In our English Studies subject
this semester, we were given an assignment which would require us to perform a
drama from a play in the syllabus. On the month of February 2011, the 107
PPISMP (TESL) Semester 2 students were divided into four Houses of Production,
where each class were considered as one production house. My class group, TESL
1, was named as the House of Winchester. The play that we were required to do
was, “The Tragedy of Macbeth” by William Shakespeare.
On the 10th of February 2011, we formed the committee our
production house. At first, I was appointed as the scriptwriter. Unfortunately,
everyone was reluctant to be the director of the production house. So, our
class monitor picked me to be the director. I was already pleased with my
position as the scriptwriter, and I was aiming to be one of the main actors.
Therefore, I was slightly unhappy to be appointed as the director as I know the
chances for me to hold an important character in the play was thin. But, for
the sake of gaining experience and being selfless, I accepted the appointment.
Being the director of a play without enough experience was unimaginably
horrible. I went in and out the Language Department to meet my lecturers, I
need to prepare practice plans for the play, and the task I disliked the most
was, conducting the audition. Scouting talent among your friends could be hard,
as you would sometime be accidentally unfair. But, trying to be professional, I
put all my personal affairs with my friends aside, and judged their auditions
in search for real talents. During the audition, our assistant director, Nur
Aunie and I were simply looking for anyone who possessed good voice
projections. I was generally disappointed. However, we managed to select our
main characters anyway.
In preparing the script, I did not want to rely wholly on the two of our
scriptwriters, Shahrul Mubaarak and Khairunisa’. We were all well aware that
the scriptwriters are simply editing and simplifying the original script by
Shakespeare. However, we would want the storyline in our script to be coherent.
As far as I can observe, the two of our scriptwriters had never done any
discussion among themselves whatsoever. They were simply dividing tasks on
which part of the original script that they should modify. So, as they have
come out with their script, there were huge differences of style of
presentation, moods and even style of language between the two of them. To tell
them what I want, is not an easy task. So, I’ve decided to edit the drafted
script myself.
During the period of practising the play, I have problem with the punctuality
of my friends. The regular time for our practise to start was at 8.30 pm. As
for me, I always come five minutes earlier. Unfortunately, most of my friends
would turn up at 9 pm, and sometimes at 9.30 pm. What added to my
dissatisfaction was; they have never come up with any considerable excuse for
always being late. Trying to be considerate, I’ve changed the time for our
practise to start – at 9 pm. To my disappointment, some of them still turn up
30 minutes later. As the director, I have repeatedly had a talk about this
matter to them at the end of every practice sessions, but I guess changing
people’s attitude is never an easy task.
Tardiness issues aside, if I were to compare their commitments and acting
performance from Day 1 to the week prior to the Big Day, they have shown lots
of improvements. From voice projections to body gestures, from facial expressions
and dictions, my friends have been improvising and they did great during the
show. But of course, there are still a lot more room for improvements. What
matters most, to me, is the experience.
Before we began practising the acting part, I thought that we must come
out with the background music and sound effects first. This is to ensure that
the actors and actresses would be able to get use with the sequence of the
music and this would also help them to memorize on what they should do after
one action and another. To come up with the proper sound effect and music, the
production house appointed a Music Manager. Unfortunately, the appointed person
has never showed up in every practice session. In fact, he preferred to be
‘alienated’ by all of us.
Therefore, without wanting to waste valuable time on such matter, I’ve decided
to look and manage the music and sound effects by myself. By this point I’ve
realized that, if you want to be satisfied with everything; you have to do it yourself.
Of course, it would sound like this play is a ‘one-man show’, but I did that in
order to save time and be satisfied with the result. I already have the source
to find the music and sound effects anyway, so I thought this might make the
work easier.
About the
preparation of the props and sets, I must mention Faeez Mahmood, Muhammad
Anuar, Nik Ahmad Syahmie, Mohd Irman and Mohd Ikmal for they were the most
helpful persons in building the props and sets. During the last two weeks
before our performance, we often sleep at 4 am just to complete all of the
props and sets. While we were progressing for the acting performance, I’ve
realized that to bring the spotlight to our production house, we must show
something which possessed a “WOW” factor – something which will impress people.
So, I’ve come up with an idea of building a 3D horse as one of our props.
To save time and to be satisfied with
the horse prop, I’ve build the horses on my spare time in my room, with the
help from my PISMP BM/PSV semester 1 senior, Shahrul Hisyam. My plan worked as
we’ve received many compliments from the audience about our horse – Maximus and
Black, as I named them.
Another plan that I have come up with on the play, in order to make our class
appear significant from the other classes was; a dancing element in the play.
During the first part of the act (Act 1, Scene 1), our witches, Khairunisa’,
Isymah and Vaishnavi did some mad dancing on an Old Irish music. At first, the
three of them - our witches – were not able to dance very well. But as they put
their best effort of practising it, they have managed to do it well. As an
ex-dancer myself, I know the hardship in learning how to move your body, let
alone dancing. Thus, I appreciate their effort very, very much. This element in
our play managed to serve as a good introduction to our play, and as an
addition, my personal relationships between the three of my friends here are
very close now, as I have got to know each of them much better through our
dancing practises.
When it comes to costumes, what I had
in mind was; spend as little money as possible. Therefore, most of the costume
worn during the play, especially by the minor character (ensembles), were owned
by the actors/actresses themselves. The costume designers, Nabila Atifah and
Marciana Tho, have put a lot of effort in sewing all of the costumes for the
main characters. I’ve heard that they worked until the wee hours just to put
all the costumes together. But of course, we are still in our stage of
learning. We are not tailors, nor fashion designers – but at least we’ve
managed to come up with our best. As I’ve said, what matters most is the
experience, all you have to concern about is whether you are doing the correct
thing or otherwise.
In the acting performance, most of my friends agree that what we were lacking
in our House of Production was, acting talents. However, there are some of us
who knew how to act very well, for instance, Nabila Hussein – our Lady Macbeth.
The actor for Banquo’s character, Shahrul Mubaarak, also have his own unique
way of acting in which would entertain most people as he is naturally funny in
character. Banquo’s character, in which we have modified a little in our play,
managed to deliver some comical messages well during our performance.
In our play, almost all of the house members were actors and actresses,
including myself who held the character as Prince Donalbain. Only our music
supervisor, Ling Tuong Sing, who was not assigned to any character. So, most of
us were multitasking behind stage during the show. Managing the props, putting
on the sets and changing costumes were all done by us alone. Of course, there
were some flaws occur, but we've managed to overcome all of it.
Putting up a theater play, with the forces of only 27 people, is an achievement
which we could be proud of. Overall, the members of House of Winchester managed
to give their best in terms of commitments and cooperation, which enabled
the play to be staged. After the end of the play, we have got to know each
other better, and we were getting closer in terms of friendship. The experience
of performing ‘Macbeth’ drama play will forever be treasured by all of us, TESL
1 - House of Winchester.
No comments:
Post a Comment