Lovers, Mad Doctors and Imaginary Friends
Posted on 22. Mar, 2009 by Jian in Arts & Culture
Eusoff Dance Production has a bit of a reputation behind it. Amongst the sea of droll and mediocre hall productions, this one is the one you would put your money on. They have a strong alumni supporting it (at least to buy the tickets and returning to oversee the choreography), and a lot of the hall’s resources are usually diverted towards getting the show on the road.
Last year’s Love Is In The Heir was generally cliche-ridden to help the audience relate to the plot. There’s a girl disguised as a boy, an evil wizard who overthrows the King, then he betroths his three ah beng sons to the three princesses, one of whom is feistily tomboyish (symbolic of how women today are so liberated yet still feminine!), and in the end, love saves the day once again. And then there’s the Bollywood-like dance sequences, or else they couldn’t call it “dance production”. Like nearly every other self-written play in NUS, it just couldn’t free itself from cliches.
This year’s Dance Production, “You’ve Got A Friend in Me” does not contain a pun in its title. It’s a story of John, the Eusoffian Valedictorian, graduate first class, environmental scientist extraordinaire, destined saviour of the world, loved by his ever faithful girlfriend, respected by his Eusoffian peers. He suits up for his first ever job interview, and up pops something from his childhood years: an imaginary Goth-rocker named Alexandra. At this point, I started wondering if spandex-wearing Goth-rockers actually existed in the Singaporean psyche 15 years ago but I forgot about it because the dancers were coming on.
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6 Responses to “Lovers, Mad Doctors and Imaginary Friends”
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Give some constructive criticism – suggest something of your own !
Give some constructive criticism – suggest something of your own ! Cynical criticism doesn't help in getting more readers to your work. Constructive criticism helps.
Publish your full name PLZZZ
Dear BC SB:
The author of the article is our contributor, Ho Yi Jian, as you would find in The Common staff page. http://kentridgecommon.com/?page_id=156
His name was signed off as Jian because the username in his email account is "jian". I can assure you that in all the articles we publish, we do establish our true identity for credibility purposes.
I hope you enjoy your stay here.
Sincerely yours
I think you can ignore that, cos it sounds like a bot.
Oh don't be a "oh please be constructive" pansy. The critic isn't there to give you a pat on the shoulder, he's there to tell you what he liked or didn't like about what he's reviewed — and why. Since you know why he liked or didn't like something, you respond or judge for yourself whether he's right. If you agree with him on what went wrong, then it's your job to figure out how to do a better job.
As scriptwriter of Kent Ridge Hall's Production "Here Lies Love" and personal friend to both the scriptwriters of "You've Got A Friend In Me", I think Jian is spot on with his commentary. Most of the problems with the story were mentioned in the article. You want constructive criticism? Try not to repeat any of the problems next time.
Brian Tan