Nach Berlin 1

Never did I imagine that I'd have the opportunity to go any where near Europe. All of a sudden, I got an e-mail confirming my participation “Theatretreffen 08”. Nach Berlin. Didn't know what to expect but knew that I would have a great time.

My first introduction to Germany was in the form of a CD & a course book. I'd listen in my car to conversations in German. I hardly had the time to look up the course book to really understand what they were saying but at least I got a chance to hear the language.

My second was when I was invited to have lunch with Ms. Susanne Wolf of the German Embassy and Mr. Volker Wolf of the Goethe Institut. I had a typical German lunch and even managed to top it up with a round of schnapps. It was a lovely afternoon at Euro Deli just talking and getting to know each other and the work we do.

All so soon, it was time to get going and there I was in Amsterdam airport taking a connecting flight to Berlin. Nach Berlin. There was this young man waiting for me at the airport with a book that had the logo of Theatretreffen 08. It was exciting, I was preparing the whole time during the 12 hour flight to introduce myself in German and there was Matthias speaking English! (Matthias, our ward, was the first and the last for me to meet at Berlin)

Off to Art'otel Berlin in Kudamm, Joachimstaler Strasse. (that road name was so hard to remember during our stay there but now it keeps playing in my mind. I like the sound of the words.) Unfortunately, the rooms were not ready and some of the participants who were there had no choice but to wait. Some decided to go and explore a bit. Me included and was just so happy to be on the streets, poring over the map and basically letting instinct take over and it led me places, all through out the 10 days.

From 2 - 12 May, it had been an amazing journey of discovery. German theatre: the reverence that people have for German directors, the performance. Every night was sold out; this was perhaps because of the Theatretreffen; perhaps it happens in the bigger theatres as people are curious to see how each celebrated director put his mark on each play, old or new. Apparently, talented people are snapped up by the bigger institutions. I can imagine, each trying to out do not only each other (at the same time working towards the objective of the theatre company, they represent) but constantly challenging oneself to greater heights.

The theatre goers of this country are amazing. We understand when the senior members of the audience are into theatre but we had also seen young people being totally enthralled by the performances. There was one performance – The Persians, which is such an old text (apart from reading the synopsis, I didn't know much about it). It was interesting to watch the very first scene which basically told what the story was and then an amazing lady (who represented the whole chorus) starting saying things in German. I didn't understand a single word but there I was listening, because she made me think that what she was saying was important.

A small wish; I wish that more young people in my country will have the same enthusiasm. Only then the industry will grow. The number of theatres in Germany, let alone Berlin is astounding. I do acknowledge though that the theatres have been there for a long long time. Hopefully in a long long time to come; the young people in my country understand the need for such cultural growth.

Then, one is also awed by the number of museums and gallaries in Berlin and the effort taken by the government to preserve history and humanity. Not only of its own history but of the world. It was very nice to see so many school children; talking, discussing with their teachers, and not getting overly excited of the nude sculptures from the past.

I discovered the history of Berlin, at least bits of it. I had a private moment amongst throngs of people who went to Charlie's Checkpoint and the Topography of Terror. It was very interesting to note the reflections of what was; a constant reminder of what people have gone through is put in the from of small monuments. Reminding us not to tread that path. I tried to trace my way along the wall (marked by two rows of brick). There was a part that went into a building and come out the other side. It is hard to imagine the lives of people on the other side of the wall. Old buildings, new buildings fashioned after the old buildings (as many didn't survive the war), and new buildings all create the beauty of this city.

The people in the city too fascinated me, it reminded me of a pond that was teeming with life of various species, each unique yet complementing to the overall beauty of the pond. My biggest regret was that I was not able to speak German, to be able to talk more to the people there. (Nevertheless, I have my little achievement – I spoke in my broken German to a guy from Munich who sat next to me during a performance.)

Berlin too decided to present itself in a a very personal manner. I must also congratulate the person who had given us the city tour. The tour was planned in such a manner that we got insights to the personality of the city. The person spoke from his heart and we were touched by his love for the city, its building, people and its history.

We had a lovely experience at the cultural office, the company, the food and also the old fashioned box lift where one has to hop in and out to get to certain floors. (Some of us were so scared and excited, at the same time. Of course, we took time to get used to the lift - in other words, we were fooling around!)

The Theatretreffen which means theatre meeting, was a meeting place for participants from 20 countries to meet. We were also called the United Nations group. If the world politicians were made up of theatre people, the world would indeed be a better place. We had our opinions; we had teasing, fun and laughter; we were sometimes like little children, waiting for our wards to take us around; we respected and cared for each other. Kerem, Hella, and Boris (our wards) were such delightful creatures, being so sweet even if they felt like strangling us when we didn't behave sometimes.

All I can say at the end of the 10 days is 'Vielen Dank'; to each and everyone who have put this event together and all whom I came across for making my trip “Nach Berlin” a beautiful one.
I will be writing more about all my theatre experience in another piece. You'll have to wait for it though!

A post by Victor Chin (http://vicchin.wordpress.com)

March 12, 2008

Dominic is ten and he is in standard four in a Chinese school in Brickfields, Kuala Lumpur. His mother, Lim Siew Chong, is blind due to a car accident when she was twenty-one, in Ipoh. A few years back, both of them moved to live in Brickfields where she could train as a masseur at the Malaysian Association of the Blind (MAB) and then later work as a blind masseur in that area. There is a small community of both the blind and the deaf in this part of the city.

Dominic and his mother are both members of the harmonica music group from the MAB. This group of seven part-time musicians was invited to perform at the Sunday lunch party organized by Victor Chin and his friends at the Kuala Lumpur Performing Arts Center (KLPac) on the 24 February.

On that day, after lunch, Dominic together with about 20 people, young and old, some with disabilities, were invited by Nala Nantha, from the KLPac, to join her in an hour of theatre-based activities and games. The following day Nala contacted Victor and told him that she was impressed by Dominic’s natural ability and focus during the session and said that she would like to offer a semester of free classes to Dominic.

When Victor contacted Dominic’s mother and told her about Nala’s offer, she was not vary sure at first, but she agreed to come with Dominic to meet Nala the next Sunday at the KLPac. After the meeting and also getting a sense of the place and the activities at the KLPac Siew Chong was a bit more assured. But she finally consented when Victor Chin and Nala assured her that Dominic will be safe and will be provided with transportation and food as well on the Sundays when he has classes.

After his first class Dominic said to Nala that he really enjoyed the session and also he was pleased to meet with many new friends outside his normal group of pals.

Posted by vicchin Filed in Art, Disability, Friendship, Photography Tags: Art, Care, Disability, Empathy, Friendship, Photography

(Picture of Dominic, his Mom & myself was taken by Victor Chin who is making it possible for the young boy to attend classes every week. Thank you very much, Victor.)

Girls Will Be Girls (Dec 2007)

The Academy @ KLPac's production of Girls Will Be Girls was our year end production. Our contribution to the kids who have completed both semester 1 and 2 of our Children's Theatre Programme.

I wanted to create a setting whereby the children get the opportunity to work at different areas as not only on stage. Hence, this performance was a unique experience for the children as it was performed at the stairs & foyer area of KLPac.

Last year we did, The Big Brown Mushroom on stage and the children who had experience that will now experience something different. In fact, the process was different too as I introduced working with puppets and masks. The script by Sue Scot, itself involved research as we had know about the historical personalities mentioned. Semester 3 of 2008, was quite a task for the children as they set out searching. From Cleopatra, to the suffragettes, from Strauss to Hitler. It helped me enrich myself too. Long forgotten history was coming back to life.

Thank God there were some left over cardboard, from a project done previously - we used the cardboards to make Cleopatra, Florence Nightingale, Joan of Arc and the suffragettes who were instrumental in getting men to allow women to vote. There they were, these ladies perched on the landing of 1st floor as their deeds were revealed.

We even got the kids to paint their camouflaged soldier masks. Of course when I conceptualised the production, I did have these elements in my mind but was also looking for a cast of at least 20 kids. Unfortunately, as usual it is always difficult to get 1) children committed enough to work though their 3 weeks of school holidays 2) parent's work schedule that able the children to be sent for rehearsals; so we ended up with 12 kids doing multiple roles. Which was actually good for them.

So while in the beginning they are playing roles of boys and girls; they end up featuring occupations of men & women, talking about men & women who made history, even imagining what would happen if the 3 little pigs were girls (since they were girls - the big bad wolf didn't get a chance to eat any of them up - the girls were just too smart!) or little red riding hood was a horrid PS2 playing bullying boy!

Did we have fun? Of course, we did. Especially me - 'torturing' my kids. Well from start, I knew that I only had Deda (The Academy Co-ordinator) to help as Stage Manager / Make-up Artist ; as Lawrence (The Academy Assistant) was hobbing along with a broken leg and stage managing another show, still managed to record the kids in action. Show days I had to garner the help of Stephanie Chua who helped with make up and collecting donations.

I needed the kids to be responsible and manage their own props. So each were given a box. They had to take care of their boxes, ensure their props are kept in order that will help them to get ready on time. They managed very well except for the part when Howard had taken the wolf paw and playing around and didn't put it back proper.

The parents sure were impressed with the displine shown by their children. What was important was the children had a different experience and I was actually proud of their voice projection in a rather open space. (Much better than some young performers on stage.)

End of the day - I love my kids and hope they will cherish their moments and be a part of the new generation of theatre people in future!

The Actors
(First row from left to right: Yasyika, Anusha, Shao Yu, Yoki;
Second row from left to right: Samira, Howard, Afifi; Wafa;
Third row from left to right: Juliet, Ilmira, Alishya & Arisya)

Creative Writers Club SMK Bukit Bandaraya, Bangsar

6 Feb 08 @ 8:30am.

Yes, I had to get up at an ungodly hour to get to the school. Luckily, it was the eve of Chinese New Year and most were already on their 'balik kampung' journey.

I was supposed to give a talk about writing. Like, what do I know! Met some cool teenagers 10 of them. Blabbered on about how little I know about performing arts and some of fun but hard work that I do.

Flashback: I remember the time I was invited to this school, I think in 2005, when there this teenagers who had written scripts and asked for my opinion. One of it had potential, it was about the school Open Day when parents come to collect report cards and it showcases some strange but life-like characters. The play was then featured at Yayasan Budi Penyayang's Keluarga Bahagia event at Genting Highlands. Branavan was one of the script writer / actor.

Back to this group. They want to do a Malaysian version of Romeo & Juliet.. aww. They should have come for KLPac's Romi & Joo Lee. The teacher, Pn. Zaleha also said that the school would like to participate in script-writing competition involving science related matters. There were also some who were there purely for the fun of it.

To start them off.. I got them to write a short piece involving an object. It was very interesting to hear the short stories [I didn't start with a script for 1) it was a creative writing club 2) that was what I experienced at the Dramatic Writing at NIDA]

We explored on what we can do with the stories - dramatise it on stage or any other media. As much as I wanted them to do a dialogue piece, I felt that perhaps helping them to create characters might help them to acheive what the school wanted. So we went on to create a character each.

Again it was interesting to see some characters take life. Opps.. way beyond the 10am limit that I had with them but managed to work on till about 11am.

Now question time - their big concern was to create the Romeo & Juliet characters and if their slapstick joke would work. My advise was to create and let the characters do things together. Never to edit themselves for that was the advise given by all my instructors at NIDA.

We exchanged e-mails and I told them that I would like to see the completed script. "Guys, just e-mail me or call me will try to share with you whatever little bit I know." All the best to the Creative Writers Club of SMKBB! Hope to see more of you.

[Yay! I managed to stick to my 08 Chinese New Year resolution! i.e. to ensure I update my blog everytime I do special projects. But this is only the first : ) ]