the medium in which puppetry exists in. Using a puppet to play a character, especially if it is a marionette and if there is live acting, gives the sense of being controlled by something out there. Some entity is manifesting it. That is if you want to look at the form. Another way we can use puppetry in this piece is to perhaps allow our actors to really look back on what they had done. This is especially so for Mui Choo when she looks back at her drowning. It is no longer in her control but she is still watching it. The stories of "Adam and Eve" could also be represented in the form of puppetry as it is a story that does not really happen in real life. Once again, the characters are watching it. Perhaps even baby and death could be the puppeteers and control their story, signifying how only death and the truly innocent can treasure life and take control of it. (off the top of my head)

I think we need a think thank session to really ask ourselves what we FEEL about the play and not keep analyzing it. This is so that we can bounce off more ideas for set design. Where have we seen these events happening in the world today? Regret etc. Are there Icons we could use? Well known Icons and Logos even that could help us.
Perhaps we could use a clock somewhere to show the relativity of time. Perhaps our set could be based around clocks. Some move forward, some backward. Some are forced backward by the characters to signify their regret whereas some are moved forward to signify frustration in how slow it moves. We could have characters on clocks and characters wearing clocks.

Remember I said earlier about how what is in the text may not actually be physically what it is. What I thought the original set designer was going for was to show how shitty life could be and his focus was Sarah's line about us being shit making machines. However, that is not our focus. Why are we using toilets? How does it help us bring out what we want the audience to get? We want to show regret and maybe hunger for what we once had or for what we want to have. So... yea I don't quite agree with the toilet. Just a vote and no hard feelings I hope.

pg 41- 45

I'm posting the script here, cause i've no internet. Sorry. Steph, please copy down to microsoft word. thanks!

Mui Choo_(Dramatic, frustrated sigh) You see ah, when man and woman come together, sometimes they make baby.

Baby_ How?

Mui Choo_(Groping for words, ideas) Out... of... FOOD. Yes! They eat the food, and then the Mummy make the baby inside her stomach.

Baby_ How?

Mui Choo_ I no know. The Mummy no know. Only the stomach know, but lucky for baby, the stomach very good at making baby. The stomach know how to make rice into hand, chicken into leg, kailan into head!

Baby_ Wow, clever stomach!

Mui Choo_ After a long time, baby come out. Baby come out very beautiful. Baby can become man. Or woman, and make more baby.

Baby_ What does Daddy do?

Mui Choo_(Silent for a while) Daddy gives Mummy the first part of the baby.

Baby_ How? Mummy eats Daddy?

Mui Choo_ Only a very small part of Daddy. Daddy like Mummy eat him. Mummy like eat Daddy.

Baby_(Smiling) So everyone's happy!

Mui Choo_ No. Sometimes Mummy and Daddy don't want to make baby.

Baby_ Oh.(Looks down at her feet) Like my Mummy?

Mui Choo_(Maybe like your Mummy.

Baby_ So Mummy takes the baby out of her stomach.

Mui Choo_Yah.

Baby_ And the baby's too small to live outside the Mummy. So the baby dies.

Mui Choo_Yah. (Looks at feet)

Baby_ Didn't Mummy like me?

Mui Choo_It hurts to be Mummy.

Baby_ Like she's hungry?

Mui Choo_No. Like very full. Too full. She live with two life in one body.

Baby_ Mamma?

Mui Choo_Yah?

Baby_ Did you take your baby out of your stomach?

Mui Choo_No. I love you, baby.

Baby_ I love you too, Mamma. (Pause) It's so hard to remember what it was like inside my Mummy. It was so dark, but i wasn't scared, because I always thought she loved me.

Mui Choo_She love you, baby. She make mistake only.

Baby_ (Pause) Mamma? Isn't this place strange? Sarah told me this is the Biology Lab. People come here to study life. But everything in this room is dead.

Scene 7 NNGGGYUHUHUUUUHHHH

Mug_ Remember remember time ticks tocks slowly quickly away from me?

Death_ Hello Mug. You remember me?

Mug_ Very hard to forget every wheresome whoso what. I don't know. Am I dead yet?

Death_ No.

Mug_ I remember what it was like in the old days temples high as the moon the moon the stars in my face people seeking to find. Mind and me, see.

Death_ The Sri Vijaya Empire. You were a God of wisdom. Remember? It was beautiful. But it's over.

Mug_ Remember, remember beastbroken shards of unity, other greater, big God from West and crumble. Wisdom, wisdom, wisdom. What happened?

Death_ You were only an idea, Mug. People only used you as long as they needed you. People don't treasure wisdom as much as they used to.

Mug_ Lavish distaste distaste food of the gods great bulls of steaming sacrifice suffice oh flesh propitiate me.

Death_ It's over. There's a new God now.

Mug_ Need me deed me decreed died over, years and years half forgotten across the god-gluppy sea. Am here, am now, only exam hall hymns hosanna. Who?

Death_ Only the students before the examinations. No one else prays. And they don't know who they're praying to.

Mug_ Who? Who?

Death_ It's time to go.

Mug_ Nono peoplestill peoplestill peolestill. Needmeneedme, am. Hungry. (Begins to wail) Amen.

Death_ Time come time.

Mug_ (Bear wail, squealing through his sinuses) Nggyuuuuhhh!!

Death_ Tiimmmeee. (Wails as well)

Mug_ Chckchckchck!

Death_ Nnggggyuhuhuuuuuuuhhh!

(The words dissolve into a fight, in which both make bear-like, groaning sounds and try to push the other away. Death suddenly disappears, leaving God behind.)

Mug_ 5,4,3,2, pens down.

Scene 8 Very Special Apples (The toilet. Sarah is giving Baby tuition.)

Baby_ 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10

Sarah_ Very good. SO what is one and one?

Baby_ Two.

Sarah_ Good.

Baby_ Why?

Sarah_ Sorry?

Baby_ Why?

Sarah_ Okay, if you put one apple and one apple together, you get two apples.

Baby_ What's an apple? Wait... it's the thing that begins with A. But why do you get two apples?

Sarah_ Because one and one are two.

Baby_ But that's what I'm asking about.

Sarah_ Which part don't you understand?

Baby_ Can one and one be three?

Sarah_ No.

-afiqah

Boo's thoughts on directing Hungry

What I liked from previous productions:

Destinies of Flowers:
They allowed the audience to use their own imagination. They sort of mimed their actions out by using body isolation. I think we can all use it when we illustrate our story out to the audience!
Eg: Muichoo sinking down. Isolate her upper body and lower body when she's halfway in the water then move the isolation up. Can imagine what I'm trying to say?

Romeo:
How they used different coloured lights to represent different feelings! Blue for melancholic, red for anger, mixture of colors for mixture of feelings. I think it's really important because it affects the mood of the audience. Music played a major role too! Different music was used to represent the different feelings. It collaborated with the lightings very well and brought the whole show to a new level!
Eg: Using different colour of lights to label scenes like "past","toilet" and "lab". Music and lightings to change together will be interesting!

POOP:
Using objects to represent an action/scene/something! Like how the potty was used in only a scene. It was then shown to us as a prop (but not using it) to represent the previous scene. They use certain objects to relate to certain happenings. The use of lights was great! It created a better flow between scenes as they used lights to define the space rather than using props. USE OF PUPPETRY IS AWESOME (you know what I mean)! Puppetry broadens our imagination. It allows us to think out-of-the-box and play the impossible.
Eg: (Random thought!) Use a cake (you know those orange cake ppl use to worship e dead?) at the beginning to represent our death. Use puppetry to say stories and do the impossible! Like for Muichoo's scene, when she's drowning, use shadow puppetry to show her sinking deeper.

LIV:
What I actually liked was the costume and make-up. They had make-up that really made them look older and more tired. One of the characters had a very messy hairdo and she wore sunglasses when she first went onto the stage. It shows how much she wants to hide the fact that she has not been sleeping well. Her costume was something funky, showing about her life actually being lively (or too lively?) The office guy had serious eye bags and even though he was dressed in office wear, he looks unkempt. The fidgety character was wearing a blue dress that was neat. It shows off her character well. The weirdo is just in earth colored clothes that were quite neutral. I guess he doesn't need any form of costumes to represent his weirdness.
Eg: We can use white make-up (like butoh) for our faces to represent us being dead.

Styles that would suit Hungry:

Expressionism mixed with bits of selective naturalism, right? Although there's a few elements of expressionism that is missing in Hungry, I think expressionism fits it best. (I read the interview already!) "Expressionist plays often dramatize the spiritual awakening and sufferings of their protagonists." quoted from Wikipedia.

Reasons:
Naturalism is a big no-no since Hungry is so episodic and about supernatural beings! And since it's so episodic, it should be Expressionism, yea? The scenes are real with characters that are unreal. So.. that's where selective naturalism comes in. Sets can be as real as we want?

Elements that Hungry should have:

PUPPETRY, definitely. There are many scenes where puppetry can come into place, especially shadow puppetry. Shadow puppetry can be used to illustrate the character's past. It gives a feeling like we're looking back into the past as it's blurry like how our memories are. Puppetry can be used to do exaggerated actions that humans can't do at times.
Eg: I suddenly had this idea at Muichoo's flashback! We can use shadow puppetry to show her sinking down and blow real bubbles!! (HAHAHA JUST A SUGGESTION)

ONE SET. Our scenes are already episodic, so if we have many scene changes, it'll confuse the audience. We should just have one set and light changes to show the scene changes. A simple set will be good. Like a toilet bowl for Sarah and Guakawakaweena, a lab trolley for Muichoo and Baby and a canteen table for the canteen scene.

LIGHTS. Special lights!! It'll enhance the effects. Different colours for flashback scenes will show the difference between 'life' and memories.

(PS: Sorry for this super late post! I just came back from Malaysia yesterday. Sorry sorry sorry!!)

Mug Character Analysis

My first impression on Mug: Once great God who has fallen from grace and lost his senility.

Age: 1500
Date of Death: Between 1200-1300, along with the fall of the Sri Vijaya empire.
Characteristics: Impulsive, Oblivious to his surroundings, Does things faster than his mind can process, reflects hard afterwards.
Job: God of Students sitting for exams, somewhat pessimistic.

(For the ease of understanding, I shall talk in proper english and not Mug style.)

People don't usually understand me very well as I usually don't speak in proper sentences. Whatever is coming out is what I am thinking, and what the state of my mind is like. Confused, Complicated, Distraught. Ever since the collapse of the empire that brought me here, I have been wandering without any purpose, just hoping to once again be acknowledged for my wisdom and intellect I was once known for. For 700 years I walked like a lone coyote in the desert, living worthlessly, aimlessly, tired, exhausted, forgotten. I looked around but nobody looked back. It was just... me. Then, I found something which made me feel at least a little bit wanted in this world. This fantastic, beautiful, stressful place called Singapore breeds people who need someone to pray to, play to, say to. These crucial exams allow me to be realized in the lives of these people! Alas I can be God once more!

Yet, after learning each person's habits and personalities, they forget me, and the next 60.000 people come for me to learn them, study them, and be worshipped just like how they study their books until it becomes a religion. Still, they will only forget. They cannot see me, only I can see them. They do not notice me. They do not thank me. They get the results and they leave. Does this mean I am still God? I know of a God whom people don't see but still believe in. But they don't even know me. I want people to know me like they used to. It was so long ago and I wish I could be a God that people pray and listen to again. I need to be acknowledged and not forgotten. I shall continue trying with the students. Maybe one day they will come to me and realize my greatness. I shall just wait. After all, I am God.


-----------------------

MuiChoo:
I don't remember her. She never studied. I remember everyone who studied. Some of them are also dead today but most of them are still alive. All have forgotten me. I think Mui Choo, even though she didn't study, still thinks I'm a God. Maybe because of her low level of education, she thinks I am God. Does She? I don't know but at least she knows who I am and that makes me happy. If only she worshipped me and if only she understands me better. At least she has someone to love her. All the people here love her but no one bothers about me.

Baby:
Baby is nice. Because she is nice, I can be with her. She is not afraid of me unlike the rest who say I am crazy and out of my mind. She call me God! I just wish more people were like baby. I wish I was like baby. At least I will have mothers looking after me. Still, because she doesn't understand me, I cannot understand her. I can talk to her but she only listens because she doesnt understand. MuiChoo loves her very much. I just wish I was loved and worshipped too. I could give her knowledge if she wanted but no one can understand me. That's why no one can worship me.

Sarah:
Sarah needs to know that sometimes you cannot find answers. I still remember a bit from the old days and people always asked me questions. I used to think it was annoying but now I want that to happen again. Sarah also keeps asking questions but because I have answered so many questions, sometimes I cannot give the answer. Not everything has an answer. All these Singaporeans study so much for the answers that they forget how to be smart sometimes. Just like Sarah. That's why I am scared for baby because Sarah is Smart but not Wise. Baby is wise. Just not smart. It's better that way.

Death:
Oh No! I am very scared of him because too many times while walking in the desert has he come for me! All my other God friends are dead because of him. He wants to take me away but he forgets I am a God and God's live for as long as they are remembered!!! Shit... NO!!!!! I Will not Go because there is still a chance!!! People need me and Death, even though he knows the answers, can never take them away! Just because I am not needed doesn't mean I am not existent!

Gwak:
I dont know alot about Gwak/Gek. I know that she studied but not so much. She gave up because no one looks at her. Just like me. I think if Gwak and I met, we would be good friends because both of us are not recognized or appreciated. Maybe she will say I am God. Oh. But Gwak has a strange mind. She is very different from the other students. When I try to see into her brain, she is very funny. Still, gwak is stupid to kill herself because no one ever knows if the future might change. Maybe all of a sudden they will take interest in whatever she draws or paints and then she will be recognized. Stupid. Nevermind. We are both dead.

Afiqah's Thoughts on Directing Hungry

When i first read the text, Hungry, i definitely saw a lot of potential for it. it would give us a lot of material to work with because the themes were accessible and close to our hearts.

the play itself is surreal, i mean who can imagine ghosts actually roaming about, with practically nothing to do? But this in itself is something that we can use to enhance the performance- and by this i mean to play up the surreal factor of the set, yet keeping it simple at the same time. this justaposes with the realistic acting style of the actors will make for a unique and enlightem=ning piece.

Set- i see POOP as our inspiration for out set. it does not have to be realistic, however, to just have the elements of the parts of the scene and representing it. after the talk with Tze Chien, i feel that this is the way that we should consider our settings. Another thing that caught mu attention was when Tze Chien talked about having audiences in the acting space itself, to really be involved in the drama while at the same time know that it is not real, to create a different sense of acting compared to today's realism. I was thinking that we have 4 toilet bowls(like the original set) but place them in the north south eat west formation? what do you guys think?
just a though tho.

Acting- the characters in Hungry are not shallow, they have many layers and for this, i think that realism acting following Stanislavski's would be the best. even though the characters are not alive, they have experienced life to which they now look back on and their actions should reflect that.

MISC- ok, we have talked a lot about puppets, be it like poop style or shadow puppetry, i thibnk that the use of puppets would add to the feeling of surrealism on the play. it has also quite a nice effect, such as the one that we saw in POOP. however, we have to note that in POOP, the use of Puppets is limited and that is what made it work, its subtleness. therefore, i think that we can try to follow this, but ommph it up a bit to make our surreal set more - well- surreal.

i also thought about using puppets for the flashback scenes, since essentially, the characters are dead, it would make more sense then, yes?

as for other inspirations, i have yet to find them. i will definitely post them up when the inspirations strikes.

-afiqah

Pris's thoughts on directing Hungry

Hungry is essentially a non realistic piece. However the issues that it deals with as well as the way in which they are introduced and dealt with are all realistic. Thus, I think that we should use a realistic set but in a non realistic setup. Which means that each individual component will look real, but put all together, they will look unreal. This is similar to POOP’s set design. However, unlike POOP’s design I don’t think there is a need to have a bigger version of the set behind and a smaller one in front because we aren’t dealing with the issue of size here.

ACTING- As for the acting, realism is the safest and the most appropriate since I want the audience to be able to relate to the characters and think about the issues that the play presents.

NON REALISM- To contrast the realism, the setup and the lights could be done non-realistically with hard lights and a split up set. In addition, puppets can be use to give the audience the sense that they are not in the real world.

PUPPETS- However, with regards to the puppets, using them is a great idea but one has to ask WHY. Justification has to be given. HOW does it help us bring out our DV? I’m not too sure what it is. We can say that we wanted to make sure that the audience knew they were not dealing with real life. Are there any more reasons?

Here are a list of productions that I considered and the reasons as to why their set up would not suit Hungry’s.

I) Woyzeck- NO
· There was an uneven distribution of roles. If we divide it evenly it might get confusing.
· The chorus played the part as commentators, the public; as well as an extension of the protagonists mind- which we can’t have in Hungry because it does not suit its purpose.
· Hungry’s set is quite specific, and trying to recreate it using one object like Woyzeck’s chairs isn’t all that reasonable.

As for the rest like cheeseboy, -ing, Romeo, Death of a critic, Tree duet. Nothing significant that we can use stands out.

We could use Madwoman’s set design with the sheets at the back. But we need to make sure that only one action is taking place at a certain point of time. Either shadow puppetry or live acting. NOT both.

Pris's thoughts on Hungry

While reading hungry again, I realized that I had missed a lot of things the previous time..
Its difficult to extract all the main issues because there are so many. And even when I identified them, it wasn’t easy putting them in words..

1) Death- does it solve the problem to the pain in life? (30)

2) Artists- Do they have to appear strange and measure their success based on the impression they leave behind?(39)

3) Abortion- Do we ever consider the baby as a living being with feelings? Or the situation of single unmarried mothers?

4) Taking for granted things that we cannot explain, like birth. (41)

5) Knowledge had replaced wisdom. We don’t want to think, we just want to know, and then blindly believe. (44)

6) Individualism- the fight for survival (50). The willingness to do something only when you get something out of it; like praying. (44)

7) The diff between truth (what a person believes in, no limitations as to the time zone) and reality (What one can detect using our five senses, things that are happening in the PRESENT). In TODAYS world, truth=reality. There is no faith, no belief; just proof.

8) Logical reasoning behind every action, so much so that we forget that it was once enjoyable. Eating oranges. (52)

9) Knowledge is limited and cannot answer some questions. Wisdom doesn’t answer it for you wither but at least it helps you cope with it.

10) Will we ever learn from our mistakes?
When alive each of the characters experienced pain----They wanted to escape the pain and so they killed themselves.-------IN Purgatory, they are STILL in pain, though of a different type.----Want to get rid of the pain--- They choose between Heaven & Hell
BUT: they don’t know what will come out of it either. Will it be painful? Even death can’t tell you! So was Sarah’s choice to cease to exist the only one that showed signs of learning from past experiences?


QUESTIONS-
1) Why did Sarah start eating shit claiming that she could go back? Is she trying to go through her past again? Quite literally at that! She says that she's going back. What is that suppose to mean? Any ideas?
2) How/why did Mug die? Where does he decide to go? Heaven or hell or a new life?
3) Why didnt Gek get reborn? Didnt she want to live again knowing that life didnt have to be perfect?


WEEK 1 WORK
1) The main issue of my character- Finding the answers to the purpose of existence.
2) Link to all other characters- Everyone is trying to find purpose and meaning not just in their past (when they were alive) but also in their present (in purgatory).
3) I think the best theme that we can go with is still the one about how we never really appreciate and live in the present instead we sit and spin our heads with questions about existance or sulk about the past and how we didnt use our time right. The amzing thing is that we dont learn, because ultimately were still wasting the present thinking about the past.
4) I think it's unifying because-
(i) Everyone is living in the past, trying to figure out what went wrong and how they can set things right if ever.
(ii) They STILL dont know what their future holds for them (what they will be reborn as/how heaven and hell will be like) and yet just as they did when they were alive, they go willingly towards an unknown future. The same 'mistake' repeated.
(iii) It ties in with greed.

Steph's thoughts on directing hungry

Ideas that I like from previous productions

- In destinies of flowers, there were 2 stories unfolding within the performance space, segregated only by different levels. This might take time, but I thought it would be good to have one space used for time-of-death scenes and the other for purgatory. Or we could do certain scenes together, reconstruct the play to be more interesting? For example, the mui choo and baby death scene could be done on the same stage. The water effect of the womb and the drowning will be the theme of lights/shadow puppetry for the scene. We could show how baby was disappointed and in pain during the abortion alongside Muichoo's thoughts of losing her baby during drowning.

- In R0meo and Woyzeck, there was a recurring symbol. Maybe we could think of an object that best represents hungry/greed in an asian concept. Booboo can think of some chinese idiom about greed that has an object in it.

- For POOP, I thought their use of sidelights was interesting. We could do the "please do not cross the yellow line" thing at the mrt. Make sarah die in the railway tracks so we adapt hungry to Singapore today. However, we will still keep the toilet scene cus shit is important in this play (lol).

- In Madwoman's Diary, I felt that their use of shadow puppetry was interesting. Like what I suggested before, I felt that the "humans" could be a shadow of the ghost world. Shadow puppetry could tell parts of the story too, like the garden of Eden.

- Seven boards of tricks used a simple set design to show different shapes and scenes. I felt that boxes could be turned to chairs, tables and toilet bowls that open up to give you things like shit.

- SRT's Midsummer's in 2007 had an interesting stage that looked like |++| The lines represent the elevated performance space and the spaces in between are where the audience sit.

Styles which I think would suit Hungry best

The episodic nature of expressionism, the simple concept of realism (realism in selective naturalism) and shadow puppetry (and other forms of puppetry where needed).

Reasons

There is no way the play is going to be naturalistic, it is definitely episodic.
We want realism so that the audience still can relate to the characters who are from a different dimension.
The play if in a different world. We need puppetry to show elements of that dimension that is not present in real life. Furthermore, the use of shadows is apt as our world is a shadow of theirs and their world a shadow of ours. Shadows connect our dimensions together.

Elements which I think Hungry should have

I picked most of the elements out from the plays I have watched already.
However, in addition to that, I felt that we should include more elements of movement and puppetry. scramble the script and pick out only important lines. I felt that a well made play structure would make it so much more interesting. We could improv certain scenes during workshopping. Find objectives of certain scenes and show, using movements and puppetry, those objectives without lines. Then we insert certain important lines/ repeat those lines so that the audience will get it. It is no use saying an important line once because the audience will forget it. Unless there are very little lines or many actions that lead up to that one line, chances are, the audience will forget that line because there are so many other lines.

Also, I agree with Melvyn on a very very simple set. boxes can be used to create tables or chairs. The scene could be shown through the shadow puppetry backdrop. The boxes can be aligned to be the round canteen table or the straght bio lab table. they can even be drawn on to show the actual shape of the object. Different sides can be used/covered. We draw lines on the boxes and when they come together they form a shape.

Thoughts on Directing Hungry

Ideas that I like from previous productions

- In destinies of flowers, one of the character was positioned segregated from the rest of the characters in the play. She was left there throughout the play but yet was able to bring across her emotions and intentions with impressive physicality. So maybe, we can incorporate this with the character Death.

- In R0meo, one interesting thing we could adopt would be their set design/concept. All they made use were that of boxes, and they were both symbolic and functional. The boxes could even be used as a projector screen. So we could adopt the style of maybe using representational props that are multi-fuctional.

- As for POOP, well we have talked about this before. We have the use of lights to define spaces, as well as using different lights to portray either surreal or realistic scenes. We have the use of puppets as a device to enhance the piece. There are certainly a lot of scenes in Hungry where I can see puppetry being used. Is there a form of puppetry that can make steph look even more like a baby? I think Boo talked about it before. Maybe we can also follow the use of the different dimensions of the props to accentuate Baby's smallness. Scenes of suicide can follow POOP or Cat's innovative way of portrayal. Especially scenes where people are falling. I think those who remember should know.

- In Madwoman's Diary, interesting things to note was their use of projections. Maybe we can project some portions of our play, such as the reservoir scenes, garden of Eden or maybe just general backgrounds. The play used props that symbolised stuff, just like in Void, so maybe we can do that too. Apples, traditional food offerings and the like.

Styles which I think would suit Hungry best

- I think we have no choice but to actually attempt something to the extent of having certain elements of expressionism (READ THE INTERVIEW DONT BE LAZY), as well as selective naturalism. Why? Well because we are unaware of how to properly stage an expressionistic piece. And info is difficult to obtain. So if we just incorporate certain elements, that'll be more apt. Furthermore, Hungry is already a script that can fit into an expressionistic style. Selective naturalism is because there are certain elements in the play where we have to keep things real. After all, we are discussing about life. So, everyday props can be used to represent things or places, therefore eliminating the need for an elaborate set. Furthermore, I think by using certain elements of expressionism, we will be able to better bring forth the issues that our play is dealing with, with the manner of visual composition.

Elements which I think Hungry should have

- Definitely some instances of puppetry. Puppetry is a very theatrical device and can sometimes bring forth the script even more clearly than actors.
- I also think we need to keep things simple by having a very SIMPLE SET. Things like using just a few items to represent a scene. Such as, a stack of books on a table can represent the library already. Maybe a few testubes to represent the lab. It can even come to the extent of plainly just using a few toilet bowls as our set. Toilet bowls can act as chairs and tables too. Just changing the props around it can affect the scene already.
- Another thing I think we should consider is projection. Even though it is a bit difficult to carry off. Visual images through the projections can bring forth the intention of the scene more clearly.

Boo's thoughts on Hungry

List down all the issues that it deals with:

- People often start to appreciate something only when it is gone
- We always forget to look at the simplest meaning of things.
- People turn to death as an escape.
- We want knowledge more than wisdom in this generation.

Main issue for Muichoo:

- She thought that death is an escape but came to realize that it just reminds her more of her baby. She was very scared of her unpredictable future, that's why she killed herself. After dying, she regrets of her death and treats Baby very well to compensate her guilt. This links to people trying to compensate even though it's too late? (got an expression problem here)

Linkage with other characters:

-What's similar is that we used death as an escape only to learn that it opens us to our problems. We face our problems directly cause' there's no other way to escape from it. Example, for Sarah, she has to face the fact that "Books are useless for the most important answers" and for Gek, "It's the stupidest thing you can do, killing yourself."

Unifying theme:

- People often start to appreciate something only when it is gone
All of us started to regret killing ourselves after we're dead. We all wanted to live again. Even after trying many ways to convince ourselves that death is alright, we all end up appreciating life more. For Muichoo, she appreciated her body ("But once I got meat. Very nice meat.") and her baby as she takes care of Baby in her death.

Mui Choo Character Analysis (sry for late post!)

Mui Choo
Age: 37 years old
D.O.Death: 1960s
Job: Pub waitress / Prostitute ("I work as waitress, but money also come from men. No time to marry. Some men don't mind who they sleep with.")
Obvious traits: Low educated. Simple minded / ignorant. Very Chinese-y. Hungry for love and escape (I agree with Steph) and probably, second chances.

Because of my lack of education, I've got to learn things the hard way. Only after losing my life can I learn how important life is. Only after losing my baby can I learn how to appreciate babies. In scene 6, my line "Baby come out very beautiful." shows that I've actually learned to appreciate babies and throughout the whole show, I appear as a mother figure for Baby. I regretted killing myself along with my baby. That's why I'm so nice towards Baby. I'm trying to replace my guilt with my care for Baby. And also, trying to erase that memory. As seen from scene 6, as I was explaining how babies come about to Baby, I denied taking my baby out and said that Baby's mother "make mistake only" (when I'm actually referring to myself).

Because of my lack of education, I fear many things. I'm scared of aging, I'm scared of loving and most importantly, I'm scared of my unpredictable future. That's why I died. When I got pregnant, I don't even know who baby's father was. I didn't know what to do. So all I could think of is death. Lines to show my fear: "That age, not young anymore, and you always frighten going to get old." , "I was scared of what would happen." , "I no know what to do. Daddy never come back." , "But when scared, how to think of love?" (all from Scene 13)

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Mui Choo's view about the rest:

Sarah: Hungry for answers.
I think she's a clever girl. She knows a lot about the world. That's why, I asked her to teach Baby. But sometimes, she thinks too much. People from the new generation really thinks differently. The questions that she ask, tsk, difficult to understand. Everything to her must have some logic/science behind it. She seems to be a very pessimistic person. And she's also not humorous at all. She is very straightforward and speaks very matter-of-factly. I don't understand why she tries so hard to find the meaning of life when "books are useless for the most important answers".

Guakawakaweena: Hungry for recognition.
Crazy artist, super dramatic and very much about getting attention. Her name is difficult to pronounce. I preferred her original, Gek. She talks a lot, sometimes too much. But I guess, all she wanted was attention. She even hold parties just so that people can give her the attention she wanted. Actually... she's quite pitiful. All she needed was recognition. So, even in death, she's searching for that.

Mug: Hungry for self-worth.
Another ding dong. Always talking about stuff that I totally don't understand! At least I can understand Sarah at times. Mug is just... weird. He always claims himself as god. And always counting down to I-don't-know-what. He appears anywhere everywhere anytime and every time. He seems like he's lost in his own world and is trying to find a place for himself. He's difficult to comprehend... So I don't really bother about him. Hope he gets what he wants soon.

Baby: Hungry for knowledge
Baby reminds me of my own baby. She's my only source of repenting. I enjoy taking care of her, makes me feel like I'm taking care of my own baby. And also, allowed me to have hopes that others are taking care of my baby too. Baby loves to ask a lot of questions about the world. Even though she has not experienced life, she's the one who knows the truest meaning of life. Her words are actually very eye-opening. It makes people go back to the simplest meaning of things.

Death: When's he hungry?
Scarily calm. It seems like he knows everything. Much like a 'Death God'? He's the one who brings us from life to death to... just stages. He's also very straightforward. He's somehow, emotionless. He doesn't show his feelings or rather, he doesn't even have feelings. He speaks the truth and tries to answer all our questions even though he can't always answer them fully.

Mark's thoughts on Hungry.

Putting it simply and at first glance, Hungry deals with the main issue about what we miss about life after it is taken away from us. It is the extreme case of what we deal with everyday. We always regret and miss something only after it is gone. Perhaps it is a loved one or our previous position. We are only hungry for something we don't have, or no longer have, much like the characters in the play. What we once had, we hunger for it again even though we once cast it aside or took for granted. This theme is explored differently with each character.

In the character of Mug, we see the case of one being brought down from a high position. Having been a Sri Vijayan God, Mug now serves as an anonymous deity for students who are sitting for their exams. A kind of solace that something will help them. However, Mug wants to go back to the times where he was recognized and praised in glory instead of being forgotten and old. He has fallen so much that he even asks himself where he is "God" in the first scene he appears in. In truth he WAS a God but wants to be a God again. His confrontation with Death shows most clearly his hunger for people to "need" him. He has become so hungry to satiate his desire for glory that his obsession has caused him to go slightly crazy. All he does hear nowadays, after all, are students reciting the mantra during their studying, thus the incorporation of many scientific and historical facts in his speech. In this way, we see Mug's hunger for lost-glory and how this hunger made him... well... a Mug.

Baby, on the other hand, explores the other end of the table, where life is yet to be experienced. It should be noted that Baby is still hungry to live and explore the world. I guess this allows us to put in retrospective, that all the characters are hungry for life in different ways. Baby has the ability to break things down to the fundamentals. She serves as a reminder to the characters that life, after all, is about living and not always about finding the answers to life. This is especially true for Sarah, who is always Hungry for answers. One profound statement she made was that "the most important reason why you eat oranges... because you're hungry. And oranges taste good". Baby once again reminds us to look at life once more through the eyes of a baby, if we are to appreciate it. It's not about knowing everything etc. We always want more in life that we forget what we have. We make things seem so complicated when actually, they're not. By apporaching the issue from a "post-life" angle, we (and the characters) realize what life is not about and why they lost out.

Mui Choo explores the concept through the eyes of a mother (rather a mother-to-be). She had thought that life was getting too hard for herself to sustain her baby in the womb. She was afraid of having the baby, having an unstable financial background as a waitress and no husband to support her. In many ways, she was sick of her life, so she killed herself, not realizing that the baby would die as well. It is only then does she realize her mistake. A very symbolic line that supports Baby's view on life and sums up Mui Choo's hunger is how she described babies as being "so beautiful" without "pimple or scar or white hair". These signs of aging are much like how our life gets corupted and uglier as we grow older and forget how to live, like a baby. We see Mui Choo's hunger here as well, as she hints how she wishes she could live her life again so that she can right the wrongs she made perhaps?

In the exchange between Death and Mui Choo, a line he said that struck me a lot is that "everyone feels like that". Everyone feels a sense of regret and longing for something they once had after it is gone. We only realize our mistake once it is done. We only realize the beauty of life after it is over. We only realize that answers can never be found after we can't find it. i guess it pretty much sums up the characters' hunger for life in non-life, much like how some of the characters hungered for death when alive.

afiqah's thoughts on HUNGRY

List down all the issues that it deals with.

hungry is a play that deals with the very interesting and always thought about, death and the reasons to life. as the title suggests, hungry, all the characters are hungry for something after they have meet their untimely demise.
so, in a nutshell, these are some of the main issues
1) what is there after life?
2) the meaning to life
3) the reasons for dying, suicide
4) the arts scene in Singapore
5) love
6) identity of a person


What is the MAIN issue for your character?

well, my character is guak, and the main issue for her is her need to understand that life is worth living, she does not realise this because she is so clouded with her over-ambitious desire to be a successful artist and only after death, does she realise that life ia ctually worth living after all. she realises this profoundly and is willing to risk it all to live again. in the play also, the issue of Singaporean artists is placed in question, as the struggling artist, Guak has not made it and this mirrors the situation in Singapore. she is hungry for life.

How can you link all the other characters to that key issue for your character?

i guess that what Guak wants is also similar to what the others want, to a certain extent. the need to have freedom and the want to live. eveyone of the characters want a second chance at life, but guak just shows it more.

What is the UNIFYING theme that stood out to you?

the unifying theme that spoke to me was the realisation that life is actually worth living,
because
1) guak and the other characters wants to move on.
2) sarah is looking for answers to the meaning of life.
3) death is not the end of one's journey.

Afiqah

Guakawakaweena Analysis

HI!!!!!!!!
my name is Guakawakaweena!!! i died like, a long time ago in the girls bathroom(19 years to be precise) -also occupied by sarah- because i did not find anything in life to live for. i was crushingly disappointed with the world, my parents and especially myself because i could not achieve my dreams,- being an artist that is, thus, what is there to live for? why not try death huh? well??? WELL, look at me now! awe-inspiring isin't it?

okay, enough about all these depressing stuff, what's done is done, so what do you want to know about me?

i'm currently 17, have been 17 for a while and likely to remain so. i'm basically an energetic, bubbly, glass half full kind of girl- you wouldn't guess with the suicide huh?- and i've been told i talk too much. well, if a girl has all the time in the world, why not talk right? i'm a likable person, i would think, and i enjoy having people around me.

when i was alive, i desperately wanted to be an artist, i wanted to do something with the world, i wanted to be the centre of attention and i wanted people to appreaciate me. i was soooo sick of my life because it was just so useless, and i just had to be smart enough to... kill myself.

in this ?afterlife? limbo?, what i desire most is to live again, i'm hungry for life, for something better than this non-life and non-death, but i'm scared. i don't know what to do so i remain here, i try to remain optimistic, i was an arts student ok. so, i liven up the depressing atmosphere and i try to not dwell on the bad things.

i'm a strong person, but i have learned many lessons from my foolhardy mistake, i have learned to value life, to be appreaciative of what i have and i want to move on. oh, my real name is boon gek, by the way, but please, don't call me that, it's so unglam!

Guak's thought's about the other characters:

Sarah- well, once a science student, always a science student. i think that sarah is a good friend, a bit uptight and cranky but i kind of understand her the most. we argue a lot and she does some pretty unsavoury things but she'll always be my little sister! sarah is hungry for the meaning of life, she is never happy with simple explanations and needs a better reason to live. i think that sarah is capable of finding out what she so desires and she will be happy.

Death- OKAY. some people are easy to read, and let me tell, it's not death. he freaks me out sometimes, because he just seems so all knowing and must more sophisticated than me. but, i think that death is quite encouraging. he dosen't force us to do something that we don't want to do and i guess he's a person i can never figure out. maybe i can draw a his portrait, he seems to be eating apples all the time tho...

Baby- to my eyes, baby is lucky and unlucky at the same time. she has not experienced life and it's atrocities but, it was not her choice to be here and also, she has not had the chance to live. i want baby to know what it's like to live and be. but, i think that baby is the most cutest and perceptive of all of us, maybe because she is the most innocent. i don;t mind showing baby around in the real world.

Mui Choo- mui choo is the closest thing to a mother that i can identify with, she has had a tragic past and an untimely death. i think out of all of us, she is the one who most values lfe, she understands that when one dies, it not only affects herself, but her baby too. she had to learn that lesson the hard way though. i think mui choo has the strongest will power and she deserves much better than this. i wish her all the best =)

Mug- OMG! can someone make sense of this guy, god, whatever. i duess i can understand some of his gibberish but god, get a life man. seriously. but, i kinda understand where he's coming from, he has been worshipped and now, forgotten, heck, that's enough to make anyone nuts. Mug, a good advice is to not be scared to more on and get a new life.

Afiqah

Steph's thoughts

Sorry for the late post, I realised how incoherent I was so I made a mindmap in an attempt to organise the messy thoughts. Although you might not want to rely on the mindmap so much because I could not put everything I wanted to say in one pic. Update: After doing the mindmap, I spent another 2h editing. I still think there may be a missing link. Anyhoo we need to present the links more clearly for a better resolution.

Okay to me the unifying theme is hunger and escapism. (duh, but more specifically the hunger for certainty/success and the fear of failure as a result) The issues are in what the characters are hungry/searching for.

Hungry shows typical Singaporeans hungry for different things. However, it is because they hunger for certainty and success that ultimately lead to their downfall because they kill themselves/go crazy when they don't achieve it because they are scared of hurt or failure. (with the exception of death and baby) However, Death and Baby shows that all these hunger do not matter and that we (DV)should be grateful for life and to just live life for what it is, if not (sub-DV) we will regret sacrificing the things we sacrificed for that hunger.

Sarah shows a typical person in search of the meaning of life. From a really long time ago, people have been in search of this, in the form of Wisdom. However, nowadays, it has been degraded into knowledge and mugging because people want quick, certain, black and white knowledge that other people thought of instead of thinking for themselves. Now this brings 2 implications. First, Sarah killing herself cus she can never find the answer through studying books about life or examining dead bodies. Secondly, the god of wisdom's loss of purpose in the world because not many people look for wisdom anymore. So he goes crazy with that loss. These implications give the sub-issue of how people may be intelligent muggers but not actually intellectual thinkers.

Gek shows an artist in Singapore searching for success in life(perfection) and recognition in her art. Putting the hint of the arts scene not being well supported aside, the 2 things Gek searched for are actually what Singaporeans want. A perfect life and recognition. However, most of us, after eating whatever is in the world, produce shit and so she dies. (Everything we produced is shit after consuming someone else's product whether intellectual or physical so why make a big hooha of everything? Why not just live life the way it is? regurgitating knowledge or other people's works is shit )

Mui Choo shows a person hungry for 2 things - Love and Escape. In the story, when she was scared, she forgot about love and just wanted to escape by dying. She hungered for certainty, beauty and scared of pain and ageing. So she escaped by dying in fear. Then she hungered for love because she did not have a chance to love her own baby. This links the theme and sub-DV together - how in the hunger for certainty/success or the fear of hurt/failure we actually sacrifice the most important things and later regret and hunger for those things.

Baby shows the simple perspective. It is ironic that people can take knowledge, books for what it is but cannot take the purpose of eating something or living life for what it is. Baby cannot get how people get the concepts of things taught by Sarah but can get the simple purpose of why anything exists. Baby shows how one can simply live because the sole purpose of being alive was to live.Baby also show no fear of hurt or failure. And I guess without the hunger the rest has, she does not have fear. and because she has not lived, she just wants to live.

Death supports the content of every single character. his last line "die in pain" and baby's last line "they hoped, they would return to the garden", show fear of hurt and hunger for certainty and idealism respectively.

The image of the garden of Eden shows us how people from the beginning of time are greedy/hungry. And because of that greed/hunger we lose things. And only when we lose things do we hunger for them. Adam and Eve hungered for the certainty and ideal state of Eden. So instead of being greedy, one should just be contented and live life before we lose anything else.

One more issue is the finality of death/exams. "5,4,3,2,1,pens down" This finality causes the characters to feel even more regretful and hungry for the things they have lost. Also, it causes us to live life in mugging, in working hard for the "exam" so that we do as much as we can before death.

P.S.
To search for answers to the questions:
1. list issues
The issues are in what the characters are hungry/searching for. (e.g. issue of hunger for knowledge/recognition/success/certainty/escapism/perfection or hunger to just live + One sub-issue presented in paragraph 4)
2. main issue my character deals with
Para 7 : hunger to simply live because the sole purpose of being alive was to live.
3. Link other characters to that issue.
Para 7 and the issue is linked to DV which is linked to theme which is linked to the characters.
4. Unifying theme: Para 2
5. reasons why it is that theme:
justified by the paragraphs after.

My Thoughts on Hungry as a Play

Issues that the play deals with(non-exhaustive)

1. Suggests that many people inhabits the space between life and death
2. Advocates death as the capacity to face up to the truth of limitations of life
3. Appreciate life only after having experienced death
4. Enjoy pleasure only after suffering the pain of a fall
5. Until one comes to apprehend the true meaning of life and death, one experiences a perpetual hunger
6. Hunger for knowledge & wisdom, truth & certainty, questioning instead of complacency and literal physical hunger
7. Predatory instincts behind the quest for success represented via cannibalism
8. Death brings about new life
9. Farce on Singapore's clean image and censorship guidelines
10. Pays tribute to cultural ritual of offering food to the deceased during the Hungry Ghost's Festival

Main issue for the character Death

• Until one can come to terms with what they want, one will never stop questioning.

This links to all the other characters as I will be the one that they come to after they have decided on what they want. While they are still questioning, I will not interfere. But once they have come to a decision, I will give them the repercussions of their choice, and if they are still sure, I will give them what they want.

Unifying Theme

• All of us will occupy this state of between-ness until we have figured out what exactly we want to know or have achieved what we aspire to have.
  

Reasons why :

1. The play takes place in this state. Death governs this state.
2. All the characters occupying this state are repeatedly questioning themselves and people around them in order to get answers.
3. At the end of the play, they finally comes to a consensus and reconcile themselves in being led away to where they want to go by Death.

- Melvyn

Interview with Tze Chien

So anyway, we managed to interview the playwright and director of POOP, Chong Tze Chien, and have asked him some questions regarding our piece as well as regarding POOP. Below is the interview with him.

1) What are some of your guiding principles whenever you direct a play?

TC: I think it goes back to the story itself. How do I best bring out this story? I could easily stage POOP in a very different way, with a big set in a big theatre. So if you analyse the play, it is about a little girl's perception of death, and so naturally, things have to be simple. You have to imagine that it is an eight year old girl looking at the world, how does she look at it? It is very different from an adult. So that became the guiding principle. From the start, I wanted to make it very simple and that was the guiding principle for every decision that I made. From the choice of music to the way I would stage the show. So I went through many drafts, many possibilities of staging. At first, it was something very puppet theatre style, with different levels. (He goes on to demonstrate the original set.) The actors would then dress up as puppets. So we began drafting, drawing up storyboards, but it became too complicated and techinical. It diverted away from the guiding principle of simplicity. There were too many things to construct and training was needed for the actors.

And then me and my producer went to see a Chinese Opera performance by Hong theatre group. But they stripped it down. There wasnt any set or make up. (He goes on to demonstrate their use of light to define space.) All they used to define the space was a narration. It showed that in theatre, you don't really need anything. In theatre, what make things theatrical is essentially an actor in a space. That is the most basic principle. An actor is the one who defines where he or she is. It gave me the idea of selecting one object that will best symbolise that particular scene. It would then be very simple.

Then the challenge was to control the lighting design. Because the it was very controlled lighting, and the light will hit the actor at an angle, and so the actors had to tilt in such a way that they will catch the light. Another challenge was the size and dimension of a little girl's world.

2) What were some of your influences in the production of POOP?

TC: Its simply going back to the magic of theatre. I mean even if it was a very big production, with big sets, you also have to be very selective of what you want to show the audience. If you show everything, it almosts unimaginative. How do you define something that is theatrical? It is something that evokes imagination. So sometimes you can get excited by seeing something and think to yourself, "Oh. I would never see it that way." And of course, the more things you have, the more choices you have, and so it can be very agonizing as well. And then a minimalist set design means that you have to be very clear of what you choose. That choice should represent the scene very clearly.

3) In all of your productions, what are some of the central issues that you address. For example, in POOP, it was death.

TC: For me, POOP was a culmination of everything that I've been doing for the past 10 years. Somehow or another, the issue of death was recurring. So even if death was not one of the main themes, it would still be a sub theme of sorts. So with POOP, you could say I got it out of my system. I think as an artist, you would be obsessed with a particular subject. Until you have fully articulated it, you would always be driven by it. For me, death is not a dark subject. To me, death is not the end, it is very optimistic. I find that death has something very calming about it. There's a sort of peace to it. That's why I'm always gravitating towards the theme of death inevitably. So for me, POOP was a very perfect fit in that way.

4) Can you name any practioners that you have studied or admire, and have applied to your work?

TC: As a theatre student, I think what I was most intrigued about was Brecht and Richard Schechner. What I loved about Brecht was the way he deconstructs things. While studying theatre as a theory, you learned specific styles to stage theatre. However, when studying Brecht, it showed me new and radical way to stage things. I still remember there was once where Brecht had all the stage managers and lighting crew calling the show, right in front of the audience. So the audience were constantly being reminded that they're watching a show. Then you see the actors break out of character, have a tea break, then go back into the performance. So it was literally breaking down walls and that was an eye opener for me.

As for Richard Schechner, he was very much about performance in space. His argument is that there is no such thing as a performance space. As long as you have a performer in any space, it immediately becomes a performance, and you have that relationship with the audience. For example, there was a show about mental patients. The audience would then be sitting on hospital bunk beds, and the actors are actually all around them. So the audience would actually be in the acting space itself. So that is the magic of theatre. Something so exciting need not be brought about by extravagent sets or lighting. Simplicity is the most complex. Because when you are doing something in its purest form, you will realise that a lot of things are not needed.

5) Are there certain elements that is present in all your productions (eg. puppetry) ? And why?

TC: Puppetry was mainly because I joined this company! (laughs) Before this, I was more of just a playwright, not so much of directing. When I joined this company, it was something very tangible. Before I joined, finger plays were mainly children's theatre. They wanted me to make it more of for adult's theatre. So basically, we would use puppetry as a device to best showcase the performance. Puppetry is something very visual and also something that is very theatrical. Puppetry is about design and objects and how you move them in space and time. If you watch POOP or Cats, puppetry is used to serve the story and is not the main focus.

6) So when conceptualizing the piece, do you actually plan where and when the puppets will come in?

TC: The usual process would be that once the script is written, we will pass it to the designers. The designers will then propose places in the script where puppets will be most effective. Sometimes they will even say, "Actually, this show doesn't need puppets." So for POOP, there wasn't any real puppetry, at least not in a very complex and big way. Its basically because I felt that this show really doesn't need that much of puppetry to bring out the story.

7) Did you have any specifications for the lighting designers when choosing the lighting?

TC: I actually marked the stage after the basic blocking was done. I drew a chart with very specific measurements on how big the spotlight would be, where the light ends, spillage and things like that. In terms of colour scheme of the lights, the lighting designer came up with different colours for the "reality" scenes and different colours for the "surreal" scenes.

8) On that note, what sort of theatre style/genre did POOP follow?

TC: I think that expressionism(omg look at this people) is one of them as well as selective naturalism.

9) So for expressionism, were you inspired by any director or production?

TC: Not particularly, but if you look at european productions, especially western european ones, you will see that they are all very dark and very stark. It's always something very austere. So I tend to gravitate towards that in terms of colours.

10) In terms of expressionistic set design?

TC: Not really as well. Because if you consider expressionistic sets, there's no real set. The objects are always from everyday life, its all very rooted to reality. So in a way, I think we adapted expressionism.

11) So what aspects of expressionism did you use in POOP?

TC: I think it is more of visual composition. Like the way the father was presented. Sometimes I would only focus on his facial expression, like in certain scenes where you only see his head. And sometimes when he is talking to his wife, and you see a pair of legs walking past. So these are the aspects that are very clean and very stark.

12) In terms of your creative process, after having an idea of the piece, how is the conceptualization of the ideas carried out? For example, through improvisation and such?

TC: Actually there's a lot of thinking involved where I rewrite the script until I'm happy with it. And yet also still be open to changes. I realise that as a director, I execute things very fast. While some directors will try and process it the script in rehearsal, for me, during rehearsals, I already have a clear picture of what I want. Basically I will tell the actors to do what I want and then we're done with the blocking. In my head, I would have gone through the production many times in many different styles, and so I would have a very clear idea of what I want.

13) When directing a play that has been staged before, what aspects do you keep or throw? Do you believe in keeping true to what the original playwright wanted to express or search for something new?

TC: I usually adopt the same attitude for all my productions; which is that I'm always open to making changes or improvements. For me, the script is the foundation for the entire project, and even before I can decontruct or play, I need to see in the script; what doesn't help? The primary goal is to best showcase the written words, but I'm not purist in that way in the sense that I can't delete stuff as well. I look at a script and ask myself,"Does the original text work? If not, what changes can I make?"

14)What do you think of the script for Hungry?

TC: The script is very very clear. And its one of those plays that is very eloquent and is one of those character pieces that is a very good short play. It is one of those plays that can provide the director a lot to play with. I guess the challenge for directors and actors would be to really dig deep at exactly what the piece is saying. Because it is not a superficial play. The original set design was simply four toilet bowls and the characters just moved around them. So it was a very simple production in that sense. And each of these characters are hungry for various reasons. How then do you show that and best bring out the intention of the script?

15) We don't know what kind of style we're following exactly...

TC: For me, I always tell people not to be obsessed on the definition of the style. Because at the end of the day, these definitions came about because they saw creations, and then they tried to coin a term that would best describe it. Its not the other way around. So it is about asking,"What do I see in the piece?" So if people try to place a style on my piece as ask whether its expressionistic or brechtian, I can say," I don't know. It's Chong Tze Chien style!"(gasp!) So for you guys, its about asking what do you see? In other words, what is your directorial vision?

16) So is there anything that you do not like about Hungry(Script)?

TC: For me, maybe it is that there was no real resolution. It was one of those pieces that went quite deep but there wasn't any real resolution among the characters. There's some revelations but those revelations wasn't translated to the audience. There wasn't a part of me that went,"Wow!" I didn't get excited by what they were trying to say.

17) Hungry is very episodic in nature. So how do you deal with such scripts?

TC: You have got to think about it in terms of performance text. A text is only a subset of a performance text. A good example of a performance text would be Cats: Lost and Found. If you would just read the script alone, it would seem normal. But the performance text was very rich. It added things onto the written text. Performance text consists of everything from non-verbal scenes, what's going on between the characters, character design and production design. For example the scene where the usher imagined that she was in the ocean, that wasn't part of the script. It was a non-verbal sequence that helped to contribute to her relationship with the cat. You realise that they are a very loving pair, which you may not get just by reading the script. So as a director, you have to look at a text and think," How do I jump off from it? How do I show things?"

-Melvyn (omg. this transcript was hell to type)

Character Analysis - Sarah

m Sarah, the 'science student' as Gwak puts it. But i have to agree with her, the label holds true. I love analysis and finding answers to things, thats what made me the brightest student in class, put also caused me to die. Asking questions is my forte! I always want to know why things are, how they came about, what will happen to them eventually. Soon i began asking questions about existence, mans purpose on earth, creation, purpose, fulfillement, love, emotion, feeling. But i never could find the answers to them. Not knowing all that made me feel uneasy. How would i know if i was doing the right thing with my life if i didnt know what i was suppose to be doing in the first place? I felt small, useless, insignificant, purposeless and just so tired after asking all those questions. My life slowly detereorated. First my gade, then my parents, freinds, everything was gone because i just couldnt BE because i didnt know what i was supposed to BE. It was such a burden that i decided that i would do myself a favour and just kill myself. What came after life was always a mystery to me, so i decided that i would go find out.

But damn that man up there (if there is one) just could NOT let me die in peace! First i had to confront myslef ONCE again with those questions that had never gotten anwered because without knowing them how was i suppose to choose what came next? Why cant they just choose people to send to either heaven and hell! Talk about democracy and 'choices that are now available to modern society'! Well i have found what the human races's existance is all about and that we end up being insignificant in the end and there is nothing we can do about it. We have no set purpose, we just are... until one day were not anymore. Ill never be able to find the answers, and even if i do how can i varify them? Its an endless circle, so i guess ill stop it all now. Spare myself the hurt and the pain and distress. Goodbye you all!

Gwak- She is interesting as all art students are. I always found them weird, but she showed me an all new level! The energy, the talk, the bubbly personality! ARGH!! But well i guess i do feel for her. She cant really analysde stuff like me, so her approach to the pain is just ignoring it and creating a sort of protective bubble that will keep her happy and amused. When she finally admitted that she was aware of reality it shocked me a bit but im glad that she has decided to take control of the 'situation' and finally make a decision. She's strong, she'll be alright. Don't change to much Gwak!

Baby- I love that kid, I do. But teaching her is sometimes sop difficult because she asks the questions that i used to when i was little. I hate myslef for not being able to give her better answers, insetad i have to trepeat the ones that i got then. All i can do is pass on knowledge, things that i have read and learnt. But the wisdom stil hasnt come to me and i hope that baby will grow up and answer the questions i never could. I wish you all the best Baby.

Mui Choo- She's kind and loving and very motherly. I can see the pain that she has gone through in the past, and i do hope that she will find what she is looking for. She may not know as much as i do or analyze and question things. But the one thing she has that i dont think i ever will is the ability to love unconditionally and to follow her heart, not her head. I admire you Mui Choo.

Mug- Well what can i say. I never knew there was a God like him but i guess he was the one i prayed to, the God of Wisdom. Or not... come to think of it, i had always prayed for knowledge, for the answers. I had never prayed for wisdom. This is the disease of my generation. The only way we know to solve our problems is to look for answers, not other ways to tackle the situation. I do feel sorry for the old guy it wasnt his fault that people forgot about him. He is strange in a way but then so is wisdom. If only people would wake up from the illusions of knowledge! I'm sorry mugg.

Death- What can i say. He's just always THERE. He neither helps us nor probes us for answers. He just stands and watches. I do understand that he cant help us but sometimes i just wish he would! BEcause he is the person with the most 'experience' in purgatory! He cant even answer the questions i have about what is beyond this place. Or maybe he just doenst want to. Well whatever it is, at least he can help me get to the place that i want to go. Thank you death.

-Priscilla

Baby

Function of Character

In relation to DV, I have never experienced life before so I appreciate and want it so badly because I have lost it due to circumstance. Towards logical answers, I ask questions. Towards questions people try to logically solve, I give the most simplest answer. And I guess the simplest answers are the correct ones. My logic goes in line with fairytales, not with books.

My take on each character

Sarah - found on P52. I sincerely want to learn from her, because she seems very knowledgeable. But a lot of things she says just does not make sense to me.

Mui Choo - She is my mum. I seek her for motherly love because I have never experienced it before. She takes care of me and answers my questions. I find it shocking how she killed herself and baby because I thought she loved baby. But she said she was really scared to the point where she forgot to love. I cannot understand but I accept it as it is.

Death - He took me to where I am now. He is quite kind. He is quite scary too. He just sits there and waits for us to make a decision on where to go so he can bring us.

Mug- He gets into nervous fits/ fits in general. Even though I do not know why he is like that, I know he is feeling bad and frustrated inside. So I comfort him sometimes.

Character Analysis - Death

Function/Role

I am the ferry for the souls of the departed. After someone dies, I will bring their soul to purgatory, a place that exists in between heaven and hell. There, I will be watching these souls from a very objective point of view, as they decide where they would like to go. I then have the power to bring them to these places namely heaven, hell, reincarnation or even to cease to exist. Until then, I will not influence their decision in any way whatsoever, but just act as an observer.

My take on each character

Sarah - Having seen many school girls commit suicide over the years, I was not surprised to meet Sarah. However, unlike many others, Sarah does not resign herself to her death after she dies, but rather continues to try to find answers. Also ironically, the very reason she killed herself. I am not surprised by her final decision to cease to exist because ultimately, it is the only solution to her problems.

Baby - A sad case I must say. But she has indeed broadened my perspectives. Like all children, she possesses this immense curiosity that sometimes can get on my nerves. (Imagine someone asking Why? continuously.) However, this very innocence of baby has allowed the situations of life to be painted quite clearly and simply. To me, Baby deconstructs complicated situations and provides an alternative perspective on a matter.

Gwakawakaweena - Her name is so long that I just call her Gwak. She talks too much. I mean seriously. Shut up. To me, her lack of success in becoming an artist, leading to her suicide, shows others the stamp that society places on the arts. She is the one that gets Sarah to open up and always try to get all the other souls together. To me, she is the one that values life the most, hence her decision to reincarnate.

Mui Choo - She plays the motherly role to all the other souls. I find it amusing how she always tries to answer Baby's questions but eventually fails to do so because of her own lack of knowledge of the world. I can tell that she craves for love and affection very much, and thus tries to show and get that from Baby. She is also trying to come to terms with the fact that she killed her own baby by commiting suicide. Something that I find mildly sad.

Mug - The old god of wisdom that speaks in a way that only those with real wisdom can understand. It is very apparent to me that he craves recognition for his worth as a god, and no matter how hard I try to tell him that times have changed, it doesn't get through to him. Personally, I feel that a bit of wisdom is still needed now and then, and its sad how society is now just relying on knowledge alone. Mug. Even if nobody wants you, you'll still have me.

Synopsis of Hungry by Ng Yi-Sheng

In Hungry, an assortment of departed souls, from a young student who has commited suicide (Sarah), an aborted baby (Baby), a wannabe artist (Gwakawakaweena), a singlish speaking auntie (Mui Choo), to a deposed god of wisdom from the ancient Sri Vijaya empire (Mug), endeavors to contront their new status as ghosts and reconcile themselves to being led away by Death (Death).

The play traces Sarah's journey to finding what she really wants as she is contronted and influenced by the life stories of others along the way. The whole play takes place in purgatory and all the characters are placed in a state of between-ness, betwixt that of Life and Death. Eventually, all the characters come to terms with what they want, and willing to be brought to a better place; a definition that differs for each character.

P.S. Hungry is essentially many different monologues/duologues stringed together, culminating in a scene where all the characters gather. This is something we have to note and change as the danger of a talking heads piece is still eminent.

-Melvyn

The First Post

This is the First Post. We are now in the brainstorming process of our group piece so please try to get as much inspiration as possible and come back with SOME inspiration.

We will have a brainstorming meeting BEFORE ING this coming saturday. More details later.

Cheers,
Markyc