Seen.By.Ice.Queen: coming to my senses

As mentioned in my previous post, i was at the press con of The Tempest on 31 March at The Swiss Hotel, Singapore. Anyway, went to watch The Tempest at Esplanade Theatre on 3rd April.

I thought hard. Really hard about how I was going to discuss the experience watching this play. The most straightforward thing you will probably ask me is, "Did you enjoy it?" The simple answer. "Yes"

Why then the difficulty in trying to write this piece? Well, first of all, I din want anyone reading this thinking, "Ya, well, you wanna look arty farty, like you appreciate the sophistication of the literary world, that's why you have to say you enjoyed it." In fact, i am telling the truth. OK, I was not blown away but you know what? I did enjoy the play.

OK, digress to the time when i got the tickets and was trying to find someone to go with me. My usual date for such plays was busy with pre-Easter religious commitments (who am i to fight with the Almighty one :P) and was hence unable to attend the play with moi. So i started going through my mind's list of who I should be asking to the play. Whilst i can go alone, and mind you, i am not someone who needs constant companionship, i did want to have someone to ask for his/her input.

Asked one of my theatre pals to go but he was going to the Friday show so he was out. At the same time, i din wanna just ask anyone. Not that i snoot at the 'non-artistic beings'. Nooo... I am less artsy than you can imagine (if you were imagining me to be a literary queen) It's just that I want the person to at least have a shot at enjoying the play too.

You understand my concern through this excerpt of a typical conversation when i try to ask someone to watch this play with me..
me: eh u free sat nite to watch The Tempest with me?
potential date: har? waddat?
me: ehem... Shakespeare play la.. never hear before meh? The bridge project la. SRT co-commissioned the project blah blah.....
potential date: er.... never hear.. but Shakespeare very cheem (translation: deep/difficult to understand) leh. later i go there sleep how?
me: so u wanna go or not?
and i move on to the next potential date a few more times...

Well, in the end, I asked a girlfriend who's known to appreciate things beyond just popular culture (and i reiterate that i mean no snootiness in this comment).

Fast forward to the play, 10 mins into the play, i caught my date yawning from the corner of my right eye. "Bad news... i thought to myself. It's only 10 mins.. there's another 2 hours to go. How's she gonna last."

But before i knew it, i was too absorbed by whatever was going on onstage to actually worry about my date (sorry babe..)

I remembered Thomas Sadoski's comment about Sam Mendes taking a well balanced approach between literary and visual artistic perspectives in his direction for this play and I tried to find that. To be honest, I did not. The sets were simple and the style of dialogue was kept true to its originator.

But therein lies the beauty of this play. It sucks you in with it's beautifully crafted dialogue, wherein lies the puns and witticism of William Shakespeare. On the flipside, therein lies the pain of being able to appreciate this play. If you go in without the slightest hint of an idea what the play is about, you're in for trouble... or sleepy stupor (like my date haa..).

The thing about The Tempest is that there is just tooooooooo many characters involved. So following the play without prior introduction to the literature is quite a challenge. Also, the play is very heavy on dialogue and not so much of physical representation. Hence, if you are challenged with accents, you may also find it difficult to follow and understand what is going on. Most of the times, the characters were running around a single circular sandy canvas (that's the island).

However, if you've had a pre-empt on the gist of the piece, you will be able to appreciate the simplicity of the set. Honestly, the story is set on the island. How complicated do you want the set to be? If every piece of rock was detailed, it leaves nothing to the imagination.

That is essentially the beauty that theatre can choose to deliver, compared to movies. In a movie, nothing is left to the imagination because it is meant to be a visual stimulant. Theatre on the other hand can choose to be that bridge from text to action. It allows room for your imagination to roam where theatrics chooses to leave it out.

Anyway, back to The Tempest, my suggestion to you, my dear friend, if you are planning on catching it while it runs at Esplanade Theatre, is to do yourself and Sam Mendes a favor. At least get a copy of the program and read it before the play begins.

My fav bits...

• when Stepheno enters and stumbles upon a queer 'monster'.
  
• when Trinculo, Stepheno and Caliban got into a drunken song and dance together.
  
• the wedding celebration of Ferdinand and Miranda

My date's fav bits (yes she did have some)...

• the dance routine at the wedding of Ferdinand and Miranda
• the music

Disappointments...

• Lack of theatrics for the storm that brought the characters to the setting.
• With the traveling crew, I was honestly hoping for more visually spectacular costumes.
• I was expecting the sorcery of Prospero to be played out but sadly, it was almost non-existent.
  

But well, as said very well by Ron Cephas Jones at the press con, everyone has their own theme and interpretation of what The Tempest is. I guess I was expecting a thunderstorm whereas Sam Mendes sought to represent it in tranquility. So tell me what your theme is after you watch it!

The Tempest runs in Singapore's Esplanade Theatre from 2nd to 10th April. Tickets start at $55 and can be purchased at SISTIC.