Title: PassionDirector: Joe HashamMain Cast: Aris Kadir, Amy Len, Steve Goh, Loi Chin Yu, Elaine Pedley, Nell Ng, Thou Chun, Dalili Azahari, Joseph Gonzales and Judimar Hernandez

On 1st of April 2008, our class went to watch a play at Kuala Lumpur Performing Arts Centre. The play entitled Passion which has been directed by Joe Hasham. Hmm… I thought we were going to watch a play… My impression about a play is that it must have script and actions. But this play is far from that because the actors did not actually talk but they just dance. From the start till the end. I could say this is a performance. The only people that talks is the narrator which just a few lines at the beginning and a few lines at the end of the play. In the middle of the play, I was wondering when they will talk. I started to feel boring because I could not understand the storyline of the play. All the way, they just dance and I do not understand what each dances mean. So, I just predict the story and asked my friends. I think it is about passion and betrayal. I guess we should be exposed more on theatre because now I know there is such kind of theatre that does not use the script. But, I think the dance is ok because the actors danced very well and smooth. They also got the facial expression and show their emotions. This is my second exposure on watching a theatre and I hope to get more experience on it so that I would not waste anything for things I cannot get.

This is the final movie that we watched. Compared with the other four films we have watched, this is the most recent in term of time. The film has been produced in year 2006. Nothing much I can say about this film. It is also a coloured film compared to other film we have watched which is black and white film. But generally, it is about love because it featured a few of couples whom have their own love story and conflicts with it and then it solved in the end by marriage. I like the beginning of the story because normally if we talk about literature and William Shakespeare, we tend to think it is all about English. But, in this movie, it reveals the setting which was inspired by 19th century Japan.

A Streetcar Named Desire

This film which was produced on 1951 is one of the films that I like and enjoy watching it because its setting shows the real kind of lower class place and their living style with featured multicultural people. The black and white film reveals the low economic class and how is it opposed with the people from higher economic status which is presented in Blanche, the newcomer in Elysian Fields (the setting) to meet her sister, Stella. She seeks a place to live after has been through a hard life and lose her husband and also Belle Reve which is the place she and Stella should inherit. In her search for shelter, she finds that her sister lives (approvingly) with drunkenness, violence, lust, and ignorance. This classic film was adapted from Tennessee Williams’ play, A Streetcar Named Desire with the same title. I feel so lucky because from watching this film, it helps me to understand the play better which our class has been assigned to study it.

The Legend of Macbeth

This is the third movie that our class has watched if I am not mistaken. I think this film is quite interesting movie compared to the previous movies that our class has watched so far that are; Shakespeare Wallah and Pygmalion. But, one thing that I think everyone of us in the class would comment on is the violence in the film. Towards the end of the story, the scene is getting even more violent. In my opinion, it seems very real the way the head of Macbeth being chopped and flagged after that; sign of victory to the king’s son. I am so impressed of this because it seems very real. But also, it is awfully violent and gross. Overall, this story by William Shakespeare and the film director by Roman Polanski is a successful film but very much violent and can give nightmare to people who cannot see that kind of violence.

Pygmalion film(1938)

Pygmalion is the second film that we have to watch. I could say that this is one of the best films I have seen among five because it shows how a very thick Cockney accent woman is turned out to be a typical English woman. All of the features has been changed especially the way she speaks and the manner to be a typical English woman by a man whom I believe is a linguistic professor; Professor Higgins. Eliza, the Cockney woman tries her best in becoming a new English woman. Along the way, the film contains comedic moments which attracted my attention to it. The main subject in this film which is adapted from Bernard Shaw’s play Pygmalion gives the idea of changes and does these difficult changes worth it for both Eliza and Professor Higgins? I think it is worth it. Because at that time, people from lower class can be differentiate with the upper class just from the way they speak. From the changes, Eliza is seen as a respected woman even though she is quite awkward for the first time. After watching it, I feel that this film which has been produced in year 1938 is far more ok than ‘Shakespeare Wallah’.

Being Evaluated By Others

To be evaluated by others for me is something that can make you feel more butterflies in your stomach or more nervous than ever in doing the simulated teaching. Moreover, people who evaluate you are not just one person but many of them who happen to be your own course mates. However, peer evaluation somehow or rather helps me improve my teaching skills and trigger my strength to do the best for my simulated teaching. This is because I will make sure that I would not spoil my teaching session by making simple mistake which would affect the evaluations on me. I will make sure that I am well-prepared for the teaching. Sometimes, we rather satisfied with what we have done and think it is the best. That makes we did not realize the mistakes we have made. So, from the evaluations, I can see my mistakes and try to improve on it for the next teaching session.

How I Evaluate Others

When my friends did their simulated teaching, I firstly look at the appearance. Some say first impression is important. As for me, I agree with that. The appearance such as the attire, the way people walk and speak can picture their behaviour and also their confidence. Same goes with the teacher. Students might think that the teacher is not good enough to be a teacher when his or her appearance and attire does not seem confident enough. All the gestures and speeches from teacher can be easily seen and can show they are nervous or not. I also evaluate in terms of the language teacher use and the voice projection. It must be accurate and clear enough. It is important because when I sit at the back and I did not hear the teacher’s voice it would be hard to focus on the lesson. This then will affect the good impressions and perceptions in students of the teacher. So, for me it is important to put your best appearance and use accurate, fluent language and clear voice projection in order to paste good impressions in student about you when being a teacher. Other than that, I also look at the practices or tasks they made for the students whether it is interesting and can attract the students to the lesson or not. Overall, for me, it is how the teacher handles the lesson, their appearance and the tasks they made for the students that are important to evaluate.

Teiresias - A Powerful Seer

Talking about Teiresias and what I have discovered about him, there are a few versions about how he became blind. One of them associated with a Greek god, Zeus and his wife, Hera. It is said that he came upon a pair of copulating snakes and hit them with his stick. Hera was not pleased and turned him into a woman. He was turned to a man back by Zeus after 7 years. This happen when he was drawn into an argument between Zeus and Hera upon a subject both of them was arguing about – whether men or women have more pleasure in sex and he said Zeus is true that the answer is women. But Hera immediately struck him blind. Then, Zeus gifted him the gift of prophecy and 7 lives. Another version is he was blinded by Athena, one of the Greek goddess because he had stumbled onto her bathing naked. His mother, a nymph of Athena begged her to undo her curse but instead, she gifted him the ability of augury.
What I want to highlight here is that, it is why he is such a powerful seer despite of his blindness. He was not only has a gift of foresight which the ability to know and see the future but also has experienced both man and woman life. Furthermore, he also has been gifted seven lives from Zeus and lives for seven generations at Thebes. His oracle is always right and people believe him. I am sure that the myths of Teiresias blindness making him such a powerful prophet.
In Oedipus Rex, what I have discovered about Teiresias is he is a blind prophet who knows everything about Oedipus’s fate but he reluctant to tell anyone especially Oedipus because it will harm the king in the end. But he hinted Oedipus that the murderer of King Laios is someone who he wouldn’t want to know (which is Oedipus himself) after gets angry being confronted by Oedipus. Here, theme of sight and blindness arises which relates to his ability to see the future despite of his blindness. Contrast with Oedipus who can see but has no insight to make him realize or see the truth.
He appears a lot in Greek tragic plays such as Aeschylus' Seven Against Thebes, Sophocles' Oedipus Rex, and Antigone and so on. Most of them show the powerful ability of fortune-telling Teiresias has.

Implicature

We have learnt about implicature in fifth and sixth week. Implicature is an underlying discourse which means what is said but suggests something else. As a reference and activities, we were asked to look at ‘Now Read On’ on page 107 until 112 and on page 167 until 169.
Based on what I have learnt from Harold Pinter’s play A Night Out, I can see the implicature used in the play from the characters’ (mother and Albert) conversation by trying to understand what actually the mother wants from his son which is his attention without state it directly. Instead, she kept delaying his son from going to the party.
Also from Oscar Wilde’s ‘The Important of Being Earnest’. Here, the characters are trying to convey the message of hatred to one another by acting and saying good things at first. But then became more sarcastic and overwhelmed by their feelings.
It makes me realize about how people often use implicature in their life whether they realize it or not especially things that include emotions. For example, when a mother tells her naughty boy to go play outside after several times telling not to; actually she means not to go play outside.
In my opinion, impicature is not for negative purposes only. It is useful in certain kind of situation for example in order not to put a shame on other people.

History of Theatre Overview

Reflecting the slideshow about theatre that I have learnt in early classes, we have been exposed to the history of theatre which includes Greek, Roman and Medieval theatre. We also have been explained about types of drama and its component.
During this lesson, I gain a lot of knowledge about theatre which I did not know much before. Now I know and can differentiate between what are tragedy, comedy, farce, and catharsis in drama. I also know how to compare between Aristotelian plot and Brechtian plot. I really think the slideshow helps a lot in my understanding about drama.

what's important for a performance

It is not easy to make a performance. In my opinion, crucial things that I consider when doing a short performance are:-
1. Facial expressions
2. Gestures
3. Tone and intonation
4. Costume
My reason is because it will affect audiences’ attention and interest toward the performance. It will also affect audience understanding about the play that you are performing. The costume also plays important thing when doing a performance because the audience can differentiate and guess the role of the actors.
For me, if these things are taken lightly, the performance might not be as successful as it should be and the audience will lose their interest toward the performance. Most of all, I think these things require the actors or actress talent a lot which of course comes from practices.

Different perception in perceiving life

Entering Oedipus Rex for this post, what I found in Oedipus Rex about ages of man is in the deadly sphinx’s riddle. Here, there are three ages of man mentioned which Oedipus answered correctly. He answered as a baby he crawls on all fours, then as a man he walks erect, then as an old man he uses a cane. While in William Butler Yeats’ poem, ‘Four Ages of Man’ talks about life of human as some kind of struggle.
In William Shakespeare’s play, ‘As You Like It’, he mentioned about seven stages of man which are infant, childhood, lover, soldier, justice, old age, and death. In the play, it shows that stages of man or life of a human is like a process.
Sum all this up, in my opinion, different people has different perception in perceiving life. But the basic is just the same. We play numerous roles in life starting from born to death. As a child, as an adult, and as an older person in society. The most important thing is, we should not took our life for granted.