Well, technically this post has got nothing to do with that never-ending soap opera. This is more like my ranting post.
“What Big Bombs You Have” is ending soon. Tomorrow night to be exact. Well, the show is really tiring cos a lot of concentration and energy is needed for every show but to be really truthful, I enjoyed it. It’s one of those small tight team where everyone is comfortable with each other and conflict is tried to be kept at a minimum. Tried is the key. There was tension definitely & inevitably but I guess everybody kept their cool and no screaming battles ensued.
Working with Hossan, Enlai, Chermaine & Alin was amazingly great. The atmosphere was relaxed and generally happy. We cracked jokes about other people, they entertained us and really, it was fun. I can’t exactly say the same for Gene though. I mean, I try not to be biased but geez. How boring can a man get? How terribly so? He tells a joke and laughs at it himself, when nobody thinks its funny. During the talkback sessions, when he’s asked a question, he goes totally off-tangent and talks about absolutely irrelevant things. Even Sook Fong & Joel can’t stand him. And they have only seen him in action for what? Less than a week??? If everybody thinks so, it’s not my problem. Or is it?
The Esplanade lights cock-up news has traveled far. Even Zhiwei knows about it from Huiling. Gee. Their reputation as world-class theatre venue has probably dropped a couple of notches. I am going to reiterate the incident, since I never blogged about it. Anyway, on the opening afternoon, there was already a couple of lights that were out of focus, and at the wrong spot or went to blackout instead of dimming. But the worst thing was that in the evening, the board could not even work. There was officially no lights. They brought in a backup light board and still nothing. Finally, it was decided that the night show would be cancelled and this information was passed to the audience and arrangements were made for them to either watch the Adolf-Anthology double bill or to come back if we have an extra show this Sunday night. So that’s settled.
The next day, we were told that the lights were fixed and they found the problem. Apparently they stayed till 1am in the morning to fix that. Jo did a cue-to-cue and it seemed really alright. So we happily started show#2. To our horror, 3/4 into the show, the lights on the stage right half went totally off. Nothing could work. In the end, we had to survive with only half the lights. The only partially redeeming part was that the final part of the show was basically pretty much concentrated on the stage left side, which was partly lit. When the show was over, Nat practically screamed her head off at Yadi, the lighting guy. A mini-screaming battle started.
I wouldn’t say any of them was in the wrong for the battle because I understand Nat’s frustration of having the lights fail trice in a row. However, Yadi did try his best to help salvage the situation. All those over the cans heard him and Jo trying to fix the problem or at least find some ways to give more lights to the stage. Both were caught in the situation where they were so frustrated and stressed that anything could just break their patience. In the end, Shiyun came round and got the full story. Apparently, they route from the lighting board to the dimmer through this equipment, which Shiyun didn’t say, and it’s that equipment which was faulty, both during the cancelled show as well as the current show. Shiyun told them to just go directly from board to dimmer and not through that equipment, lest it faults again. Of course Nat went to apologise to Yadi and all seemed well in the end. Well, at least on the outside.
That’s the story of the faulty lights. We met Shaoann today and he was telling us how it always happens. Either it’s the power or the dimmer trip or something. We begin to wonder if Esplanade is really world-class. How world-class can we be if such things happen all the time. Not to mention the roof still leaks after so many years.
Anyway, my usual Thank you post will be coming up.. Monday I suppose…