Shakespeare Walla

At the first time I heard about Shakespeare Walla, I thought the movie contains of collections of Shakespeare’s play like Midsummer Nights’ Dream, Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth and etc. I never thought that it would be something that involving those people in Indian until it was mention by Dr Edwin before my classmates and I were given a task to watch that movie.

The next thing that I found out is I used to guess that Walla is another kind of Shakespeare’s language just like any other words in his play until a friend of mine mention that she found in the internet that Walla is an English words and it means dedication of life to something as if you’re a slave to it. Another friend of mine said that she found out that the director of Shakespeare Walla defines Walla as a Hindustani word which means a small-time operator or anyone closely identified with something.
In this movie, the Buckingham family is the one who dedicates their lives to Shakespeare’s pieces of arts.

Shakespeare’s play seems to be everything for Buckingham’s family lives. They even rely only on acting Shakespeare’s play for living. Shakespeare Walla is a story of the Buckingham’s family that loves Shakespeare’s play so much. They become like nomad and never settle down in a place for so long since they want to perform the play almost every place in India. Something that I keep question is why are these people performing Shakespeare in India? A place Shakespeare not belongs to. If I were in the Indian people shoes at that time, I will too watch Hindi movie rather than Shakespeare. Plus, I would understand Hindi movie better than Shakespeare.

I also think that Sanju is an example of a man that does not appreciates arts and values and that is why he is a playboy and does not stick with one women; either Lizzie or Manjula. Lizzie has made a good decision by going back to London as Sanju never gives an answer to her although she is willing to do anything for him. To me, it is somehow just like the Buckingham, where they are willing to do anything to perform Shakespeare in India but nobody wants to watch it as what it used to be. They don’t know the value of Shakespeare in their society.

Mak Yong

What is actually Mak Yong? As what have I found in the internet from this address, http://asia.cnet.com/music/0,39058993,39263405p,00.htm Mak Yong is an ancient dance-theatre form incorporating the elements of ritual, stylized dance and acting, vocal and instrumental music, story, song, formal as well as improvised spoken text.It is performed principally in the state of Kelantan, Malaysia. Many theories have been advanced to explain the genre's origins, though it's generally acknowledged that it's deeply rooted in animism as well as shamanism. Today, the genre is performed in three basic styles:
(a) As non-ritual theatre for entertainment per se,
(b) As ritual theatre associated with healing and done in combination with the shamanistic main puteri; and
(c) As urban commercial theatre. Briefly early in the present century, an unsuccessful attempt was made in Kelantan to create a palace version of mak yong.

The mak yong orchestra is made up of a three-stringed spiked fiddle (rebab), a pair of double-headed barrel drums (gendang) and a pair of hanging knobbed gongs (tetawak) while the genre's musical repertoire consists of approximately thirty pieces, most of them accompanied by singing and dancing. No stage-properties and few simple hand-properties are used. In mak yong, the male lead role (pak yong) is conventionally played by female performers. In addition there are the following roles: the female lead (mak yong); a pair of clowns (peran), a pair of female attendants (inang) as well as a wide range of lesser roles including those of gods and spirits, orges or giants, palace functionaries and animals. The mak yong repertoire consists of a dozen or so stories, still existing in the oral tradition, dealing with the adventures of gods or mythical kings. The principal and earliest story in the mak yong repertoire, entitled 'Dewa Muda', has tremendous spiritual significance. Mak yong performances last from about 9.00pm to midnight, and it takes several nights to complete a story.

Although I am a Kelantanese, born and raised up in Kelantan, I don’t really like Mak Yong. I think Mak Yong is something noisy and irritating. I said that because it usually was played in the middle of the night. Well, isn’t night is should be a time that all us have a rest after working hard a day long? However, different people judged it differently as we are different in our own way.

anike

For the whole of my life, Anike is the first play that I have ever watched in the theatre. At first time that me and my classmates are assigned to watch Anike, I were quite excited added with some curiosity as most of my friends don’t even know where is the place of the play will be held. Luckily, I and some of my friends went there by a van, owned by a boy in the class. So, the journey to that place wasn’t so much a problem to me as others have to go there by at least two types of public transportation which are commuter and the KL monorail.

We reached the SGM building a little bit late due to the traffic jammed but luckily I have read half of the play, so I didn’t really missed it up. But I it is still a pity as I missed how they first entered the stage.

My first impression is that it is so real! Well, I have never been to such place. I kept thinking what will happen if there was a mistake even if a simple mistake? Well, as what have I used to see in a movie or drama, they redo the same part until it turns alright according to the script.

Based on what I see from the play, Maniaka’s throne seemed not to be like a king throne. It’s just a simple throne where it looks like he was just sitting on a simple chair as I expected it to be much grand. Another thing that I want to raised up is when Anike spoke, they used a red light which means, I cant really sees her. The lights focused more on Maniaka. Is it because of he is the king so the lights have to be at him even though he was not saying anything? Other of the props that I think is looks so real is the death body of Nadim. Some of my friends are afraid of it but at the end, we found out that it was just a pillow with a dolphin head! Aren’t they brilliant in such props?

I guessed my first theatre have given me some idea what it was like in the theatre and the casting crew. The comfortable situation in the theatre some time makes me and some of my friends dozed off. However, it is a good experience to me.

tiresias

Honestly, I did not know what Tiresias is. Worse, I never heard about it until the day I learn EDU 3217. Thank you to Dr Edwin as because of him, I at least get to know what is actually Tiresias.

What is actually Tiresias? My first thought is that he is might be something that important or influnce in the Christianity. Well, from what have I found in the internet, through the address; http://library.thinkquest.org/26264/inhabitants/demons/site106.html

Tiresias is a blind yet one of the most famous soothsayers of his time. He plays a role in the Oedipal drama as well as the events happening to the family of Thebes. He predicts the campaign of The Seven Against Thebes and that Thebes would obtain victory if King Creon’s Menoeceus is sacrificed. When he is a young boy he comes upon two mating snakes on a mountain. Tiresias pesters them by wounding them and separating them and is thus punished by being turned into a woman. Seven years later the same event occurs and Tiresias is turned into a man again. One day Zeus and Hera are fighting about Zeus’ infidelity. Hera also claims the male species enjoys sex more than women. They call for Tiresias since he has been both sexes. Tiresias reveals that women’s enjoyment of sex reaches level nine out of ten while men only reach the first. Hera is furious with Tiresias for revealing the secrets of a woman and blinds him in rage. Zeus consoles him by granting him the gift of prophecy and a life span seven times that of an of an ordinary mortal. Tiresias dies when he drinks from a lake that turns out to be frozen and leaves behind the prophetess Manto. Even though he is dead, Tiresias is able to advise Odysseus when the latter comes to the Underworld on his way home to Ithaca.

In the play Antigone, I can see that Tiresias do play an important role as he some kind like a reminder or prophet for Creon. However, in the play, Creon ignored him as Creon thinks that he is more powerful than Tiresias. Lastly, Creon is the one that has lost the things that he loves most due to the stubbornness in him. Here, we can see the importance of Tiresias in Creon’s life and may be someone that can be a reminder to us in our life.