The Day.

Show number 1: Dec 2th, Friday night - 8.30pm

well, the opening night of JULIUS CAESAR has now come to pass. and what a night.

it started innocently enough. didn't have any nightmares about tripping over lines and etc. had sound sleep. and woke up at 10.15 am on the dot. went for lunch with some good 'ole form 6 friends since one of 'em is leaving the country for a year or so. came back home. bummed around - watched a little tv, jammed with my guitar for a bit ... and come 4 pm, i left to pick up a fellow actor, Roshan. had a drink at sentosa mamak stalls - then met up with Colin and Calvyn at the latter's house at 5.15 pm.

the 4 of us are taking turns to drive and car-pooling for the duration of the play.

call time at KLPAc is 6 pm. we managed to get there just in time. the whole cast then did a warm up session together. and then all of us got into costumes and got *mic'd up (the mics aren't at full level and the actors still need to fully project their voices in order to be heard). once mic'd up - we went through sound checks with the sound guys.

then we got our notes from our director, Joe.

this was then followed by a period of silence. all the actors kinda went their own way ... preparing for their own role. nobody spoke to each other. and this went on for about 3o minutes or so (but it felt a whole lot longer!).

most of the day, i was quite relaxed and calm - more than i thought i should be in fact. but when it came to those last few moments - my heart was racing and my palms became sweaty. the butterflies finally hit me. and this was evident right from the get-go for even in the opening scene, which is a scene in which i do almost nothing - my heart felt like it was beating its way right out of my chest!

my first entrance to my speaking scene was not executed as well i as hoped. the moment i walked off stage from that 1st entrance, i immediately knew myself that i was not projecting my voice enough. and i found this out later to be true. i consciously raised my level for my next few entrances but apparently, i was still not as loud as i could have been. i hope to remedy this for my next few shows.

also, my final scene, in which i rush on to the stage and witness my Lord Brutus about to kill himself. it basically goes like this, i rush on to the stage and Brutus and i share a *look, i realise what he's about to do, i get down on one knee and kiss his hand (wielding the dagger he is going to use) as a farewell gesture and i run off the stage again.

i f**ked up by taking too much time with the *look ... aih...

anyway, joe did not give us any notes about the show that night. for it was followed by a post opening night reception with lots of wine, whiskey, a little beer and some nuts and crackers. met a lot of the local theater/tv personalities ... Ben Tan, Nell Ng, Afdlin Shauki ... i didn't really talk much. i'm really lousy at these sort of social stuff ... i end up just standing by myself in some corner most of the time. once in a while, somebody calls to me and i sit with them - but still don't say much.

oh well, maybe i'll get used to these sort of things ... eventually. :)

Ok lah - that's more or less my 1st night. overall, i believe it was a good night. and the performance was of a relatively high standard. and i guess that is what counts.

rights ... will add on more if anything else comes to mind.

later ... the commonjack.