THE ULTIMATE BLOGGER...

This is actually our last week of lecture before the final exam begins. We only have one play to be completed which is “A Streetcar Named Desire” by Tennessee Williams. Overall, I have read five plays-Antigone, Pygmalion, Anike, King Lear and A Streetcar Named Desire. Taking drama class gives me a lot of new things and unforgettable memories. I have to read classical play especially Shakespearean plays which initially not my cup of coffee, I learned to pronounce those “alien” words in the play correctly, how to quote the citations in Shakespeare’s appropriately, watch black and white English movie and I also had better understanding on literature lesson. Apart from that, thinking about the funny experiences that happened along the way really makes me smiling to myself. I remembered the first time my friends and I went to KL Pac and we got LOST despite the KL Pac was actually in front of our eyes .We also had to break our fast at Sentul. However, the most important thing is that I learnt to appreciate the beauty of literature in a play. I realized that reading a play is also an enriching and exciting experience. Well, this is definitely not my final notes because I think I will never stop blogging. This is my first blog that I’ve ever created and I want to continue writing in it till death do us part. (yikes!) Hopefully all of us will always be the ultimate blogger forever.

PEER EVALUATION OF SIMULATED TEACHING

I am going to give comments on Tiang Siew Ching and Pauline Wong’s simulated teaching yesterday(19 October 2007). They taught us the play Antigone focusing on characters and traits.

PRE READING STAGE

In this stage, we have to highlight the sentences which contain modals such as will, shall and would in the extract. I think the have make a good choice of extract and the activity was appropriate except for the extract which was too long. As mentioned by Dr. Edwin since this was just the pre-reading, the extract should not exceed the next page.

WHILE READING STAGE

There was continuity from the first stage. We are asked to complete the table on Antigone’s character traits. I like the worksheets and they have produced good worksheets with clear instructions and guidance for students. The exercise was average because it was neither too easy nor too difficult. I believe that the students would be able to attempt the task successfully but ample time should be given.

TEACHER’S LANGUAGE

They were fluent and looked confidence in using the language. Their voices could be heard with just some minor grammatical mistakes.There are still room for improvement.

ANY OTHER COMMENTS

The teachers were well-prepared with answers being previewed on the screen using power point. The used of technology in class was good and creative in a way it can attract the students. Apart from that, I feel it is much easy for us to check our answers.

“I AM A MAN MORE SINNED AGAINST THAN SINNING"

Finally, our class has completed the play, King Lear last two weeks. I really enjoyed the play despite the difficult and archaic words which I encountered along the journey. Initially, I thought King Lear would be the toughest play we’ve ever learned (well, maybe because of its thickness) however as we go along I found that the play was not that difficult to be understand. Thanks to Dr Edwin for his detail explanations, notes and exercises that I believed have helped us a lot and made everything as easy as ABC. Luckily the text that we bought which is by Heinemann is very accessible, reader friendly and easy for students who just got a crush with Shakespeare. It really helped me to comprehend better because I can easily refer to the opposite page for notes and meanings. In addition, the book can be read again and again for better understanding. In my opinion, King Lear is indeed an evergreen masterpiece because of the issues or messages dealt in it were so relevant to our society and timeless throughout the centuries. I am looking forward to read other works by Shakespeare as well. Right now I plan to finish my reading on Macbeth. Hopefully, I can finish it during the holiday.

PALACE OF CULTURE

My blog entry today is rather different than usual. I've been thinking a lot about the Elizabethan theater-the circular shape stage, the "heaven" and "hell". Thinking of the Elizabethan theater makes me think of Malaysia’s own opera house-Istana Budaya. I was lucky enough to visit this palace of culture during the holidays with my family. I will share my unforgettable experience in this blog since we are doing drama class this semester. What really impressed me about Istana Budaya is in its glorious architecture. The light blue roof looks it has been modeled after the Sydney Opera House. However, it is actually designed to mimic the sirih junjung, the multi-tiered arrangement of betelnut leaves used in traditional Malay ceremonies. According one of the workers there, it was designed by Kamar Yaakub to reflect the traditional side of the national heritage. The base of the theater is in the shape of the wau bulan. The staircase leasing to the grand entrance is in the style of a traditional house while the lobby mimics the rebana ubi.There is an air of elegance as I walk into the lobby, across an expanse of polished Langkawi marble floor with geometric motifs. The grand entrance itself is reminiscent of the Balai Rong Seri, audience hall of a Malay palace. Lastly, the royal boxes in the auditorium replicate the spacious windows of a Malay house. The Panggung Seri stage hall is everything you would imagine a national theater house to be. With its cavernous hall and state-of-the-art stage mechanism, Istana Budaya is capable of hosting the heavyweights of theater. In fact, it has staged productions of Andrew Llyod Webber’s Cats and Giacomo Puccini’s operas Tosca and Turandot. As a Malaysian, we do not have to go abroad just to watch world-class performances because they now come to our shores. And for that, we have to thank Istana Budaya for bringing the world to our country.

MACBETH... Fair is foul and foul is fair.

The last time we watched "Shakespeare Walla" movie, I nearly fell asleep in the middle of the scenes. However, it was a different situation when we watched Macbeth. My eyes were wide open till the very end and I definitely enjoyed the movie. Even though, we did not read Macbeth as one of the compulsory text in the drama class, after watching the movie I felt interested to read the actual original play. While enjoying the movie, I tried to make comparison of the movie with King Lear. Based from my observation, the issues presented in both plays and perhaps in most Shakespeare works are mainly about greed and power. People will do everything to gain the power and materialistic thing. Even though Macbeth is rewarded with gifts from his crime boss, Duncan for serving him faithfully and performing bravely in a vicious gangland rip-off, these gifts are nothing compared to what Duncan lavishes on his son Malcolm. Macbeth wonders why he bothers to stick his neck out when Malcolm does nothing at all. Macbeth was greedy and he wished for more than what he already had. Macbeth is a story of horror-filled and also full of gory. There are lots of bloody scenes, killings, violence and betrayals. Well, just forget the gory scenes because there always some moral values everybody can learn after the movie ended. I prefer to watch a movie which leaves me something to be thought about after that.Just like the Brechtian play that left the audience to response intellectually. As always, Shakespeare deeper purpose seems to be to show us our own lives and make us think. That’s what I like about Shakespeare.

4:48 PSYCHOSIS

Never had I imagined that my first experience of watching a play would be a thrilling and exciting one. Recently, my friends and I went to KL Pac to watch one of the plays in the Black Box Festival 2007- 4.48 Psychosis, directed by Gavin Yap. By looking at the title, you can definitely predict the terribly sad ending of this play. Thus, I am going to tell about my unforgettable experiences however before that let me just give you some brief ideas about the play. Basically, the play deals with psychological crisis faced by a nameless woman. The play ended tragically as she finally commits suicide as the result of her unbearable mental anguish and life despair. Well, not a happily-ever-after ending though. What I really like about 4.48 Psychosis is its minimalist concepts. With only three great and charismatic casts namely Susan Lankester, Samantha Schubert and Malik Taufiq, I felt overwhelmed by their superb acting skills. Their voice projections are clear and loud while articulating all the monologues and dialogues with lots of repetition as well. Most of the dialogues and monologues are between the patients and the therapist. The minimalist concept can also be seen by the casts’ apparels. They just wore simple T-shirt and khakis pants. Apart from that, the stage consisted of a few props such as two staircases-one leads to an upper level stage while the other one had a door-like mirror in the end. There are also a hanging doctor’s coat and certainly lots of mirror all around the stage. Suddenly the idea of mirror of life emerged in my mind. The lightings are fantastic just like the synchronized rhythm of music. I was surprised when the spot lights were suddenly being focused directly to us and the actor was talking as if we are also one of the characters in the play. Personally, I think this is a good play to be seen and worth-viewing. As I left KL Pac, I still can’t stop my mind from thinking about Malik Taufiq and the play (of course). “Remember the light and believe in the light”….

PYGMALION…ON THE BIG SCREEN

I will never watch classical films unless Audrey Hepburn is in the films. Undoubtedly, I am a truly big fan of her. However, when my class had to watch Pygmalion last Friday, I was more than excited about it. It was only later that I realized that it was a classical film in black and white and needless to say… without Audrey Hepburn. Since I really enjoyed reading the play, I tend to be optimistic to think that the movie will not be rather disappointing. Basically, the film was very similar to the original play by Shaw in terms of characters, plot, settings, dialogues and the issues portrayed. The written play and the film were like an identical twin standing face-to face in front of a mirror. They reflected each other most of the times. The only difference between both genres was certainly the ending. In the original version, Eliza did not marry Higgins but Freddy instead, which likely support the idea of Pygmalion as “A Romance in Five Acts”. The movie drastically diverges from Shaw's play at the end by indicating that Higgins falls in love with Eliza and in the end Eliza willingly come back to Higgins. The movie was remarkable and great because of the strong issues it conveyed about the language as the vital instrument of power and oppression. It was like watching another version of Cinderella story however with a sad ending. To be frank, I dislike the movie’s ending as it ended with Higgins final question to Eliza, “Where the devil are my slippers?'. The question sounds very sexist to me as it indicated a strong male dominance towards woman. Personally, I think men and women are made to complement each other, not for one to subjugate the other. It is not a matter of who leads who but it is a matter of walking side-by-side together. Thus, I disagree with Higgins's harsh and immoral treatments to Eliza and sorry to say that I prefer Shaw’s original version of Pygmalion than the latter on the big screen.