Hello fellow readers!
Happy New Year! We would very much like to forget that it’s 2018, because that would mean we would have less than 2 weeks before the event day. But reality smacked our senses straight when fireworks were apparently shot on one midnight. Definitely, many celebrated the beginning of a brand new year. Yes, that includes us, the Unspoken committee, as well. Unbeknownst to many, it also marked the beginning of our entry into a turbulent and busy season. So while some are taking photos of the fireworks along Marina Bay or dancing the night away, there are also a handful of NYP Social Work students memorising their script and typing away charts, reports, lists and blogs. It would not get any easier from this moment on, but the committee organising Unspoken is determined to face it head on.
As their workload increases, so does definitely the Documenters as well. We (as Documenters) pondered over what more could we do other than weekly blog posts of what we have doing. After ransacking our minds, brainstorming our ideas and throwing of some slippers, we came to a conclusion. We want to bring you a different dimension. We want you to see the humans behind the whole event organisation. No, we do not mean that the majority are a bunch of monkeys hungry for bananas, but rather we want you to know the oh so human side of us; while we are all hard at work, we are likewise hard at nonsensical play.
Okie, you say, cut to the chase. Alright here goes! We are proud to present to you…cue drum roll…#ourspokenstories, blog post interviews with the comm members! Meh, you quickly reply, what’s cool about interviews anyway. But we shall be quick to interrupt you, because these interviews are not formal or prepared speech. None of our interviewees know the questions we are gonna ask beforehand! What does that mean? That means that we would like to present to you the rawest emotions, from the greatest joys to the sorrowful cries to the most angsty saltiness (feeling salty is a trending slang for agitation and frustration…just in case you’re living in a cave), that the students in the Unspoken committee have been going through the past 2 weeks! So be prepared as we feature our coursemates and their #unspoken stories as we approach D-Day!
So what better way to start than with a quick interview with someone from our drama casts!
Enter Melvin Tan.
He is a 20 years old young handsome looking chap. Not only is he handsome, but he has been given the mandate to play the pivotal role by which our whole drama hangs on. His role, is none other than Shane, the main character! Shane is your everyday young adult, sailing through life, while positive and negative ‘voices’ in his mind are messing about, but…oops, I shall stop before I leak out any juicy plot points.
I would only say that playing this role is not an easy task as Melvin had to memorise pages and pages of lines. Adding on, he also had to portray someone with mental illness accurately and sensitively…from eye glances to vocal tones to body language. So with such an uphill challenge ahead of Melvin, we seized the opportunity to interview him about rehearsals:
“So drama rehearsals had been a really great exposure for me considering that I had never done a drama before. I was shocked when Saras called me out from a meeting, for a private, talk which actually turns out to be the disclosure of the role I was to play. I’m amazed at how Saras really did trust me that much and the confidence she had on my given assignment, considering my inexperience in theatre drama acting. And sure enough, drama rehearsals became bumpy and ugh…tiring. I recalled how I spent one-full day where I had extra one-to-one rehearsals with Adeeb.”
Melvin went on to tell me how difficult it was for him because, as main character, he has to be present for almost all scenes. This means a huge sacrifice in terms of time. We really appreciate his commitment and his go-all-out attitude. So friends, if you do see him crying during the drama just know that it might be real tears from his wearied angsty self.
Melvin continued, “Our drama teacher, Adeeb, is really cool. He helped us mould our script to become more drama like. I learnt a lot about acting from him such as speaking in a way that encapsulates the driven emotions behind a mental illness. Being Shane is a challenge, nevertheless, this immersion into my character has taught me to empathise more with people with mental illnesses."
So that is Melvin for you! With dedication and perseverance, he continues to give his all for the drama. So, do you want to see Melvin in action? Have you signed up yet? If not, what are you waiting for?
Continue staying tuned to our blog as we feature more stories of the humans behind the Unspoken committee. Thank you for reading!!