Dark Garden

Friday, October 24, 2008

HIC was just...Overwhelming.

And IGCSE was...Anti-climatic.

HIC ended with a bang once again. Although I can't really say "again" considering this HIC to be the first I've attended. So like you all know, I was casted as the evil creature/alter-ego. And Xujun the judge! It was rough I must say..The past week and all. But I think we did fine. Definitely not the best we could have achieved but overall as long as I saw my juniors trying, I'm satisfied. Nothing went on smoothly...even on the day itself. There was some conflict over the coats and all and Sherwin walked off in the afternoon right before my IGCSE. And thankfully he came back after IGCSE if not I'd have one more thing to worry about other than a horridly attempted IGCSE. And of course, Theron must have aced it although he doesn't admit so. Let's curse Lit Xian and Sean-erps-Lai. Ok fine, I'm just jealous of Lit Xian.

And I now see Mrs Lina Yong's true power. One word and she shut all the sec 1s up. Or the entire room for that matter. But she can be really nice, like when Hubert was blatantly bashing us for the really repulsive runs during rehearsals, she was still smiling and all. And then she talked to us rather cordially and worked on our mistakes one by one, offered suggestions etc. She also kept encouraging us and all. Really really inspiring. Of course, throughout HIC preparation, I see Vernon has also been trying but still...His popularity level remains stagnant unfortunately. But Vernon can be something that gels us together. Merely 5 minutes before we were called up backstage to prepare, we were doing vocal warm-ups and we all had to say one of our lines. So I suggested using Vernon as the subject. And instantly everyone became super-psyched.

Extrait:

Me: Vernon...You know you are Vermin...
Xujun: No! Vernon! He's only dead! Not missing!
Lie Jun: What have I done? Vernon is dead!
Russell: Oh please Vernon...Do you think you're that good a director?
Yang Long: Maybe you should just quit directing and go home!
Yuan Cheng: Don't worry, we don't go around talking about people who've been dead for 2 decades.
Yupei: Mati Vernon! (because Xujun said police officers from npcc speak malay)
I forgot what Suhas said sorry!

And Miss Grace Chua FILMED IT! I loved that part most! And then there was makeup before that. Vernon's suggestions were horrible. Most aesthetically-unpleasant. He suggested black and purple...Some sort of darigan complex he has I guess. And so I had black and purple eyeshadow applied, turning me into someone who had just been punched in the eye. And thankfully Miss Susan Soh had the sense to suggest green. Which I immediately obliged to of course. I thought it was quite weird. Overboard and it made me look like the Green snake from Madam White Snake. Anyway, everyone who looked at me in LT3 got the initial shock then laughed and said I was creepy. Chern Yuen said I looked "very evil". Good. Then they powdered my face and much as they could but that sort of dirtied the suit I was wearing because the powder caused some white patches on it. And then I had my eyebrows darkened...Wore this magenta lipstick which was the darkest colour they could find since I requested Black or dark green. And finally the eyeliner which Miss Soh used to draw lines from the edges of my eyes to sort of extend them to make them look sharper and longer. And creepier I guess. But Chomz said that had the added side effect of making me look gay, which I fully agreed upon. Some of us weren't quite prepared nor familiar with voice projection yet but we staged the play anyway. And I have to say I thought it went on pretty smoothly. Great to see the improvement and all that we've worked on. Of course the audience was rather desultory at their choice of parts to laugh at. When Chun Kit was dying they laughed. I suppose that was because of the overly fake "death process". Then they laughed when I appeared. Perhaps my makeup was comical. Then went "ooooo" when I fell. No idea why. Then in the court scene when Xujun said "FINE", they laughed again. Probably because of Xujun's shrill voice.

And the shock of the day came from winning "Best Actor"! We were quite crestfallen and all after all the minor awards were given out and we didn't win any with Bus Stop sweeping and The Biting Point too. And the Sec 2 play won "Best Music"???? So when the "Best Supporting Actor" was given out, we just clapped. Then "Best Actress" was from Gregory's play - Kah How's wife. Then voila, I got "Best Actor". Really really shocking because I was told I couldn't be nominated for it.

But I'm just glad Vindicare (our play) won something. No flowers of course. Anyone who knew me would know better to give me snipped versions of my babies at their prime. But I thought Mr. Samuel Lim deserved my award after watching the HIC 2008 video montage haha. He was just so...natural yes. Evoking emotion while he cried. Now that was QUALITY. And I missed greg's play, as in the real deal...I missed Bus Stop. I never watched the Sec 2 play to start with, not even rehearsals but from what I hear...And I missed Mr. Samuel Lim dancing in Who Moved My Cheese! And Ephraim's milkshake thingy! Sigh...the disadvantages of being the last play...

Oh yes and I was surprised by who turned up. Like my french classmate...Nicole from the MUN sabbatical...My primary school friend Sylvia...Just when I thought only those from Hwa Chong would know me. Excluding Xue Wei of course. Haha I could see you at the front. Did Xujun approach you? I never knew HIC would be so grueling and well, only one word to describe it now - fun! Dynamic...Explosive...Poignant? Trying definitely. Be it relationships...discipline...endurance. Drama's the key. Oh well, but I guess I can only be restricted to deep dark roles. I'd probably fail at those full of compassion and benevolence.

Thanks to Chomz for you call and sorry for the abrupt ending of it. And Theron for your sms. Xue Wei for the chocolates again! And for being there! And the many others for the felicitations.

*Curtain call*

Dark Memories[5:42 PM]

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