Friday, April 07, 2006

My Last Post

Finally, we come to the end of semester. Which mean to say, the end of this course. I have learnt a lot of new thing, and I have to admit that I have fall in love with theatre. A token of appreciation to our respected lecturer, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Malachi Edwin Vethamani.
Thank You!!!

Thursday, April 06, 2006

Blanche’s Desired World

“Whoever you are, I always depend on the kindness of strangers”.
A memorable character, Blanche DuBois is an example of a downfall of a high position woman. She is described as moth, butterfly and canary bird; Blanche for me is a delicate and fragile character. Maybe that is what Tennessee Williams ought to try to tell his audiences. Or maybe, that is how he portrays female characters in his play. I had read one of his plays before, ‘The Glass Menagerie’. In that play, he also presents a female character, Amanda as fragile as her glass menagerie collections.
Blanche prefers magic, not reality. She is afraid of straight light until she has to cover up the lamp with a paper lantern. This shows to us how insecure she feels in real world. She does not tell the truth, instead, what ought to be true. She wants everything to be pleasant, beautiful and good in front of her eyes.
Blanche DuBois, a character whom always depends on the mercy of remorseless, brutal, realistic world.

Tuesday, April 04, 2006

An Afternoon With Phui Nam

“Poems are meant to be read aloud.”
That is what Dr. Edwin always said in class, especially during simulated teaching. And that is what Wong Phui Nam said too. The opportunity to meet the writer of ‘Anike’ is a golden opportunity not to be missed.
Reading his text, ‘Anike’ and his poem ‘Bukit China’, I already made up my mind that he may be somebody who is ‘big’. But my assumption is proven wrong when I meet him. Standing in front of me, less than one meter, he is just a simple man, might be because his profession as an economist.
In the meeting, he told us some strategies on how to read poem, which I am not going to discuss here.
His poem, ‘Bukit China’ (which I read and study during Malaysian Literature course) is rather difficult to understand. His description and diction made me become a bottom-up reader.
However, when I read ‘Anike’, the same thing does not happen. Maybe because I prefer to read drama compared to poem. Besides, my perception about poem is it is difficult to understand, except only the writer and God knows its meaning.
Anyway, I enjoy meeting him and read his latest work, ‘Anike’.

Shaw’s version of Metamorphosis

“Victory, victory, victory!” “ A-a-a-a-a-ah-ow-ooh!”

Pygmalion basically is derived from Metamorphosis by Ovid. It is about a sculptor who falls in love with his perfect female statue. He creates the sculpture because he cannot find a girl who suits his taste. The main idea in this play was brilliantly adapted by Shaw in Pygmalion. The main idea is the creation of new person, in Pygmalion’s case, to transform a cockney flower girl into a duchess.
Reading Pygmalion is exciting enough, what’s more watching it. This opportunity does not come everyday in our life. The fact is that, although someone is trained or learned something new, it does not change you totally, hundred percent. There will be something that you have or inherit which will never be changed through out your life.
Watching this film also reminds me to ‘Educating Rita’ by Willy Russel. It is about a woman who wants to change her life through education. From this two plays, I can say that most people see education as a way out to improve and change our life to be a better person, at least or maybe to be in the higher position.