CNY and prepping for a show don't mix.

Did my first school show yesterday, 11 Feb 2008. Although, after almost 5 years acting on TV, movies, short films, corporate videos, etc...I must admit, it's a little late to start. 

All this time I've done mainly 'screen' work and not much 'live' acting. It's not that I shun 'live' acting or stage or theater roles. But more due to 'practical' considerations...

Anyway, we played to an assembly hall full of school children between the ages of  7 - 12 years old. It was a 20minute skit about "Total Defense".  I played the role of a taxi driver who brings Sir Stamford Raffles around the island and we meet some quirky characters who each help me explain to the bewildered founding father what Total Defense is all about. I had a blast and from their laughter throughout the show, so did the kids.

Now, there really isn't anything to brag (or blog) about doing school shows. Lots of freelance actors do it, almost on a weekly basis.  No 'serious' acting is involved and the audience is usually very forgiving about minor mistakes or performance flaws here and there.

The challanging part about this show for me is that...I only saw the scrīpt on 9 Feb (3rd day of CNY). 18 pages in total and at least half were my lines. 

We read through the scrīpt once and did some blocking on that one, and only, rehearsal between 6pm-8.30pm. Then I had to rush off to a CNY Chalet cum BBQ with a bunch of friends. Needless to say, the party had already started. The eating, drinking and subsequent gambling session (during which I won about $30 playing blackjack) lasted till 5am.

I got home, crashed till around noon, ran through my scrīpt a couple times, then had to go over to a relative's place for our ritual family gathering cum 'Lou Hei' at 4pm. Brought my scrīpt along as I didn't have it down yet but a noisy CNY gathering, with karaoke, isn't exactly the best place for memorising anything. And the show was early the following morning.

We only got to run the lines once through less than an hour before we were on. But it turned out so well, someone even commented that it seemed we have been doing this show forever.

So to sum it all up, though just a newbie to school shows, I'm really glad my skills and experience as a screen actor served me well enough to put on a good show despite the extremely short notice and unfavorable (for memorizing scrīpts) circumstances.

Hope you've all had an equally unforgettable CNY! :)