Third Post

Again, we had to change the story and concept, because we didnt get Ms Norzian's approval. Thus , we have changed the story to one that has got to do with poltitics of identity.And in this case, we have decided to touch upon the topic of gender in the society.

Why did we choose gender issue?
We consulted Ms Norzian about our previous storyline but she said that we didnt really connect the story with 'Politics of Identity'. As such, she also said that we HAVE to stick to the theme of the assessment, only then we willl be assessed easily and pehaps, score better. Moreover, the idea sturck us when she gave us an analogy about how roles could be 'exchanged' between opposite sex. Eg. A girl paying the Bill during a date. Also, since topics like homosexuality and trasngenders are a taboo in the society, perhaps we could perform something related to gender issue.

What did we come up with finally?
We decided to stick with the idea of situations,since we are doing mime as our skill.However, we changed the stories. There will be a total of 4 scenes. They are: Restaurant scene, House Affair scene, Hiking scene, and a Shopping scene. All 4 scenes will show clearly how certain moves of actions are done, which are supposedly should be done by the opposite sex. The DV would be how certain gender stereotyping in the society are commonly seen, but which are not entirely true. The decided costume would be black and white stripes, and the make-up is decided to be same for all character(face painted white). We would be able to play with our expressions more.

Were there problems trying to do the scenes chosen?
YES!!! Definitely! We wanted our play to be as funny as possible since it is a comedic play. HOWEVER, in every scene, it is sometimes difficult to think of funny elements to be injected into the scene unless we do some stupid actions. For example, because we lacked of ideas on what to mime out that makes it funny, we used some common/similar stage directions for some scenes. The use of sneezing occurs in 2 scenes, Restaurant and House affair. Also, falling down is a common action we used in some scenes too. Moreover, given our inadequate experience about mime, we also faced the problem of 'not miming', but instead simply doing the actions. Lastly, our rehearsals are mostly after school hours and therefore, we usually get tired easily after some mimng exercises. We just realized that miming is more tiring and exhausting than dancing. It involves the mind and the body!!!!!

What do you think could be improved in the future?
1. I think that the scenes should be adjusted to show the DV more. Because right now, from my own perspective, there are 1 or 2 scenes which i think have not really brought the idea on the DV.
2. As a group, we should contribute during rehearsal more because we seriously lacked ideas on waht to do sometimes. We are doing MIME!!!!! MIME!! so difficult to think of all the movements and actions...!!! And yes, we should also maintain good physical stamina, because(especially me haha)i tend to get tired easily after 2 or 3 hours of rehearsal.

ANY other comments:
As a whole, i think we made vast imrovements and progress! We can mak it!!!!! :)