So Long Fare Thee Well

Have you ever been in the class, a bit indifferent with the lecture, just swallowing everything up and the class is finished, you leave. Never thought of ever going to the lecturer, asking for more on the thing that u’ve just learnt in order to be better guided. Are you the kind of a student who seems not to appreciate your lecturer but by the time that you know he’ll retire, you regret that you will never get the chance to share his knowledge? I am that kind of person. I regret it so much of not really working hard in his class. Not answering more of his questions. Not asking any tips from him on how to start being a writer of which that is I have always dreamt of. He is a good writer himself, being engrossed with countless of stories around the world, he is the person who can actually open the way for me on how to write a good story. What takes it so long for me to bring the stories that I’ve written and knock on his door, just for the sake of asking his opinion? I dare not.

Just so you know Dr Edwin, I have always benefited from your class. Your intelligence has made Drama course become exciting. It’s a pleasure to be taught by you because after this, I could always brag that –

Oh, Dr Edwin? I used to be his student!

My Ticket To Success

Here's the ticket for the play that I had watched on March. It will definitely be my first baby steps in frequenting to KL PAC more!

Unselfish Miss Kasthoori

It’s our last class with her. She is the best tutor for me. I like the way she speaks, it is clearly articulated and her being Dr Edwin’s then student is a bonus point as she always gives us helpful tips in order to strive in this course. The way she gives comments is exemplary. She would not bluntly say ‘you’re wrong’. Instead she would offer a better idea to improve the mistakes that we have done. Everything has its end, we finished our class with boxes of Dunkin Donuts, being spoilt for the last time with lots of flavors!

Blogging

I’ve always been a blogger ever since I was in Form Five. Little did I know during the time that Dr Edwin asked us to start a blog for Drama class, it could help you a lot in being reflective. Blogging is not only the way to help me understand myself, recounting on the experiences that I had gone through in his class, it helps me to understand others too.

I like to read my friends’ blogs in order to understand them better. The kind of persons that they are can be seen from the way they write their blogs. Theirs are all enjoyable to be read. It saddens me to stop writing in this blog, for being a procrastinator in the earlier weeks, this is the price that I have to pay- not being able to express my thoughts more!

Content-Learning

Being under the wind of Dr Edwin, there are numerous meaningful things I have learnt from him. Throughout the semester, we have been asked to finish reading a number of plays. From my observation, I think Dr Edwin has made a lot of effort in choosing suitable texts for all of his students.

One aspect that I find useful in his class is the way he always analyzes in order to get a better understanding. With the analysis skills he has always used in the class, I could easily get a better picture of a play and this helped a lot. Not only in this class, but in poetry class too.

If I were a teacher, I would definitely use the kind of analysis that Dr Edwin has taught us. By understanding how many characters there are, the kind of relationships they have, it’s like a short cut of understanding a text.

We could **** you, Mr Birch!

Kee Thuan Chye is anything but. He’s hilarious, an amusing Chinese man with an extra dose of libido to boot. We could not stop refraining ourselves from laughing when he was telling us about the first story that he wrote. It all contained sex scenes. An amorous 11-year-old boy I might say. Throughout the almost two hours we spent with him, I would say he is a good observer of what’s happening in the country. With his creativity he uses the power of a pen in order to mock some people without being caught in ISA. Best thing of all, I managed to get hold of his signature after buying his book.

We could **** you, Mr Birch!

Future Teacher I Will Be

I am Noor Hafiza,

Solemnly ‘vows’ that I will be the kind of a teacher as stated below:

- Not a boring English teacher who asks students to write essays everyday.

- A creative teacher who constantly comes up with an interesting method of teaching to perk up students even during a hot sunny afternoon.

- Will try to instill the love for literature among Malaysian students.

- Will use the analysis skill that I have acquired from Dr. Edwin in order to help students to understand a story better.

-

Theater of Cinema?

Call me spoilt or languid or plain but it is true. Having been ‘trained’ myself of the extreme luxury, idling, in the cinema, munching my caramel-flavored pop corn or hot dong with slosh of mayo, it has been quite a feat for me to get on my feet to go and watch theater. Going to watch theater is way different that going out watching cinema. As for me, when I need to wind up after a long week of cramming my heads with classes and assignments, watching movie is all I need of. Watching movie is the time when you can just kick out your flip-flop and sit back, immerse in the relaxation of a movie can offer u.

Meanwhile watching theater is totally a different experience. When you watch movie, you are being entertained with people ‘frozen’ behind a screen. It acts like barrier that able to transport you into another place. Meanwhile watching theater, you are able to watch a live performance, you could see people in the flesh, crying, grinning, and be able to feel as if you are part of them. Theater is a more cultured sort of entertainment.

I have a car. That car is DESIRE

When I was in Form 6, i had been constantly surrounded with boys that I could not help from falling in love with their innocent faces adorned with mischievous grins, the reason that led me to choose TESL. Little did I know that in my years of learning, i would be asked to read a certain plays which i may never lay my hand on had Dr Edwin didn't point it out to me. I did not really enjoy King Lear as much as I enjoy reading Streetcar Named Desire. The character that I really like, much to my friends' surprises is Blanche DuBois. The way her name is smoothly articulated signs an elegance which few people could possess. she is the symbol of oppressed woman in her time. but still it can be related even until now. the oppression of women had been occured ever since the very existence of man kind til now. i just could not grasp the idea of men treated womean as if we were pieces of meat to satisfy their primal needs. women entail more than being men' slave which even now, few men would realize the fact. reading Blanche's character being develop throughout the play, i was saddened with the fact that such a fine woman come from an oppulent family, still fail to get away from men's grasp but to succumb under their authority. I hate Stanley for using his manhood in order to steal Blanche away from her long-lived fantasy. Or was that just a way of William used in order that signify that men's brains are no bigger than their members? I bet it is!

Simulated Teaching.

i was partly upset to be chosen among the first group to teach for i would not be able to see the others to teach first so I may have some ideas. however i was truly relieved once I had done it, even without any references from other friends. I like the fact that I had been able to capture my students' attention during my set induction. i had given them a world map with 5 different native dolls. i asked them to identify which doll belongs to which country based on their costume. my students had so much fun with the set induction that they had been attentive throughout my lesson. even Miss Kasthoori had realized that the students were really into the lesson. however, if I were to do my simulated teaching, I would have improved on my while-reading worksheet as to help students not to be confused. overall I was pretty pleased to be able to finish my task and got a rather encouraging comments from Miss Kasthoori.

The English Guru That I Long To Be

Any of my friends would have thought that i would be comfortable with the ideas of teaching at any school in Malaysia. but did you know what i have always been dreamed of? i dream of teaching in a very secluded area away from Malaysia. i wish to be at the top of Himalaya Valley of Gobi desert and teach innocent-looking students under the clear blue sky. With the earth as our chair and no desks. i wish to teach this students who know nothing about English, later would be able to understand that a red thing with a round shape is called 'apple', a round thing being kicked around by the boys is 'ball'. i wish to be a teacher to this natives. with no system required of sequential method. no particular set induction or whatsoever. but still i have to face the reality. i can't be delude like Blance DuBois living in my own fantasy land. the reality that i have to face is this- teaching the Malaysians under the Malaysian's education system. No freedom to express myself or else I will end up in ISA.
like Frost's Stopping By Woods in A Snowy Evening, my journey to be a good English teacher is way ahead of me.

And miles to go before I sleep
And miles to go before I sleep...

Scriptwriting For Dummies

It took awhile for fila, murni and I to be able to come up with characters, plot, and the theme that we wanted to write for our first draft to make it interesting to be read. looking back on the night the three of us were camping in together, cups of tea being brewed by our sides to keep us awake, we were all facing our laptop, looking like professional writers but yet, if you could manage to get the view of our Word document, you would find the page is nothing but a blank ones. it was funny to think of how we spent quiet a number of moments being having the difficulty to find ideas or in plain words- we had been struck with writers' block. the limitation of just 3 characters were a bit disturbing because we could not develop the story the way we wanted it to be. our first idea was to write a story about an Indian boy, Suresh who has the hots for a Malay girl, Maya. The idea of calling the hero as Suresh had heated us up for he is one of our friends and he is such a good looking man we could not resist from using his name. then we came up with a Malay name was a bit stumbled. we had been changing one name to another for quite a number of times. at last, Maya. the name of my persian cat. the kind of story that we had wanted to write was like this,
Suresh is a wealthy boy comes from a family who runs a dhobi bussiness meanwhile Maya is an ordinary kampung girl. they had been met by a twist of fate and later fall in love. but the obstacle had come from the family.
It had been our initial draft. but later we were so puzzled as to how to develop the characters that we ended up with something altogether different- a story of Mimi the softie!
I had come up with the ideas from the background that I got from studying in an all-boys school. Being surrounded with boys had taught me enough about these minor group which may seem not that important but actually had very interesting story behind them.
at last we came up with the final draft -Emancipation of Mimi. Which was taken after Mariah Carey's album.

Many faces of Teiresias

Who was Teiresias? Was he the one who was blinded by the gods for the fact that he couldn't keep his mouth shut and had to blurt out all the secrets of the gods. which in return he was being blinded by them. or was he the peeping Tom who had seen Athena being naked? the history of Teiresias is an ambiguous one and no one knows for sure who Teiresias really was. studying the characteristics of Teiresias was an enjoyable ones. The way Teiresias is portrayed is through the use of irony in order to show him as a physically blind but metaphorically sighted. In the earlier scene, the first appearance of Teiresias is shown as a physically blind prophet. Though his disability is visible, he is not underestimated by people around him; in fact he is respected even by Oedipus himself, by recognizing him as a ‘seer, student of mysteries, Of all that’s taught and all that no man tells, secrets of Heaven and secrets of the earth’.

KL PAC VIRGIN i am NOT Part 2!

The Chinese guy who was acting as Hamlet was very good-looking and at that moment I couldn’t help from saying to myself- ‘it’s worth skipping class for’. As for the Ophelia, the moment she walked in, I’ve been transported into a time machine, being rewound at 6 years ago, realizing that she was the senior in our debate team at our girl’s school. I’ve had always known her as Lam Hui Ling, but now she’s been known as Sharon Lam. It was a refreshing view to see hamlet and Ophelia being keeping in touch in a not-so—conservative-ways. One would have expected they would snail mail with a wax initial being stamped on it. But no. Ever imagine Hamlet using notebook and PDA? Ever had the notions that Ophelia may read his letter through email and SMSes? It’s a good way, a breather for a heavy play like Hamlet to be given a modern twist into. It’s a little bit dragged but there was a part that I’m pretty sure none of my course mates would have ever forgotten about it. Even I don’t. Too. Where in the world could you watch Hamlet to call Ophelia in the middle of the night, not just to express his love and passion but his bodily… secretion, too, I may say? It was hilarious and I was embarrassed to watch the scene but couldn’t strain myself from looking away. The first time he was just expressing his love-yous and miss-yous, but the next thing that I knew, his hands had gone to a place which needs not to be caressed in the public. His eyes had that sultry look only a pervert would succeed in doing so and his talk had changed into, throbbing, thrusting and twisting? What in the world was that for?! As the hall was still ‘steamed’ with laughters, Hamlet goes out of stage and returns with nothing but a pair of old-worn grey boxers! The hall was even more ‘heated’ seeing him wearing that. He kept on expressing his primeval needs as a male to Ophelia who’s been listening with a rather puzzled look. It was such a disturbing sight once Hamlet put his hand inside his boxer and began doing You-Know-What. It was embarrassing but still it gave life to an almost dreary play. So that was how my first experience of watching theater. I am no longer a theater virgin nor KL PAC virgin. I am officially consummated with theater.

P/S -Though the play had ended, there was another played being staged outside. By us. If you ever had the chance to watch Slumdog Millionaire, the time when those two rascals were chased by the bandits but managed to get away with it, at the nick of time with the help of a moving train, you would find us in the same situation. =)

KL PAC VIRGIN i am NOT!

When I was born, I wasn’t aware whether I’ve been given a middle name or not for when I’ve grown up, I come to realize that maybe, maybe I have a middle name. And that middle name is P.R.O.C.R.A.S.T.I.N.A.T.O.R. Once again I had skipped a koku class, all in the name of theater. I skipped the class and took a long journey back to Sentul with my course mates to KL PAC. KL Pac is a place that an amateur photographer would have fallen in love with. Though it’s been countless of times that I had been queuing up to buy the movie ticket at GSC or TGV, it was the first time for me to buy the ticket to watch theatre. I had a fair share of an entirely different experience when buying the ticket. At the TGV, or GSC, I would have had to wait for ages just to buy movie tickets for two. But here, I could just easily breeze through the counter without any hassle. Even had the privilege of watching Faridah Merican feeding her three castrated fat cats. I was a bit surprise to see that she is actually a small-built woman. Now I understand why people keep saying ‘camera adds more pounds’. We watched a Shakespeare’s play which was given a modern twist to it -The Secret Love Life of Ophelia. Aysen and I were lucky enough to get into the hall earlier because we could choose the best sits, closer with the actors. In fact we were sitting next to Joe Hafsham and Faridah Merican too. The atmosphere was so quite that I had to make an extra effort just to avoid the crinkly sound of a sweet wrapper.

-to be continued-

Soften the 'beast' out of every human

Theater is the place that has the power to unite people together. People watch theater in order to find the escapism that they need in dire of, in order to get away with the hassle after a long slaving away at work or university. For those who doesn't know the essense to appreciate art nor culture, is a wasted one i might say. we watch theater in order to be reminded of humanity, which i think we seem to be lack of in these days. the humanity that is hidden behind the performance is what make us appreciate life more. humanity reminds the people to be humble of our very existence. spending a bit of your time to watch theater doesn't need a grand effort as you may think. People often think that watching theater is only for the upper middle class, the hoity-toity in an Armani suit or Prada heels, those who have no care in the world, with a secured millions in their Swiss account. Just because the ticket is priced at RM 50 or more, it doesnt mean you could still have the same stigma theater is meant for the riches only. Theater has the supremacy to inform people how culture is important. we might be at the pinnacle of technology but we need art in order to give meaning in our lives . it softens the 'beast' out of every human. not making us barbaric or just a plain meat of mammal. As for me, watching theater is never out of date.

Walk like a star

Everything is possible when you are taught by Dr Edwin. Who would have thought when you are reading the text, the next moment you knew, you are asked to come up to the stage and walk like Oedipus. It was hilarious as we had the chance to see many versions of Oedipus, some would walk and pause, and address the people with a rather majestic way. we were all like 'aww....', being captivated with the brilliant interpretation of Oedipus. Some would slowly walk to the stage, not knowing what to do but smile. Haha! While the others were 'busy' showing their best interpretation of Oedipus, Dr Edwin could not stop from giving amusing comments till we just had to die laughing our hearts out. By the time it was my turn to walk, my mind went blank, i just had no idea of how Oedipus would walk, forgetting the fact that i had just come across the line which described Oedipus as having club feet. While i was walking along the stage, Dr Edwin couldn't resist making a bored face as to see me walking cheerfully up on the stage with my hand waving hello. imagine Oedipus waving hello to the Thebans? right after we fools settled in, Dr Edwin had revealed that none of us was right. Oedipus has club foot, he would have been limply walking with a staff. the first class that we had with Dr. Edwin was a promising start, knowing that they would be more to come, and so much to learn.