Art and the arts

Last night, our Filipina domestic helper (who's worked in Singapore 14 yrs) pointed out another used sanitary napkin lying below our apartment block. We could only shake our heads in disgust (ok, after grumbling out loud). We walked further and saw 3 bowls of eaten instant noodles left on the void deck table. As I mentioned; daily art installations.

This morning, when we were leaving the house, we noted that they were all cleaned up. We were sure the foreign cleaner/s in our estate must not think too much of us Singaporeans. I myself can't believe it and have been asking Mike if we should do something drastic in 'C.S.I' (aiyah, that so fakey, stylo milo TV programme, Crime Scene Investigation) manner, like going to a particular piece of litter (or sanitary pad) and using a laser pointer to work back the (ahem) trajectory point / angle to see which unit it leads to. Get the drift? I'll catch you filthy 'litterers' if it's the last thing I do! Just you wait!

Sigh. Enough about littering for the day. On a nicer note, I attended my alma mater St. Joseph's Convent's matinee of A Midsummer Night's Dream yesterday with Mike and surprise, surprise, Mike didn't fall asleep! That is a VERY GOOD gauge of HOW GOOD the play was! We had sort of bought tickets for it because our daughter, Tessa was participating and seeing how pathetically burnt out she looks (after rehearsing for practically the whole June hols), we decided to show her our support (hello? where were all my other ex-schoolmates?). I don't quite feel anything for this 'new' school location in Sengkang because I came from that old rickety Hillside Drive building where I could peep out of my classroom windows to see hunky Gabrielites, eh I mean Mike walking past.

The standard of production was high and it needs to be said that apart from a few 'older' girls who had come back to help, the rest were as young as 13! To be spouting Shakespeare and not robotically is fantastic. They fully understood the technicalities of the play and what was expected of them and acted out the subtle intonations and aspects convincingly! The pauses, the facial expressions, the accents, the set up, the music, it was magical! Frankly, I'm always in awe that people can actually remember all their Shakepearean lines and this is coming from someone who loves literature. Aiyoh, how to ad lib when you forget your lines?

Truth be told, I was expecting some eh....cheap school production but I was proven wrong, it was way more professional than anyone would have expected! It also helped that the music was fully supported live by the school band, handbell ensemble, anklung ensemble and choir. I understand Roger Jenkins had a big hand in it and he definitely deserves a big thank you but still, I thought all the amateurs and teachers put in alot of effort and did a very good job.

Throughout the play, I was glancing at Mike every now and then. The school doesn't know this, but if my husband didn't fall asleep during THAT play, it had to be GOOD! Even Tessa, told her dad she was surprised he hadn't fallen asleep!

Apparently, there's another production today (Friday 27 June) and on Saturday (28 June / play and dinner). You can probably still buy tickets from the school. That's St. Joseph's Convent for you. Yay!