Ko ingat berlakon tu is child's play?

After being taught by gila babi successful people such as Puay Tin, Rey Buono, Lagenbach, Marion D'cruz, Anne James, Sek Thim , Nala Nantha, James Lee in acting (sorry, folks-name dropping here), I can state 50 reasons to you why acting is so damn hard. It really is. Know ur character-intentions, motivation, body, turning points, movement centre, height, colour for aura, tempo, heartbeat, breathing, gestures, facial features, focus, LISTEN, blocking, timing, dun be OTT/ or be OTT, dunt-be-dead, speech, accent, learn-to-improv, be-comfy-with-the props/stage/lighting, energy, and of course, auditions and dosh- who can blame the actor-wannabes when they start to lament? But despite me understanding that acting is so damn downright mah fan, but I'm still here anyway.Knowing that I dunt have the most tenacious spirit, easily crushed by feedback I rather not hear, being not egzactly a glass half full girl, I feel queer and even amused that I'm still going for this. OH, I'M SO FRIGGIN' PROUD OF MYSELF!

And the whole team for The Illusion too, of course. We have a brilliant cast( and director, designers) here, seriously. I lurve the chemistry that all of us have with each other. No divas whatsoever- woohoohoohoo! Yes, lagih senang hidup, you know...And kudos to The Oral Stage for having a specific costume and set designer...and stage management is getting much, much better now. Feedback from Tuan Direktor is posted to us from time to time by Nurul so we can remind ourselves of whatever Kelv said. I print out all of 'em. Our oh so kawaii Tuan Direktor is getting better and better too at directing. He paksa us (ok, ok, not paksa...) Encourage us to keep a journal to keep track with what's happening with the play and our characters. which is great coz like what Dr. M said "NEVER rely on memory, we forget things". Cool. Great way of developing characters.The poster- not egzactly my type- I still love random, colourful , abstract stuff- BUT i LOVE IT STILL! Really, it feels like the moon and "rose-smelling-faintly-of-blood" are glowing! Love it! Shar, costume and set designer is incredible- where did we find you, Shar? Jason, our sweetest gila babi lighting designer- I haven't seen his work yet but I know he'll do great- just like wut he did in Screwed. and yes, Nick, thanks for the poster and pics-making us look good! Hehe..

I'm playing the Bomoh- and like what every actor would say about any character that they play, playing this particular character ain't child's play. AT ALL . IT IS A CHALLENGE. BUT...i love challenges. I feel very honoured that Kelv 'bestowed upon' me this role cos it really pushes me out of my comfy rut and plus, I am madly in love with the character (yes, tho' it's hard to portray her). The toughest challenge? To. be. still. Very, very, very limited gestures- except for when she motions. Her eyes are like a camera- when she looks at a character, she zooms in like hell- to sorta 'x-ray' people (gila wo), her chin in the air, very limited head movements even! And being Zalikha@Batsheba, who is so infamous for being generous to a fault when it comes to gestures, movement- OTT, in other words..it is tough. But yeah, thanx, Kelv, for giving me a chance to grow through this.

Yup, that's it, so far..But i'm gonna stop here..Enough of left-handed compliments. By the way, yes, guys , come and watch this play- it's FUN, MAGICAL, GREAT, VARYING TEMPOS IN THE PLAY, FLOWERY, DONE BY YOUNG, ENERGETIC PEOPLE and most of all, it's a LOVELY play. And of course, we have worked so hard for this..

The Naked Truth,
Batsheba Zlikha Arsalan