Samuel Beckett: Precious Little- Stage Performance by World In Theatre
This was the second play production that the ELECTROLITS went to since last year's MACBETH. It was staged by the same theater company, World In Theatre and directed yet again by MACBETH'S Shelly Quick. Enthusiasm and expectation were very high as last year's MACBETH had our imaginations captured and our impressions of theatre-going was changed.
The moment I entered the theatre, the atmosphere was still as everyone was in place waiting for the play to start. I also could not visually see anything as the theatre was in total darkness. I sat on the soft-cushioned chair, leaned back, and comfortably adjusted my sitting position so that hopefully I can enjoy the play better.
The lights were dimmed, and I felt clueless of what was going to happen next. Suddenly, a loud scream came piercing through my ear drums, and my heart started beating faster. Then, pictures started appearing from the wide screen through a projector, controlled by the media crew. Pictures of garbage, empty cans, cardboards and dirty floors were screened and it was scored by hypnotic and upbeat percussive music. The first scene then started....review by UMAR B. TAHIR
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posted by 3F @ 8:31 PM
1 Comments:
In the second scene, there were two female actresses who purely mimed two different sides of people going about their daily life. One was clearly showing that she was always looking forward into what’s coming up next. The act of her brushing her teeth, indicated to me that she cared for cleanliness. The fact that she enjoyed her breakfast full-heartedly showed that she was not fussy. She was also trying to be punctual at all cost, as she kept looking at the time every moment before she does something. On the other hand, the actress who played the mime in the first scence, showed that she was always not looking forward to facing her life. It dawned upon me that she might have gotten herself into a rut and faced the possibility of a dull future. She woke up from her bed as though she did not have enough rest and she did not brush her teeth. Basically all her actions were antithetical of the other actress who was looking forward to her life. Overall, I enjoyed scene two, and I think both the actresses did a good job. I also enjoyed the funky music played on the background which made me wanted to groove to the beat too. The lightings were also appropriate for that seen.
By the ending scene, my thoughts and hopes were dashed. The third scene was extremely dull! For the past 30 minutes or so, a male actor simply sat transfixed to a bed hardly saying anything. Instead his thoughts were I presumed projected to audio narrations I found that the narrations without movements and actions were a complete failure. The “stoned” actor, the audio narrations and the projected visuals were strongly disconnected and left little impression and impact. I think that if the narration and movements were held together, the last scene would be an interesting one. I found the last scene thrilling NOT! The last 30 minutes we were virtually left with stagnancy and nothing much happening: just narration and visuals and a “dummy” actor which did not do anything to stimulate or stir any satisfying response.
I have to say what we saw that night was a complete DEPARTURE from what we saw in MACBETH. I guess most of us were astounded by the amazing performance of Macbeth last year; from its cast to its memorable use of of music (live, actual violins especially) and the fact that Quick made Macbeth very accessible to newbies like me.. I guess most of us were having the same expectation: we wanted to be BLOWN AWAY by yet another stellar performance.
This time around, the staging of Beckett's " PRECIOUS LITTLE " was vastly different from MACBETH. I think SHELLEY QUICK had picked a playwright and play that was not very accessible perhaps for us; maybe at this point in time. But we had to appreciate her attempt to experiment as an artiste and director with her stagecraft: otherwise she would be easily typecasted. I guess we have to have this in mind :)
I think in this play only if you are a follower of Beckett's works would you be able to appreciate what was staged...as we know Beckett's plays are CONTROVERSIALLY-known for NO ACTION....NOTHING HAPPENS (such as his play WAITING FOR GODOT)....actors given minimal lines, act in bare setting and nothing really much happens in plot....agonizing AUDIENCES to a kind of terminal ennui.
Although the play ended in a VERY and I mean VERY boring ending, I did learn something. I had to bear in mind that Ms Quick was trying to experiment with her stage craft and that I think this excursion in itself was a great mind-opener to students, after stressing out on the Mid-year’s paper. After all, how can we study Literature and not be exposed with the experience of watching a play.
Reviewed by: Umar B Tahir
Additional Reporting: Mr Mohamad
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