Art and Plays
Exams have yet to start and I’m already partying. Incredible. But then again, that’s me. A rebel at the worst possible times ever. Tsk.
And what initially began with the intention to blog about my fabulous social life *snorts*, yours truly merely got lazy and is simply gonna blog about two things she went for over the weekend. Just because.
First up was the Andy Warhol exhibit: A is for Andy in which I dragged a half-asleep Nina one fine Sunday morning to see. And yes, I’m in love with his work. Okay, so I’ve always been a fan of his, but to actually see his work live is something else altogether. Okay, so it’s always something else, I realise. Hehe
I would simply loovvvee to own a piece of his work. But as the curator rattled on the prices of the paintings, I realise it will take eons before I could ever afford an Andy Warhol to keep. Sighs. Wouldn’t it be nice to be rich? Then I would have a lovely art gallery and it would be open for everyone to appreciate and talk art. Bliss! Nina…let’s invent something really cool and be self-made billionaires and so we can buy art okay? Set?
Daydreams. Sighs. Anyhows, next up was another artsy event. And that was watching a play The Pillowman with Nurul.
And you know what? It was really really good. I really liked it. Script was great, direction good, acting good, music fabulous, graphics gorgeous. I liked the stories within the story. And the music was live and good. Was always a fan of Adrian Pang, and Michael Corbridge was fantastic. And so were the rest of the cast! So basically, it was a very enjoyable play.
A lively tragic-comedy with a hint of darkness.
But this is a question I’ve been meaning to ask. And this I suppose can be answered by my theatre studies friends?
Ok…so the play was written by an Irishman, and so the dialogue is naturally Irish in slang, although the setting is ambiguous. An unknown state. So what does it mean, or how do you feel if a local cast adopted an Irish slang throughout the entire play? Will it seem weird if some Asian dude becomes suddenly…Irish? Or any other foreign slang perhaps.
Don’t get me wrong. I think Adrian Pang and Shane Mardjuki did a fabulous job. But let’s talk theatre theory for a bit (gawd it’s been ages since I’ve done that). Would it have been better, or more natural to adopt a more adapted slang that suits your location? Should plays be adapted to suit the audience/cast/whatever? Or just simply let be?
I suppose it’s very much a case-to-case basis. If the meaning isn’t lost, then why not. But dialogue is meaning. So changing it might change the playwright’s intention.
I don’t know really. Wish someone would enlighten me on this point. Because although the play was very well scripted and carried out by the cast, I can’t help but feel slightly odd at the disparity between image and sound. Or maybe it’s just me.
What do you think?
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