Workshop on Political Theatre

As the name of the workshop suggests, it was indeed a very weird but interesting experience. The text of "Press Conference" made little sense with it crazy components, and I had to act the character of the Minister. Of course, I had help from Mr Emen Low along the way.

Over two weeks, I attented 3 sessions with Mr Low. In the first session, we went through the first page of the text only. We did an exercise where Mr Low and I faced each other and as each of us was saying our lines, the person saying the line had to try to cross over to the other's boundary. The only rule is that we could not have any physical contact of any sort. This exercise ended with the both of us facing each other in a face-to-face shouting match. This showed me the incorrect way of portraying the character of the Minister as the motive of the press conference was not to have a shouting match, but rather to win the press over. Next we did an exercise whereby I performed the play, and he sat at the back of the LT1. He feedbacked that I remained at the same energy level throughout, and thus the climax of the play seemed unclear. Thus, I learnt the importance of varying the tension.

In the second session, I attended it with Saad, and it became rather interesting. The first exercise we did was that Saad played the role of the press and I, the minister. In this exercise, basically each line that we say is literally a bullet to the other person. Hence, each time one of us say a line, the other person had to literally dodge the bullet in whatever means possible. Such as ducking and rolling across the floor, lifting chairs and hiding under tables in the classroom. Then, we did another exercise where Saad acted as an annoying kindergarten kid and I had to persuade him to believe in what I was saying as Minister. This later became the basis for my portrayal of the play where I basically see the audience as children.

In the third session with Mr Low, we basically did a run through of the full play. He feedbacked that he wanted me to portray the Minister in such a way that I simply oozed charisma and went completely lunatic at the part where I talked about critical dissent. At first when I tried to do this, Mr Low said I wasn't crazy enough. (Even though I felt that I was already acting crazy enough) He said that I should just let myself go when I perform.

Therefore, I went into the day of the workshop itself ready to just go crazy. However, when I rehearsed with Mary Luckhurst before the workshop officially started, she said that she preferred that I not go into lunacy but rather just remain jovial but stern. I was in a disarray. It turned out that this was exactly how Absurdist theatre workshops were supposed to be. The teachers will give you different directions, and it is up to the actor to interpret it for himself.

In the end, I think I managed to portray the character of Minister relatively well, what with the handphone moment and all, and I have definitely gained alot of experience from this workshop.

P.S. Thanks Mark for being my bodyguard!

-Melvyn