Rehearsal 4, 10 February 2020

2pm – 6pm

Rumah P7:1SMA & Stamford Arts Centre Black Box

The song list has been finalised to 15, and the collaborators worked on the UK segment of the performance. The segment is in a tableau format, where they will slowly come together to replicate historic scenes from the arrival of the British. For now, they took cues from a small whiteboard which states the sequence of moments to portray.

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The scenes in the UK segment.

In the last scene they are portraying, which included a photo being taken, the collaborators highlighted that in the past, the subjects had expressionless faces and did not smile, even if it was a happy and momentous occasion. After which, Haizad informed the collaborators of the finalised song list as well as the props and structure in each segment.

At this point, the sequence and structure of songs is:

1) Samudera: Empty, with only the song playing in the background.

2) Scan: The collaborators will come in with their containers which contain their props.

3) UK: Tableau format.

4) New Boyz: Still in a draft; mainly taking inspiration from Kung Fu Hustle, People’s Action Party, morning workout, possibly in an imitasi format.

5) Umbrella: Malay folk dance with umbrellas.

6) Medicine: Bomoh, nasi kangkang: squirting of menstrual blood into rice, corpse coming to life, each collaborator trying to put spells on each other.

7) Slam: A game, where the loser will get hit using pillows.

8) Spoon: Cooking and consuming instant noodles, using a silver spoon.

9) Search: Contemporary dance piece, with a bit of lyrical.

10) Exist: Sitting in the center of the stage, longing, missing.

11) Alleycats: Drug addicts and the portrayal of different effects.

12) Screen: Still to be decided.

13) Iklim: Holding water in their mouths, each building up in intensity with a movement from Malay folk dance.

14) Fotograf: Lying down as slides of photos play overhead.

15) Bumi Putera Rockers: European curtain call.

The collaborators then went down to the black box at level 2 for their site recce as well as some preliminary stage blocking. The space is a lot bigger than Rumah, so the collaborators took some time to plan their positions and get more acquainted with the area.

Haizad led an imitasi exercise to which he then revealed is a draft for the New Boyz segment. They then went on to rehearse the Umbrella segment, as a stage mark since they already had access to the space. Lastly, they rehearsed the Alleycats segment, for Haizad to familiarise himself, with Hasyimah guiding from the side.

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Getting acquainted with the performance space.

Observational thoughts from the site recce:

- With the space being a lot larger than the studio, the collaborators will either be more distant from the audience or will not be using the whole space.

- Their expressions will be harder to see, otherwise they would have to exaggerate and magnify.

o Is that deliberate, to perhaps represent how Malay issues are going unnoticed and will only be seen if given closer attention?

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The collaborators are distant both physically and metaphorically from the audience.

Before ending off the rehearsal, the collaborators had a final debrief:

- Jiwang is inspired by Jerome Bell.

- YouTube audio quality is not the best when compared to Spotify. However the transitions between songs can be better controlled.

- Intention of what Haizad envisions; to perform the irony.

o To be funny without being funny/comical.

§ Portray the element of funny through seriousness.

o Clash can be confusing.

o Movements are not necessarily according to the songs.

o He is interested in the self-searching journey.

- The plan and purpose of the preview

o It is not too late in the process to allow time for considering the input.

o Relationship with stage performance and projection.

o To have insights from a dramaturgical eye.

- nCov advisory

o Predicted to fluctuate through February and subside by March.

o All showings will be cancelled if DORSCON goes to red.

o Mail will be engaged to take the temperature of the audience.

o Emphasis on personal hygiene; to rest at home if feeling unwell.

o Jiwang is a work-in-progress, which may be shown in Esplanade in 2021

- The next rehearsal will be in costume.

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The end of the site recce and preliminary stage blocking.