Cinematic Concerns

The title's a lie. This is not a review.

No, I'm not kidding. There's nothing resembling a review here.

No, it's a demonstration of how I now have to
EAT. MY. WORDS. 

[Sorry, I don't have an image of that. I don't know how someone eating his words looks like, alphabet soup jokes aside.]

I've spent the better part of the last few years thinking that almost none of the plays and musicals written by local playwrights are worth watching; I've seen a few of those and they have all disappointed to some degree, even the better ones. The only plays that I can thoroughly enjoy are those written by Western playwrights and performed by local talents; those disappoint occasionally but I'd still go for them.

Tonight throws that perception out of the window. 

Short + Sweet Theatre consists of twenty-four 10-minute plays written, directed and acted by amateurs and professionals alike (there's also a Musical and Dance segment to S+S), played out over two weeks before ending with a bang with the twelve plays surviving the first-round votes being played out on the Gala Night, which was what I attended.

I won't go into what I thought about each of the plays. I can't, they were simply all good. Sure, there's some difference in the quality between the different plays, but the differences felt so marginal that when in the end they asked the audience to each vote for just one play out of the twelve I felt like voting for just one out of any of them is unfair; it crossed my mind to tick all of them, but that's breaking the rules.

I feel very jealous of these guys – performers, playwrights, directors alike. People who know me know that that's very, very high praise from me.

And [self-pity wallowing commencing; avoid next two paragraphs if cringing hurts your cheeks] I also feel rather ashamed of myself throughout the whole show (stole some of my concentration from the show unfortunately). There I was this past year (and these past years) perpetually drowning in that void known as writer's block, while suddenly here a kaleidoscope of talents burst out right in front of my eyes, unexpectedly, undeniably ... shockingly. And some of these people are amateurs! (Which I am, incidentally, but that's beside the point.) It really proves the point my encouraging friends tried to tell me: that I could've written stuff, gotten stuff directed, done something anyway.

I still couldn't have. Even in hindsight. I am who I am. I wallow in self-pity, sometimes wear that as a badge, not proudly, just prominent enough that kind friends would come to provide reassuring sessions (suckers ...). I mope. I am held down by Newton's first law of motion. Tonight made me feel like I should give up. Give. The. Fuck. Right. Up. (You hack you, all critic and no substance ...)

Of course, that's just despondent talk, just more talk to snag the suckers. Don't fall for it.

I repeat, I shan't write about what I thought about the mini-plays, but I shall list down the plays and the players for my future reference.

1. Because The World Needs Unicorns
Director: Jude James
Performers: Redza Minhat, Brana Aruljothi, Farah Rani

2. Failing Elijah
Playwright: Alex Chua
Director: Dinesh Kumar
Performers: Aminda Faradilla, Priyadashini a/p Maganathan

3. Life Decisions
Playwright: BB Ostella Adam
Director: Nicole Ann Thomas
Performers: Alvin Looi Wan Su, Nor Hazlin Nor Salam

4. Who Moved My Donut?
Playwright: Tita Wariss
Director: Megat Sharizal
Performers: Sani Zainal Abidin, Tuan Faisal, Marina Tan

5. The Rice Of The Kaiser
Playwright: Cheah Ui Hua
Director: Yusuf Amin
Performers: Lee Zhi Li, Belinda Hon, Nabillah 'Billy' Aimi

6. Boleh Saya Bantu?
Playwright: Ashraf Zain
Director: Ooi Kee How
Performers: Morgan Ramanchandram, Maria

7. Cargone
Playwright: John Newman
Director: Amir Yunos
Performers: Ariff Faisal, Aidan Salman, Clarence Kuna, Shakier Shukor

8. Rupert And The Seven Russian Email Brides
Director: Kelvin Wong
Performers: Will Quah, Jon Chew, Michael Chen, Matthew Ong, Dominic Luk, Ashwin Gobinath, Alex Chua, Joe Pagnelli, Jade Presley Lewis

9. When You Can't Stop Running (不停奔跑暴走记)
Playwright: Freddy Tan
Director: Erna Mahyuni
Performers: Calvin Tan, Jeremy Ooi, Joanna Van, Jack Lua

10. Thank God We're Italians!
Playwright: Catherine Ooi
Director: Karanbir Hundal
Performers: Dennis Yeap, Emina Aliyyah, Merissa A, Sani Zainal Abidin

11. Cast Adrift
Playwright: Patrick Christopher Lee
Director: Freddy Tan
Performers: Tung Jit Yang, Lim Kok Tong, Kelvin Wong, Cheah Ui Hua, Umesh Logandran, Shern Chong

12. The Joy Of Solitude
Director: Mark Beau De Silva
Performers: Roax Tan, Douglas Wong