post-production note (R&G are dead)
Hello all! (:
I must begin by congratulating everyone in the cast and crew for having survived the entire run of R&G! My thanks are also in order.
These, I presume, come across as platitudes; I will move on.
Back in April, I was confronted with a choice. I had to choose between 1) performing Stravinsky's Rite of Spring (a beautiful and extremely massive work) in Australia with the Western Australian Youth Orchestra as a guest player, and 2) R&G. The former was a rare and brilliant opportunity, but the like of which I have done on occasion. The latter seemed like an appealing challenge of which I knew not what to expect.
There was a slight moment of hesitation. A decision was then made.
I think it was the right one.
Many of you are seasoned veterans of the theatre. Almost all of you have been crew members, actors, or even directors at some point of time in the past. I, however, have never been part of your world (I have played for operas and musicals, but they do not count!), despite always having longed to. This inclination never surfaced as a conscious desire. It always manisfested itself as a fleeting fancy or a passing thought. Nonetheless, I never did shake it.
There is something magical about the stage, something profoundly empowering about taking up guise and mask and being someone whom you are not, to the delight of an audience whom you live off. There are, of course, parallels in a musical performance, but ones that are less marked. There is no deception of the senses; there is no smoke and mirrors. And they say that music transcends language as a means of communication, but what of action, position and all things visual? and what of language itself, shaped by wit and purpose, which probes the mind in ways that music cannot?
Importantly, I have come to realise that the company and camaraderie that one finds in theatre is something that does not quite transpire with the same amount of meaning elsewhere! It is very unlike playing in an orchestra, or standing in for gigs (classical or otherwise). Even if you were to connect musically, and ergo (with luck) emotionally, you can achieve that without ever truly getting to know your colleagues. Everyone turns up, makes music, and leaves.
Theatre calls for staggering amounts of multi-discplinary work. In small, independent groups such as ours, cooperation and support are essentials. Relationships can never be purely professional. The friendships that follow are the inevitable result of happy consequence.
I am known, much to my chagrin, for having multiple personalities - some of which are abrasive, and not entirely pleasant. That I have gone through the entire process without actually disliking any one of you is somewhat of a miracle! It goes without saying, of course, that we all have had disagreements or expressed mild annoyance at one other at times. I, however, think I speak for all of us here when I say that I have always been terribly fond of each and every one of you froody, gorgeous and beautiful individuals. There are no exceptions.
I regret not having written any notes for anyone. I certainly do not feel obliged to! but I really am THAT fond of every one of you. I did mean to, but I put it off till the last day on which I woke up late; it was completely forgotten in my rush out from home. I then spent the afternoon brooding and generally being moody, brewing in guilt. ><
Excuses. I am embarrassed and filled with more than a little regret =\ but that means that if there were a PPP, you should all anticipate a little something (:
Alright! That took me longer than I expected. I am not very good with words - I am inarticulate, and even more so in speech; being a wallflower comes naturally to me. I therefore have to resort to writing verbose chunks of text as a means of expression.
I hope that I have not been tedious.
Wishing all of you well, and hoping to see everyone, somehow, really soon!
- zH
----
P.S. I seem to have developed an unhealthy interest in make-up. If I ever become a stand-up comedian, I shall pull an Eddie Izzard.
----
cross-posted to Facebook
I must begin by congratulating everyone in the cast and crew for having survived the entire run of R&G! My thanks are also in order.
These, I presume, come across as platitudes; I will move on.
Back in April, I was confronted with a choice. I had to choose between 1) performing Stravinsky's Rite of Spring (a beautiful and extremely massive work) in Australia with the Western Australian Youth Orchestra as a guest player, and 2) R&G. The former was a rare and brilliant opportunity, but the like of which I have done on occasion. The latter seemed like an appealing challenge of which I knew not what to expect.
There was a slight moment of hesitation. A decision was then made.
I think it was the right one.
Many of you are seasoned veterans of the theatre. Almost all of you have been crew members, actors, or even directors at some point of time in the past. I, however, have never been part of your world (I have played for operas and musicals, but they do not count!), despite always having longed to. This inclination never surfaced as a conscious desire. It always manisfested itself as a fleeting fancy or a passing thought. Nonetheless, I never did shake it.
There is something magical about the stage, something profoundly empowering about taking up guise and mask and being someone whom you are not, to the delight of an audience whom you live off. There are, of course, parallels in a musical performance, but ones that are less marked. There is no deception of the senses; there is no smoke and mirrors. And they say that music transcends language as a means of communication, but what of action, position and all things visual? and what of language itself, shaped by wit and purpose, which probes the mind in ways that music cannot?
Importantly, I have come to realise that the company and camaraderie that one finds in theatre is something that does not quite transpire with the same amount of meaning elsewhere! It is very unlike playing in an orchestra, or standing in for gigs (classical or otherwise). Even if you were to connect musically, and ergo (with luck) emotionally, you can achieve that without ever truly getting to know your colleagues. Everyone turns up, makes music, and leaves.
Theatre calls for staggering amounts of multi-discplinary work. In small, independent groups such as ours, cooperation and support are essentials. Relationships can never be purely professional. The friendships that follow are the inevitable result of happy consequence.
I am known, much to my chagrin, for having multiple personalities - some of which are abrasive, and not entirely pleasant. That I have gone through the entire process without actually disliking any one of you is somewhat of a miracle! It goes without saying, of course, that we all have had disagreements or expressed mild annoyance at one other at times. I, however, think I speak for all of us here when I say that I have always been terribly fond of each and every one of you froody, gorgeous and beautiful individuals. There are no exceptions.
I regret not having written any notes for anyone. I certainly do not feel obliged to! but I really am THAT fond of every one of you. I did mean to, but I put it off till the last day on which I woke up late; it was completely forgotten in my rush out from home. I then spent the afternoon brooding and generally being moody, brewing in guilt. ><
Excuses. I am embarrassed and filled with more than a little regret =\ but that means that if there were a PPP, you should all anticipate a little something (:
Alright! That took me longer than I expected. I am not very good with words - I am inarticulate, and even more so in speech; being a wallflower comes naturally to me. I therefore have to resort to writing verbose chunks of text as a means of expression.
I hope that I have not been tedious.
Wishing all of you well, and hoping to see everyone, somehow, really soon!
- zH
----
P.S. I seem to have developed an unhealthy interest in make-up. If I ever become a stand-up comedian, I shall pull an Eddie Izzard.
----
cross-posted to Facebook
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