The Homecoming - production diary

A New Play Blog

2006-06-16T15:01:00.000+08:00

Okay all you flers who've been visiting here because you missed Gavin Yap, U-en or any of the other members of the dysfunctional family in The Homecoming...salvation is here.

Some of those flers are in a new play which promises to be just as weird and entertaining and fucking scary as the last one.

To start your journey into the weird and adsurd world of Samuel Becket and enter the f**ked up minds of Gavin Yap and U-en go here...

www.endgamediaries.blogspot.com

Cast and Bloggers meet...

2006-04-16T23:11:00.000+08:00

The cast and the bloggers finally met this afternoon at 4pm in the midst of a KL storm. A good time was had by all and the bloggers got to see the 'real' sides of the characters they saw on stage. Well, except for Lenny of course. Unfortunately some bloggers didn't show up. Patrick was the first representative to arrive and proceeded to answer some questions apropos The Homecoming...

So that's what you fuckers thought of the play, eh?

Ruth and Joey have finally gone the whole hog...

and upon returning from Brokeback Mountain, Teddy and Ruth have become 'sisters'.

Fireangel finally got her wish but...

unfortunately Gavin is no longer that way inclined.

The family, as themselves, shamelessly posed for a photo.

TV Smith proposed to Suanie with some free chocolates from Bulldog while Paul (Tragic Kingdom) found it all quite tragic.

Su Ann (Pinkpau) was trying very hard to get into the play by arranging for some new biz for Ruth...

as the pimp had gone completely mad.

Ian was showing off his Linda Lovelace impersonation but Ben was thinking 'Been there, done that'.

Zona (Midnite Lily) kept her spirits up...

while Thor tried his best to stay awake by chain-smoking.

CAST AND BLOGGERS MEET

2006-04-14T16:21:00.000+08:00

DATE: SUNDAY 16 APRIL, 2006
TIME: 4PM
VENUE: BULLDOG, SRI HARTAMAS (UPSTAIRS ROOM)

SEE YOU THERE!!!

Bloggers meet

2006-04-07T13:24:00.000+08:00

I see we have generated over 8000 clicks now. What say you we organise a get together with the bloggers? Or am I being presumptous? Let's all meet at Bulldog (Sri Hartamas).

SUNDAY 16 APRIL, 4PM
BULLDOG, SRI HARTAMAS

And in addition......

2006-04-07T10:22:00.000+08:00

To further add to the 'what might have been' sequel to The Homecoming......upon returning to America (alone I might add), Teddy took the first available bus to Brokeback Mountain.

I'll think of something to say about Joey a little later.

Peace.

There are no words......

2006-04-06T14:16:00.000+08:00

The above title pretty much says it all......I'm speechless. Speechless at the wonderful response, the way you guys not only supported the production but also remained totally open to it and accepted it without the slightest hint of prejudice. When we first started this blog, you guys didn't know what the play was about, didn't know what kind of issues it raised or what the 'content' would be. I know some of you did know, but a fair amount of people didn't. Yet despite that, you stuck with the blog, showed an interest in what we were trying to do, found out about the play and trusted us not to dissapoint. And based on some of your own reviews, its seems pretty safe to say that everyone went home happy.......in some way or another.

Honestly, I'm not too sure what's going to happen with the blog from here on. The cast and myself are moving on to other projects so I doubt the blog will get the same kind of attention it used. But I'd check back here every once and a while if I were you, cos you never know.......The Homecoming experience hit all of us pretty hard. And in a strange way, I don't think we really got the chance to let go of it completely......I know its an experience that I will carry with me forever and I think most of the cast and crew, if not all of them, feel the same. So I'm pretty sure there's still a fair bit of Homecoming blogging to do. Maybe one day Lenny will feel a bit itchy to get some stuff of his chest, maybe he'll find himself eager to talk about the last woman he considered killing or how Ruth seems to be costing a lot more than she's bringing in or maybe Max will regale you with tales about the old days when he could still get it up........or maybe Sam will return with stories from the land of the dead.....that is, if he really died in the first place.

Once again, thank you for everything. The show wouldn't have been the same without your support. Take care of yourselves and remember........look in on the blog every now and then. Never know what you might find.......after all, its never too late to come home.

p.s Thanks for all the great reviews. The personal letter was particularly entertaining. Fuck you very much for writing it Fireangel.

Peace.

Thank you, bloggers

2006-04-03T17:55:00.000+08:00

As an appreciation to all those bloggers who've supported this website and came to see The Homecoming, here are links of all those who've reviewed the show. If your link is not here, please leave us a comment with the direct permalink to your entry, not the general website address, please - we will link it here.

Reviews & brickbats

Notices

Again, thank you.

Thank you

2006-04-03T02:42:00.000+08:00

To all of you who came to see us, thank you from the bottom of our hearts. The show finally closed today but here's our family portrait for you to remember us by. Love, Teddy.

A letter to Ruth-less.

2006-04-01T12:31:00.000+08:00

(Someone wrote in to Kakiseni with some questions for Gavin, but I've responded instead...basket.)

Hi Ruth-less,

Gavin and I have been developing the character of Ruth ever since the very first reading. In fact we didn't really 'settle' on Ruth until the very week we opened. After reading the script and going away with the character development assignments given by Gavin, I came to my conclusion that Ruth's outlook on life is a constantly shifting paradigm. This, in essence, almost makes her childlike, impulsive and impudent - her actions are defined by her stream of consciousness. She is not calculative, but more cunning. I think perhaps her assertion of power is not validated by responses to her provocations, but merely her actions alone – the fact that she is not intimidated by Lenny, her petulant nature with Teddy. None of them respond to her in the stereotypical manner, (i.e. I Roar, You Cower.) Plus, a more logical explanation for Ruth's 'weirdness' is Teddy's line (in response to Max's suggestion of keeping her in Act 2 ) - " I'm afraid not, Dad. She's Not Well, and we've got to get home to the children." We had pretty much avoided this statement since the first reading, but ultimately the character development was such that we had to acknowledge it. Ruth isn't well. In fact, she's a little loopy.

So, in response to your questions - the lying on the floor, the nervousness and the general staring into the space was choreographed to convey the inconsistencies of Ruth. The goal was that Gavin did not want the audience to know what she was thinking, or what she was going to do next. It was important to discern that she was thinking of something, but what exactly it is or what she's going to do with it is meant to keep you guessing.

Teddy and Ruth. Yes, she is always this insufferable to Teddy. Our back story to Teddy and Ruth was that they were once in love, (hence the slightly melancholic goodbye between Ruth and Teddy, Teddy's pain when she dances with Lenny..) but ultimately Ruth's 'weirdness' did not complement the makings of a professor's wife. So, the last few years of their marriage have been rather turbulent, to say the least.

The last scene - Ah, the negligee. I have never worn so little clothing in public, so if it was just a gratuitous 'for-the-lads' moment I would have castrated Gavin with a butter knife. But since I believe it really wasn't, he is still walking upright. This particular 'visual' addresses the portrayal of women in this household and the issue of the 'male-gaze'. Women, in this household represent both the mother and the whore - the extremes of the male gaze. Max, in the same breath admires Jessie has a wonderful mother – "the backbone to this family...what a mind" and derides her as a "slut bitch of a wife" with a "rotten stinking face" . When Ruth comes down in her final incarnation as a possible replacement for Jessie, she represents this paradox. Her image suggests that of a whore - the objectified sex symbol, but yet her actions propel her to the top of the food chain. She demands without compromise, they agree to all her demands instantly. It is also a commentary that she has arrived in this position (no pun intended) through sex. Even though throughout the entire play, she doesn't really sleep with anyone. (With the exception of possible Lenny because of his "professional opinion"…we also explored the possibility that Lenny and Ruth might actually fall in love, because she is the first woman to challenge him, and he likes it! Or, like any other man, he's looking for a mother..)

So, I will tie this up by quoting theatre critic Michael Billington, who interviewed post-and-pre-nobel Pinter, "You can never say with Pinter that one interpretation is wholly right or another wholly wrong. What you can say, with reasonable certainty, is that the play continues to get under our collective skins..."

Anyway, I hope this has helped answer your questions.

p/s The rest of the cast might have something add...

What the nights have been

2006-03-31T09:06:00.000+08:00

It's been difficult to write since the show opened. Most nights I leave the theatre feeling like I've been run over by a lorry before being scraped off the road by a tribe of naked cannibal pygmies and slow-cooked in a crockpot. Like Thor and Patrick I get home and find it impossible to sleep. Keep waking up. Some kind of tick. It doesn't help that the clock in my bedroom is exactly the same as the one I try to smash on stage.

Most nights are entirely weird for me. I usually have a sudden attack of Doubt at around 6pm and this has become a ritual. What if the hammer goes astray and I hit Ruth (Jia-Wei)? What if I cock up my cheese roll lines as I'd done countless times before? What if I miss my cue to get out of bed and leave Teddy (Ben) standing at the door like a loon? What if my boxers fall down? I'd been a bit silly about the boxers the during full dress, and Nell didn't really help (sorrylah Nell, I'll take off my socks for you, next week, say?). Too many what ifs, but the shows have been great; thanks to you, the audience.

Now it's Friday and there are only three shows left. I am still jittery before the curtain goes up every night. It won't be over until it's over, and when it's over I suspect I'll fall headlong into depression and take to drinking, or cross-stitching since I already drink. No more Max. No more Sam. No more Ruth, Teddy, Joey.

No more back-stage jokes to lighten the tension. No more laughing like hyaenas for no apparent reason. For the last three months Thor, Patrick, Ben, Jia-Wei, and Ian have been as much a family to me in real life as Max, Sam, Teddy, Ruth, and Joey have been to Lenny. (Ooo, that's not saying much is it? Haha. You know what I mean.)

I shall miss these two families; the one on stage sick and dysfunctional, the one in real life sick and dysfunctional too, but also extremely kind, deeply generous, immensely supportive and above all, ridiculously fun to be with. (Insert glowing adjective and suspiciously sentimental noun here. Wah, U-En is so nice all of a sudden. What does he want ah?).

But wait, it's not over yet.

The Homecoming - production diary

2006-03-30T16:33:00.000+08:00

Hey, thanks to the many of you who have been patiently hitting the blog every day even though we've all been silent since opening night. (I know half the daily number comprise Ben trawling for compliments, but that still leaves quite a few of you out there with no life but to share my family's. Welcome.)

Last night, a few of us felt charged after the show. It has been a darker play after opening night, nerves making us play for laughs that first curtains up, and last night we about seized the stage, snared an appreciative audience whose laughter had the nervous edge we wanted to hear.

A couple of days ago, I tallied the number of hours I spent with Pinter's Max. An hour and three-quarters at peak in front of an audience. Add to that the three hours preceding performance when I'm immersing myself into the prickly nastiness of Max, and the couple of hours earlier in the day when I find time to feed him his lines, looking for new expressions, addressing flat moments. Include the 8 unwinding hours after when the body wants sleep, but the mind is hopping, skipping, mental static punctuated by fragments of dialogue, moments on stage.

Close to 15 hours a day living with an unpleasant character - what a perverse gift.

Last night's adrenaline kept me in a rush until about 8 am when a half-sleep took over. Up at 10. Three hours into my column for The Star, fortunately near the end of it, Max made a couple of forays into my attention. He wanted to stretch out, be fed his lines. It was 1 pm and I only left for the theatre at 5, but he didn't care.

A couple of nights ago, a young woman, from a safe distance, told me: "I don't want to speak with you. You're not nice."

What perverse pleasure prompts the correct response from me to be "Thank you"? To greet heartfelt distaste with satisfaction over a job well-done.

What could possibly prompt me to endure bastards who feel obliged, after the show, to murmur good show? When I politely deflect the compliment by suggesting that there was little acting involved, I was just being myself, a dirty-minded, foul-mouthed grouch, none of the bastards returned the conversation ball to my court by protesting my claim - silence, laughs, nodding agreement, that's what I got. Bastards!

Yet I look forward to (and regret the shrinking number) the last four shows. Will miss the old coot. Which other role in world theatre literature will allow me to slap, punch, knock, elbow, insult, spit at and ogle other members of the cast? TIme to retire and raise a family.

So far....so good....

2006-03-30T14:13:00.000+08:00

Wow, only four more shows to go.....time's a killer, ain't it? First of all I wanna give a big shout out to everyone that's been supporting the show. The response has exceeded my expectations and you guys have played a part in making that happen so thank you. And for those of you who haven't checked it out yet, please refer to the first sentence of this entry.

Wish I could think of more to write but I'm kind of at a loss for words. At this point in the run, its a lot more fun to hear from the cast cos they're the guys living it at the moment. So when I give the cast notes tonight, I'm gonna get their asses about filling you guys in on how things have progressed since the run started. Seriously, what can I tell you? I mean I think the fact that I come close to wearing a hole in the floor with all the pacing I do up and down the KLPac lobby every night before the show starts is somewhat amusing but I doubt it qualifies as 'great blogging material'.

Anyway, in the meantime keep on the lookout for new stuff from the guys who the show really belongs to - the people on stage, who create the characters and the guys at the controls, who set the stage.

Peace.

What's your say?

2006-03-26T21:52:00.000+08:00

Copied from kakiseni.com
A Comment	Sun, Mar 26 2006 01:39:47
I will add a short comment. The Homecoming is a brilliant production, fueled by script at the adept hands of Mr. Gavin Yap. And you might say, that is affirmed comments solely because Gavin Yap is my bitch. Oh. Does that bother you? Does it square with your idea of reality? Is it true? Enter the world of The Homecoming. The juicy world of Ben Tan, the best he has ever been. My other bitch, Patrich Teoh, in an otherworld role you've never seen before. Together with newbeis who say, in words or actions, there are rules. And rules don't matter. What controls us? Who controls? Is it us? Or is it otherwise? Find out. By watching one of the most intriguing productions of any season. My bitches are waiting for your reply. Your Sincerely, Kurt Crocker
posted by Kurt Crocker crocker@streamyx.com

One for the back row

2006-03-25T13:54:00.000+08:00

Here are some close-ups for those sitting at the back!

Phew!

2006-03-25T04:01:00.000+08:00

A glorious opening night, everyone I spoke to loved it, Pinter fans, non Pinter fans, and those who had never heard of Harold Pinter. Gavin was a happy little cookie. Here are some pics taken by boy-genius Isma. I am too exhausted to write any more.

The Night Has Landed

2006-03-24T15:13:00.000+08:00

Thanks Maya for the review, glad you guys enjoyed yourself. Well, tonight's the night we've been working towards and I gotta say, I can't wait to see this show with an audience, with an oxygen tank by my side of course.

Things have been falling into place quite nicely since we bumped into the theatre. Lim's lights and Jia-Wei's set work great together and just being around it has prompted everyone in the cast to up their game. Man, it feels so weird to be opening tonight. Jia-Wei and I were just talking the other day about how it feels like we just had our first reading yesterday......time flies when you're selling fries....hehe...just a little fast food humour....hehe.

Anyway, we had our final full dress rehearsal last night. A few friends were invited to check it out and thankfully, everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. It was great, particularly for the newcomers, to have an audience for the full dress. It served as a great warm up for tonight's show.

I'm gonna bail now cos honestly, I'm too damn nervous to think of anything else to write! We're sold out tonight so thank all of you very much for the support. Trust me, none of it has gone unnoticed. But we've still got tickets available for other days so keep spreading the word. See you guys soon.:)

Peace.

Preview Review

2006-03-24T12:05:00.000+08:00

The Homecoming directed by Gavin Yap had its final full dress rehearsal last night. Pentas 2 KLPAC held a small audience of about a dozen people. Some staff, some friends of the director. It was a decent dress rehearsal and it entertained one member of the audience enough that she went home straightaway and wrote a review on her blog.

Go and read the preview review by singer/writer/musician/actor and all round sexy lady, Maya Tan Abdullah.

Lost Generation

2006-03-23T15:09:00.000+08:00

I despair over the youth of this country. They are becoming anodyned, deodorised wimps, scared of their own bodies (in the case of my daughter-in-law, Ruth Jia-Wei, scared even of a shadow). Every bit of immorality I have taught them has amounted to nothing.

What has prompted my despair and frustration? In particular, my second son, Lenny U-En, and my daughter-in-law, Ruth.

Last night, we had the first of two dress-rehearsals. Instead of worrying about his head-drooping performance or taking comfort in a good dress-rehearsal, Lenny was moaning and groaning about the fact that he had to play the whole of Act One in his boxer shorts. He was embarrassed, he said. With those legs of his, he should be, but that does not mean he has to be coy. If you have been reading his previous blogs, you will have gotten the impression that Lenny is a cocky loudmouth. Now we know - all talk, no cock. A limp pimp. And he dares call me sexless in the play.

As for Ruth - I have commented previously on her giggly cover-up of her belly-button. Those of you fortunate to have caught Ben's posting yesterday of pix of the cast would have seen intriguing shadows in Jia-Wei's cleavage. Ha, I thought, finally, a daughter-in-law who is living up to her promise of being a quality slut. Today, that pix has been removed and replaced by a simpering cliche that wouldn't look out of place in the display-window of some third-rate photo-studio.

And they want to become performers and actors! Ignorant of a rich centuries-old heritage of actors all over the world associated with red lights, opium, prostitution and being compelled to set up stall outside city walls. No sense, no feel for tradition. With that kind of cosseted, closeted, covered-up attitude, and they still want to be seen by the public, may I suggest they go take part in National Day parades.

THE TECH RUN

2006-03-22T09:44:00.000+08:00

Ben has taken some fantastic pictures below.

For those of you who, like myself two days ago, have no idea what a tech run is: It's a rehearsal for Lim (Light) and Sky (Sound). For example, the door lights up when someone walks through it. It dies down when they move to the sofa, and the living room lights come up.

Often when we watch a performance we tend to see and think only of the actors. We imagine that their performances are the only ones that matter. But the fact is that without light you wouldn't see anything. Without sound nothing would frame the play, nothing would mark where one thing stops and another begins. A performance without light or sound is not a performance at all. It's darkness and silence. My hat, if I had one, goes off to Lim and Sky.

Last night was also the first time the actors moved around on the set in costume. Naturally, we ran only the parts where there was a light or sound change. There are many of them, which explains why we started at around 7pm and finished around midnight. This was an important experience for me. So far in the rehearsal studio we've been imagining walls and doors (their positions were taped down with masking tape) and I for one have grown accustomed to the dimensions and positions of things as they were in rehearsals. On stage, things are subtly (and fatally) different. I walked through a wall. Ruth (Jia-Wei) tripped on the sofa. The distance from the sofa to Lenny's room is shorter than I remember it, though this might be an illusion apparent only to me.

Also for the first time it has registered on my naive little brain that people we don't know will be watching us behave like lunatics. Normally I'd say this is a grand lark, but right now it's enough to give me the tremors.

Tonight is the first full dress rehearsal.

Oooh. What was I thinking?

BACKSTAGE PASS

2006-03-22T02:31:00.000+08:00

Here's your backstage pass to the hottest show in town! Tonight we had our Tech Run. It was a long, long, long night. Thor was cursing Tiew Niah Mah and every Mother expression known in Cantonese, Patrick was shivering his nuts off wearing only a singlet while also cursing Tiew Niah Mah, Jia-Wei was so worried about her set she walked into the sofa, Ben was thinking of having Bak Kut Teh for supper as he walked into the stand supporting the set backstage, U-En was still trying out different intentions, Ian was showing off his muscles again, Gavin was (believe it or not) asking the actors to stay in character while Lina was patiently jotting down everyone's demands. (Lina, where's the smoking area? Lina I need my jacket backstage, there's not enough time for me to walk to the dressing room, Lina can you ask Security to turn the air-conditioning down?, Lina can you make sure the costumes are ironed?, Lina we need glow tape behind the banister as well, Lina can you see if Ian is eating in the restaurant? Lina, Lina, Lina...)

The star of the evening was, however, Lim Ang Swee, our very own lighting genius. Move over Mac! As you can see from these never-before-seen shots, the production is looking fffffabulous....

Thor Kah Hoong as Daddy Max

Patrick Teoh as Uncle Sam the chauffeur

U-En Ng as Lenny the pimp

Ian Cheang as Joey the aspiring boxer

Ben Tan as Teddy the professor

Loo Jia-Wei as Ruth the tease

The Lighting Designer and the Director

The exhausted Stage Manager

Ian trying to make the other guys feel inadequate

Here's a glimpse of the set. I really shouldn't show you anymore, now all you have to do is put your bums....

into these!

Get in touch with your inner Lenny

2006-03-17T16:25:00.000+08:00

Reading the script, at first glance Lenny might seem an average sort of person. on the surface he is bad-tempered, thinks rather highly of himself, and uses language like a smarmy nouveau riche guttersnipe. This kind of Lenny is a thin smallish fellow with a big mouth, like Jimmy the Hand in Raymond Feist's books without the saving graces. It might interest you to know that a young Ian Holm (i.e. Bilbo Baggins) played Lenny in the old film version of The Homecoming. A 21st-century version might have him with slicked-back hair, a permanent leer and the nervous energy of Ultraman.

Unfortunately I am none of these things. But, to my mind, they are superficial and ultimately inconsequential. The principal challenge in defining Lenny is tied to defining his mental state. The script provides few clues. His words are on the whole humdrum, but Pinter's genius (for me, that is) lies in his ability to allow these plain innocuous words to be so open to interpretation that you can do anything with them. Read any emotion into them.

This genius is also a curse. I am not an experienced actor. I am not an actor at all. I don't have the training that allows me to walk into roles with a mind already open to possibilities. Quite the contrary. I approached this role with an idea of Lenny--a sketchy and inadequate idea, to be sure--but an idea nonetheless. So I have spent a great deal of time and energy during rehearsals working backwards to get rid of this initial Lenny and discover other possibilities.

Up until yesterday evening the Lenny we had was a sociopath. His moral universe is defined by power and a rationality based on ends dictating means. Justification in his world is not only irrelevant, it's an obstacle. We changed something very small in this approach. Now there is a new Lenny, a darker, stranger, and, we hope, better and more entertaining one of which I will tell you nothing (come and see the show lah).

But the challenge remains. How do I turn myself every day into someone so unhinged that the barrier between his world and the real world is paper thin and full of holes? Before rehearsing we always warm up physically (run around, stretch, make funny faces) and vocally (voice projection and elocution exercises, etc). Mental preparation requires focus exercises in which we stand rock still and stare at one point in the room, empyting our minds of everything except the character and job and hand.

This is merely the beginning. How we each interpret our characters, i.e. how we put the flesh of reality (or, in this case, illusion) on the skeleton of Pinter's script, has to come from within ourselves. So, where does Lenny come from? Is there some part of U-En that is Lennyish? I like to think that I am a fairly well-balanced individual. I generally I don't prostitute my sisters-in-law, I don't treat women as objects of lust and veneration (actually I do, but not in public). I like things, I hate things, just as other people do. So where does this evil Lenny come from?

A few years ago I interviewed the Scottish detective writer Ian Rankin. We got bored early in the interview and started talking crap. This crap eventually wound its way to the topic of evil and I asked him if he believed in the existence of a capital-E Evil, or a small-e evil, or both.

He said something like this: "What pushes the ordinary driver over the edge? What turns him into a road-rage criminal? Is it the mere fact that you've cut into his lane without signalling, or irritated him in some way? How can such a small offence turn a normal, law-abiding person into a homicidal maniac?

"Let me ask you something. Do you ever feel, when you are driving, like doing something to the other fella? Getting out of your car and smashing in his window with your steering lock? Braining him by the side of the road? It doesn't matter why or what he's done to piss you off. All that matters is: Do you ever have this feeling? It's a dark fantasy, true, but just thinking it gives you the satisfaction of emotional release. It's a vent that prevents you from exploding. In other words, thinking about murdering someone prevents you from murdering someone. It's a little evil that does some good."

There are a number of us who can no longer distinguish the thought from the action; there are those of us for whom thought is nothing without action. Are they less human? Or are they more human than the rest of us? In this solipsistic i-Pod universe do we encourage each other to curl up within ourselves and discover truths of our own making--truths that don't give a damn about other people? Or does our modern self-centredness break down the artificial barriers of social convention, allowing us to express our true selves?

I believe humanity has always been irrational and that reason is contrary to "human nature". It's a social convention imposed on us by the inhuman unreality of made-up instruments like laws. But these fabrications are the things that keep us civilised; that keep us human. Our natural tendency is to reject them, to act on our impulses by instinct rather than thought.

We consciously decide to accept these conventions, but we always know they are weak and our hold on them tenuous. That's why I think we're fascinated by particularly sordid and violent crimes, by horror movies that scare the living shit out of us, by the petty cruelties we inflict on others, or inflicted on us, daily. We all have our inner Lennys desperate to get out.

Maybe one day we will let them.

Let's talk about set, baby...

2006-03-16T13:32:00.000+08:00

Hello. Let's talk set. We bump-in on Monday, and I will be posting regular updates on the bump-in as it progresses. So keep your eyes out for that. But before that, I thought I'd give some a little insight into the set ...

Mondrian, Piet. Composition in Red, Blue and Yellow

The design philosophy behind The Homecoming is simple. It is a neo-representational set, which, in tune with the aesthetics of Mondrian, serves to provide an abstract, but identifiable setting. Compositionally, Mondrian's work is presented to us on one readable plane – the geometric shapes coexist in peaceful symbiosis, defined clearly by black lines that run between them, separating them. However, when one chooses to exact more attention to just one shape or two, in true trompe l'oeil fashion, the single plane recesses and shifts into several overlapping planes, creating dimension, depth and intention.

Unlike Mondrian, Pinter's trompe l'oeil lies outside aesthetics, but within the conventions of society. The setting is simple and seemingly conventional (Mondrian's single plane) A son, who is returning to his family with his new wife after an absence of six years. The framework within which The Homecoming unfolds is one that is unremarkable, ordinary, and easily accessible. However, it is when each character reveals him or herself individually as part of a unit, conventions start to breakdown. We are aware suddenly of malice, complexity, relationships that are affable one moment, and distinctly schadenfreudean the next. Personality and intention recess and protrude within the single plane: the family unit.

Now, whether or not this intention has been successfully translated into the set of The Homecoming, only you can tell me. So, come and see the show, and you can write to me at jiawei@klpac.com.

One of the first sketches.

The final proposal.

First run-through

2006-03-16T02:58:00.000+08:00

As you can see here as well as from the last few postings, we are all 'in character' now. We should bloody well be, we open Friday week! Tonight we had our first run of the entire play and yes, I believe (God willing) we have a show!!!!!! Here are some pics taken by Isma.

Lecherous old Max, patriarch of the family.

Well-meaning Uncle Sam and vacuous Joey who aspires to be a boxer.

Supercilious Lenny.

Marriage on the rocks for poor Teddy and Ruth 'The Tease'.

Max, you tit!

2006-03-14T09:36:00.000+08:00

My father Max (Thor) is a senile old fart. "She giggles and pulls her top down to cover her orifice" he says. Pox-ridden syphylitic moron. What happened? Grandpa drop you on the head when you were a baby? You are a blithering blathering blubbering baboon. A filthy lousy misshapen swine. You idiot, the belly-button is not an orifice. I know this. And when I say "I know this" I speak from experience. And what do you know about sluts, you limp prick? That walking stick of yours is no less than the essense of your manhood, ain't it. Your sanctum sanctorum. You brandish it. Wave it around. Bang it on the floor. No wonder. In the sneaky twisted depths of that infantile imagination of yours it's the only way you can visualise an erection, isn't it. Poor sod. If you weren't so abominably ugly I'd kill you and put you out of my misery. You vomitous mass. Luckily for you I don't harm women, children, the weak, and the ugly.

Now I'm not saying that any of this is unnatural. It isn't. Just ask any wheezing old geezer above the age of 60 and they'll tell you how difficult things are when the spirit is willing, but the flesh weak. Hahaha. Twit.

Speaking of family, my older brother Teddy (Ben) has just come home. Fancy that. I walk out of my room and there he is, just standing there in the living room, like he owns the place or something. Wanker. Who the blazes does this shrivelled up little fart think he is? Goes off for God knows how long and turns up in the middle of the night expecting a place to stay. Doctor of Philosophy my left buttock! That bugger won't know an Aristotelian syllogism if it crawled up his arse and died there.

I note that some of you have taken a fancy to my younger brother Joey (Ian). What is it with you people? Leave you alone for five minutes and you breed like rabbits. Think he can scratch your itch, do you? Think he can put a smile to that stinking leprous face of yours, do you? Think you want to eat him up, do you? Well, wake up children. No such thing as a free lunch. You have what it takes, and I'm talking four figures, then maybe we'll do business. Otherwise go fly a kite.

It's Coming Together

2006-03-13T23:23:00.000+08:00

(Thor Kah Hoong in full focus mode)

In every play there is a phase in the rehearsal process which feels like the play will never be ready. Thankfully, I think we have passed that phase in the rehearsal process of The Homecoming. Although we have not had the stamp of approval from the artistic director as yet. Tonight was a wonderful experience. We rehearsed Act 1. There was magic in the rehearsal room. There were gems never seen before in almost every scene in Act 1. Gavin was a happy director. Yes, the play rehearsal is going well and will result in a play that audiences will enjoy.

A word of caution. When you come to watch, don't ask, "What is it about?" until the end of the play. Why? You will see.

See you in the theatre.

The Homecoming
KLPAC Pentas 2
March 24 to April 2
Night shows @ 8.30 p.m.
Sunday matinee @ 3 p.m.
No show on Monday

Last Snapshot

2006-03-13T18:19:00.000+08:00

Ruth Jia-Wei is the latest addition to my family. Not sure about her. Supposed to be a first-class slut. But when she's lying on the sofa, and I mentally and visually start licking the lint in her belly-button, she giggles and pulls her top down to cover the orifice. A quality slut? Giggling?

Tonight we have been threatened with the presence of Joe Hashem. Must remember to tell him that Thierry Henry was miles offside when he pounced on Gerrard's backpass.

After tonight, just five more nights of rehearsals. We should be (are we? who knows?) cruising when we bump in on Monday. Then the shit hits the fan. Then for an hour and a half I try and convince the audience I'm a haam sup loh. Should be a breeze.

16 days to go.....

2006-03-08T13:29:00.000+08:00

Ooookay.....16 days till opening night.....God, just writing that makes me wanna lose my lunch. Okay, maybe its not that bad but ever since some smartass put that damn countdown on the blog, the cast have started to go apeshit. Even Lim, our lighting designer, has started taunting me with it. I was in the rehearsal studio last night just going through some potential music pieces for the play and the bastard walks in and the first words to come roaring out of his mouth was "Hello Mr Director! So.....17 days! HAHAHAHA!" I told him to go fuck himself but that just made him laugh even louder. Sad how the older you get, the more desensitized you are to the word 'fuck'. Remember back in the old days when you could say 'fuck' and everybody would go "What? What did he say? Useless parents!etc, etc."

Anyway, sorry there hasn't been any new posts lately. We've all been kinda wrapped up with work the last few days. Rehearsals are going well but we're not 'there' yet. But everybody's been having a great time just mixing it up and trying new things, which is probably where this production differs the most from the approach used in 'Double Bill'. With the 'Double Bill', we set the blocking in stone (for the most part) fairly early so the actors would have as much time as possible to get used to it. And also, because both plays were one-acts, we had the luxury of being able to run the whole play every rehearsal, as opposed to The Homecoming that had to split up into sections. So by the time the 'Double Bill' opened, the actors were very comfortable with their movements on stage. Whereas with The Homecoming, yes, I set the blocking pretty early but we've used it more as a foundation within which we have a certain amount of freedom to play with......does that make sense?

A lot of things that happen in the play are pretty messed up. Y'know, things that the characters say and do to each other. Plus the play itself has a strong absurdist streak running through it so we've used that come up with things that you probably wouldn't think to do if we were doing a more straight forward play with a more conventional narrative. Not to say The Homecoming doesn't make sense, it does, but it has its own sense of logic. Its really cool because the play is essentially a naturalistic play but it has a very skewered perception of the world it exists in......Pinter basically created his own weird little reality, not terribly different from ours except for its off-center view of the things in general, and it is here that the characters from The Homecoming reside............ok, now I'm completely talking out of ass.......damn, this always happens when I try to sound intelligent.

That's all for now. I'm just going to go off somewhere and think about what I just said......16 days...........fuck.........hehehe.....16, really? I mean...really?

Peace.

The Homecoming banners

2006-03-03T17:46:00.000+08:00

hello-hello, unofficial webmistress midnite lily here. ^_^ I've just done up a few banners for you kind souls out there supporting The Homecoming. Post them up on your blogs/websites with a link to The Homecoming Production Diary here at http://thehomecomingdiaries.blogspot.com/

You can add these details too...
March 24 - April 2nd
@ Pentas 2, Kuala Lumpur Performing Arts Centre (KL Pac)
Sentul Park, Jln Strachan
All shows @ 8.30 pm, except Sunday matinees 3pm
(No show on March 27) Tickets: RM35;
RM20 for students, senior citizens and disabled

Right click and Save Image As the banners below on your own server/photo site, yar? Please don't steal bandwidth.

See you at the show! ^_~

More Family Portraits

2006-03-02T16:39:00.000+08:00

After I made my first posting, my brother Sam-Pat Teoh has come out, flitting here, sighing there. It makes my skin creep.

My eldest son Ted-Ben Tan is a worry. I sense trouble in his marriage. I have eaves-dropped on him and his wife Ruth and they spend hours talking the most inane, mundane things about sleeping, not sleeping, you sleep first, no you sleep first. The ennui of existential man and woman, Lenny calls it. I don't know what the fuck that is. It just sounds lifeless. I wonder if Teddy's gay too?

My second son, Lenny U-En, thinks he's taking over. He thinks he's tough enough to lead the family. I'm not intimidated. Take a knife and slash that pretty-boy cheek of his and you won't find a street-tough underneath, but more wimpy weepy pretty-boy. He turns pink at a sip of beer. He's so scared of me he has hidden the scissors well. Let me find those scissors and I'll have his dangly bits turned into dog-food and fed to him. He wouldn't need them anyway. Beating up women - he's up for that. But ask him to take a woman - and he turns into a voyeur. Just like his uncle Sam.

My youngest, Joey-Ian Cheang, is training to be a boxer. He trains very hard. Always comes back very late to join the family. But he doesn't know how to box. I slap him, punch him, and he has no reply. Behaves like he knows what to do with women, but he doesn't. He's still a mama's boy, looking for a tit to suck on, not titillate.

I don't know what I did in my previous life to deserve such a family.

Family Photos

2006-02-26T20:11:00.000+08:00

A Normal Loving Family

2006-02-26T13:44:00.000+08:00

Your father is old, cranky, foul-mouthed and a bit of a lecherous chauvinistic git.
Your brother is a pimp.
Your uncle is a limping, bullied bachelor working as a private chauffeur.
Your elder brother deserted you and lived in America for 6 years before making his first visit home.
Your sister-in-law makes a play for you the first night home.
She allows you to play with her for 2 hours in the bedroom but you don't get to "go the whole hog".
Your father and brothers agree to prostitute your sister-in-law.
Your uncle reveals an ugly secret about your dead mother.

If you think you won't find any of the above disturbing should it happen in YOUR family, then DON'T see this play.

Thor Kah Hoong
U-En Ng
Loo Jia Wei
Ben Tan
Ian Cheang
Patrick Teoh
in

The Homecoming
by
Harold Pinter

Directed by Gavin Yap

Pentas 2 Kuala Lumpur Performing Arts Centre (KLPAC)
March 24 - April 2, 2006
All shows @ 8.30 p.m. except for Sunday matinees @ 3.00 p.m.
No show on March 27
Tickets: RM35; RM20 for students, senior citizens and disabled.

To buy tickets call KLPAC 603-40479000 or The Actors Studio, Bangsar Shopping Centre 603-20949400

Another fun rehearsal...

2006-02-24T00:38:00.000+08:00

Never mind the bloody jams getting to KLPAC before 8pm, we do occassionally have fun. Gavin started tonight's rehearsal with an exercise on Focus. Here are some pics.

late intro...

2006-02-23T17:40:00.000+08:00

After being labelled "the laziest of the lot" by Patrick for not posting anything in this blog, (actually Ian beat me to the title... the previous doesn't count coz if y'all notice it was "jotted by patrickteoh"..), here goes....

My name is Lina. I am the one whose always thinking what's for dinner during rehearsals.

I have been in the event management industry for half my age & obsessed with working behind the limelight. So, on one bright starry nite, I decided to apply for the stage manager job opening with KLPac. Had a brief interview with Faridah & Joe the next day and got stuck with the cuckoo family almost immediately.

This is my first serious involvement with theatre production. The closest I got was ushering patrons into the black box with a torchlight, twice.

Rehearsals with "THE HOMECOMING" cuckoos have been very entertaining & a valuable experience for me. Gavin's rambling has striked me, thanx to Patrick for giving the different perspective of it..

I have realized that being the laziest in the lot is a torture because everybody has babbled & rambled about everything.

me like to be in the production team, me to like to laugh during rehearsals, me have fun, me looking forward to the show.

Cheers to Gavin, Thor, Patrick, U-en, Jia-Wei, Ben & Ian and the rest of the production people.

Ciao.

Homecoming mailing list

2006-02-23T11:32:00.000+08:00

Hey guys, Gavin again. Just a quick line to let you know that if any of you are interested, or anyone else you know, in receiving updates on The Homecoming via e-mail, you can pass your e-mail add to Yue May, our very cute publicity person here at KLPac, and she'll e-mail you info on the production as it comes (just in case la, some of you fellas lazy to save or write down things) such as banners, pictures, updates on contests,etc....

So go ahead, don't be shy. We'll still be blogging away over here, but this would be a good way to keep in touch with the production if you don't always have the time to check out the production blog. Cheers!

Anyway, Yue May's e-mail address is yuemay@klpac.com. Look forward to hearing from you.

Take care.

Homecoming tickets now available

2006-02-22T16:27:00.000+08:00

Hello there ladies and gents, boys and girls, pals and gals.......thought I'd let you know that tickets to The Homecoming are available for sale. You can pick up tickets either from KLPac or Actors Studio, Bangsar. Or you can call 03-40479000 (KLPac) or 03-20949400 (TAS @ BSC) and pay by card over the phone.

Tickets are priced at RM35 and RM20 for students, senior citizens above 60 and the disabled.

Venue - KLPac, Pentas 2

Show Dates
March 24th 8:30pm
March 25th 8:30pm
March 26th 3pm
March 27th NO SHOW
March 28th 8:30pm
March 29th 8:30pm
March 30th 8:30pm
March 31st 8:30pm
April 1st 8:30pm
April 2nd 3pm

That's all for now. Back again soon.

The Homecoming - KLPAC Mar 24 to Apr 02, 2006

2006-02-22T13:05:00.000+08:00

(Thor Kah Hoong as MAX)

MAX: I'm not an old man. Do you hear me? Kiss me.

The HomeComing - Love, Hate, Incest, Violence and a Cheese Roll.

Hi There

2006-02-22T12:38:00.000+08:00

Hi. My name is Ian Cheang. I play Joey in The Homecoming directed by Gavin Yap. Joey is a
boxer. Just like me, he trains in a gym every
night after work. I train at XXX Gym. For RM179.90 a month you too can have a body like mine. Hairstyling and choker not included.

JOEY (TO RUTH)
I'm a boxer. In the evening after work.

MAX
He speaks so easily to his sister-in-law, do you notice?

JOEY
I didn't get all the way.

LENNY
You didn't get all the way?!
But you've had her up there for two hours.
What are you telling me?
Are you telling me she's a tease?

Rehearsals.

2006-02-21T17:01:00.000+08:00

Rehearsals. Yeah. The most fun of doing any play? Some people think so. I enjoy them. Sometimes. With the right cast. The right director. If it isn't overly 'intellectual'. If I am not required to become an animal that I must associate with the character that I am playing. If I am not required to attain the zenith level of some Zen nirvana. And only if I do not have to make an entrance coming out of an urn full of water. So given all the above rehearsals for The Homecoming has been pretty fun.

Last Sunday the director decided that we should meet after the afternoon rehearsal. A cast meeting I think he called it. Venue? The Bulldog pub. Which caused my wife to comment, "Oh it's a 'rehearsal' is it?"

What Gavin wanted to do was to have each of the 'characters' read the journal which they had been asked to keep for a couple of weeks to each other. Problem was Gavin forgot to print out copies for the actors. U-En and Jia Wei were the only ones who brought copies (Niamah! These young, professional, efficient rookies!). So it was decided that we would also discuss our characters and the relationships within the play.

As the evening progressed (ok I'll admit there was consumption of alochol involved) there appeared to be more of The Homecoming's characters sitting around the table than actors. U-En launched into his journal which sounded really 'deep'. You know what I mean? Multi syllable words and all. Which caused Ben to request, "Eh! Can we have the English version ah?" I think it was Thor who uttered the first "fuck" of the evening and it was directed at U-En. Jia Wei sat rather quietly surveying with knowing eyes. Ian (Joey) was more than an hour late and this time he didn't even apologise. Maybe he was keeping in character. I sat and watched over my pint of Kilkenny and thought, "What a fucked up family this is." Before realising that we were actually just being ourselves. Thor Kah Hoong, U-En Ng, Loo Jia Wei, Ian Cheang, Ben Tan and Patrick Teoh. A piece of brilliant casting or what?

At the end of the evening it was generally agreed that some 'work' had been done for the good of the rehearsal process for The Homecoming. The beer and grub at The Bulldog wasn't bad either.

On another subject, the counter on this blog has passed the 2,000 mark. And we have been accused of visiting the site ourselves too many times which drives the counter up. So please leave a comment la when you visit.

And Gavin, one or two rehearsals have been shit? You manage to keep that under wraps pretty well. Now you've got me wondering which one or two they were. Bastard. Your way of making actors get the 'fear' issit?

Ramblings

2006-02-21T13:03:00.000+08:00

Hello all, Gavin here. I've been asking my actors to make the occasional post but I'm guessing they've all been too busy learning their lines so I figured I'd buy them some time and write something myself. Rehearsals have been coming along great. When I say that, I don't mean to say that every rehearsal has been great. They haven't. One or two in particular have been shit (the actors know which ones). But that's natural for the rehearsal process. That's why we rehearse. Hey, I know some of you out there think the shows are crap when they're staged, you should see what they're like five weeks before!

Its scary putting a show together, no matter how much you may love it. And even though I'm enjoying every minute of every night I spend with my actors trying to flesh out the characters, trying to make it better each time we go at it......I can't help but be scared. Don't get me wrong, I get a lot of pleasure from it and I learn something about the play, my actors and myself at the end of every day.....but I'm still scared.

I've been scared throughout most of my life actually. Fear has always been a strong motivator for me. Fear of failure, humiliation, whatever. When I do a production, whether its as an actor or a writer or a director.....I usually don't realise how shit scared I am till around half way through rehearsals, then I start to freak out. But I've never been one of those guys who openly freaks out in front of others (probably because I know people like that and find it fucking annoying but that's a story for another time and another blog). No, I'm one of those sit up alone at home in the middle of the night and pace up and down the living room smoking and thinking out loud kind of guys.........actually now that I think about it, I'm not sure which one is worse.

As a director, your list of things to worry about grows considerably. As an actor, your basic job is to get all your lines out in the correct order, maybe add an inflection or two here and there, hit your mark, and don't bump into the furniture or fall off the set. (yes dears, I know there's slightly more to it than that, I'm talking about the basics, meaning you can get away with just doing those things and depending on who the reviewer is, still get a good review. Actually I've found its when you really try to make an effort and put in a great performance, that you get fucked by the critics) As a writer, as long as you and the director are in agreement with the kind of show you both want to stage, the stress is fairly minimal. After all, if the show sucks the director will take more fire than you. Unfortunately, I've also acted in every play I've written so me being onstage has been a constant reminder to everyone in the audience who didn't happen to be enjoying themselves that I was the reason for their screwed up evening. Thankfully, they've been in the minority...........I think.

As a director though, you're pretty much stressing about everything. You worry for your actors, because you love them and you want them to be the best that they can be and you worry whether or not you have what it takes to help them reach that level of performance. You worry about the blocking, does it work? Is it repetitious? It is too this or too that? You never stop asking yourself questions. And this is just rehearsal, which is the fun part! After that, the real pain the ass issues start popping up - How do you sell the show? Who are we selling the show to? Who would most likely be interested in seeing it? How do we reach them? Is the publicity department handling it? How will the set look like? Will it be exactly as I imagined it? If not, will it affect my actors? Is it actor friendly? Is it audience friendly? How will audiences react to it? Will they like it?

Okay, to be perfectly honest....I don't really worry about the last couple of things. I admit I'm curious to see how audiences will take to this play but I can't afford to let that dictate the kind of shows I choose to put on. Obviously I want to put on shows that people will like but if all I was interested in doing was spoon feeding entertainment down their throats, then I might as well convince KLPac to restage Cinderella. When you decide to take on the responsibility of directing a production, the play must be something that speaks to your soul. As an actor, you don't always have that luxury. You take shitty job after shitty job because that's exactly what it is, a job. You take it and you say thank you because at the end of the day, just like everyone else, you have bills to pay. The Homecoming warms my soul in a big way, in the sense that I can't read any of it without telling myself that I'm reading an amazing play. When you feel that way about something, its only natural that you should want to share it. I don't know if you guys will like it or not.......all I know is that you've got a team of Pinter fans here working to make this the best show that we can possibly make. In many ways, working on this play has made me think a lot about when I was still in the States, doing plays in college. It was all about the love for theatre. It wasn't about money or getting your face on the cover of a magazine. It was all about the love.......ah man, its good to be home.

Oh, but I wouldn't say no to money......or a cover-story......any cover...really, we need the publicity......

Peace.

a guy thing...

2006-02-16T00:58:00.000+08:00

No funny captions, just some nice shots of the boys taken by Lina. Slut wife not needed tonight. Yes, we actually do rehearse the play...

More Family Pictures...

2006-02-15T11:08:00.000+08:00

Here are some pictures from last night's rehearsal. The late-afternoon storm shattered one of the studio's glass doors, but I'm happy to report that the rest of the sudio emerged unscathed. So, it's business as usual for the family.

Family Portraits

2006-02-14T15:05:00.000+08:00

Hi, I'm Max/Thor, the patriarch of the dysfunctional family in The Homingcoming. Actually, a more accurate word would be 'dick-functional.' The play is a steamy stew of violent sex and all of us play our part in spicing up the group grope - Teddy-Ben Tan, my eldest son, the father of three sons; Lenny/U-En, the second son, a pimp; Joey/Ian Cheang, the youngest, has had more women than cream-puffs; Ruth Jia-Wei, my daughter-in-law, a quality slut.

The odd one out (there is always one in any family, law of nature) is Sam/Patrick Teoh. He says he is above it all. What he is is a limp dick, a paralysed prick - just a couple of obvious truths I tell him in the play.

Gavin is an astute young man (BLATANT ass-kissing here so that he'll remember me for other roles. On second thoughts, forget the ass-kissing. He gets enough of that from Kakiseni staff.) for finally allowing Patrick to sink to his (Patrick's, not Gavin's) comfort level in a role - duh. Don't know why all these directors keep asking Patrick to play strong personalities when my old friend, poor fella, can barely remember the lines, much less understand them. Don't believe me, ask him to improvise the emotions in the subtext of his character, see what 4-letter word he will give you. When Gavin told me he had cast me as Max for the production, I heard Sam, and had started memorising Sam's scenes and lines for a couple of weeks before I realised my mistake - after all, Patrick Teoh you know, who am I, he supernova, I only a passing asteroid. Then Gavin told me the audience wouldn't believe that I was stupid and slow, like a slug ... see what I told you about Gavin being perceptive.

More family portraits to follow.

Look, we have furniture

2006-02-11T10:50:00.000+08:00

Hello. This is U-En. Yesterday (Feb 10) we rehearsed in Bangsar due to road closures in and around KL for Thaipusam. We'll be there again tonight. Many thanks to Ti-Ratana Community Centre, Bangsar, for their kind hospitality and to Patrick for making the arrangements.

Here are pix from yesterday's rehearsal. Patrick has some more, but I expect that the ones I took on his phone are even crappier than these. So sorry.

Thor tells the story of how he had a customer in his shop.

Like stout Cortez, Gavin with eagle eyes stares at... Ben, and Jia-Wei pretends to be elsewhere

See, I told you the old geezer was alive. And not happy.

Patrick: Baarger baarger baarger. Old geezer still alive.
Ian contemplates his manicure
Jia-Wei contemplates Gavin's confusion
Thor: Actually, there were TWO customers in the shop today.

Gavin tries to impress Ben by reciting Pi to 5,432 decimal places. Ben is not impressed. Thor tries to remember if two customers are more than one.

Lina wonders what's for dinner again. No, not again. Still.

If truth be told...

2006-02-10T16:40:00.000+08:00

Alright. I am Ben and I play Teddy, the oldest son and the 'Homecomer' in the play. Picking up from where U-En left off, please don't believe what Gavin and Patrick have said about me.

First of all, I am not 'happy to be working'. I have been working, contrary to popular belief. Yes, I do enjoy working with different directors. I have just finished a short film with Low Ngai Yuen and a performed play-reading of Epitaph of The Whales with Lim How Ngean. I have also been given the role of Tun Sir Tan Cheng Lock in RTM's Merdeka! Merdeka! Merdeka!. That was the main reason why I couldn't do Julius Caesar. (Yes, I was offered a part...I think it was Third guard, stage left).

Joe Hasham once told me "There are just two types of directors you work with. Those you trust and those you don't work with." I have known Gavin for about 5 years and although he talks an awful lot, he does make sense (from time to time). And judging from the last few rehearsals, I am really happy to be working with him. That boy seems to know what he is doing.

Oh yes, I don't know who read for Gavin or whether or not a certain actor was his first choice as Teddy but whether one is first or last choice, the proof is in the pudding. And if truth be told, Gavin and Patrick secretly fancy me!

p.s. I have the best legs in the cast.

Loony Lenny

2006-02-08T23:37:00.000+08:00

Hello. I am U-En. I play the useless psychotic git Lenny. I have never acted before (that is, besides the usual amount of outright lying I have to do to get through the day without being killed), and Gavin says that he "saw Lenny" in me, so that makes me a useless psychotic git too. And I'm proud to be one.

The Homecoming is not the play I would have chosen to make a stage debut. I would not have chosen to make a stage debut at all; but if I did, I would have preferred something simpler like Romeo & Juliet, in which I would play an extra Montague, maybe, or anyone who gets skewered early without ever saying a word.

Gavin doesn't tell the true story of his part in my downfall. It all began in a certain pub in KL. It was a dark and stormy night. A terrible wind blew, carrying with it the foul voices of the damned, the insane, and an Indian fellow talking on his mobile phone. Lightning rent the dark night and a demented thunder ravaged across the slimy black skies blah blah blah you get the picture.

Inside said pub, Gavin had been rattling on about something for an hour. I was a little tipsy and had stopped paying attention, so I strung a random sentence together to distract him. I don't recall exactly what that sentence was, except that it contained the words "baby", "head", "nail" and "wall". I can't remember the exact order of these words either, nor which was the verb, which is why the police haven't come yet.

Anyway, Gavin stopped talking immediately and an odd look spread across his face--a kind of wide-eyed giggling frown. If you've met this bugger before, you'll know what that look is. It gets normal people locked up in padded cells.

Gavin: "Lenny".
Me: Huh?
Gavin: "Lenny".
Me: My name is not Lenny, you idiot.
Gavin: Eh, can do me a favour or not?

The next thing I knew was that I agreed to read the script for him (in another pub, on another dark and stormy night, etc) so I must have been either a) out of my damned mind, or b) somewhat tipsier than I imagined.

The answer is neither of these, but it is not a very interesting story. Anyway, I am quite sleepy.

/ends

Homecoming Housekeeping:

1. We should now be able to post under our own names.

2. Max is alive. I have seen him.

Because Ben Tan wanted it

2006-02-08T12:59:00.000+08:00

Ben Tan commented after seeing the photos of Thor, Patrick U-En and Jia Wei and then those taken by the other boy genius, Isma..."Now I think these should be in the blog instead of those unappealing headshots." I hope you're happy now Ben. By the way, the captions were a result of Gavin being hungry for some salad at Chili's and Patrick being himself.

Hi, I'm the leg. Wanna see the rest? Come see The Homecoming. KLPAC, March 25 to April 2, 2006. It will be worth it.

"What are you trying to do? Humiliate me?"

(This photo was omitted in the original post because Isma's software programme for erasing wrinkles crashed. Sorry, Thor.)

Wah you look younger la. Wah you look damn ham sup la. Wah you look damn old la. All I can say Gavin Yap is that this better be worth all the shit I am taking.

The cheek bones are real. What? Well, f*** you!

There's nothing f**king wrong with my hair. Wanna make something of it? Huh? Come on.

I like walks on sandy beaches. The cool sea breeze on my face. A pina colada on one hand and a good Jackie Collins novel in the other. So what the f**k am I doing in Sentul?

Hi. I'm Ben. I'm g..... I mean I am happy. I'm working with a different director. Actually, I'm happy I'm working.

Friday's rehearsal

2006-02-07T16:38:00.000+08:00

Hey there all, Gavin here again. What do you guys think of the new lay out? Pretty cool huh? Big thanks to midnite lily for sorting it out for us. You're a queen, a goddam princess!

Anyway, Jia-Wei posted some pictures from last Friday's rehearsal so I thought I'd talk a little about that. How I've gone about the rehearsal schedule is I've basically split everything up into different sections, according to the entrances and exits of the characters. So for Wednesday's rehearsal, I just focused on the first 5 pages which involves the characters Max(Thor) and Lenny(U-En). Then on Thursday, we started from the middle of page 5 starting from when Sam(Patrick) enters, carrying on until page 11 when Joey(Ian) comes in, which we continued with on Friday when these pictures were taken.

The reason for splitting it up like this, is mainly for blocking (which is a fancy way of saying 'where the actors should stand, sit, walk, where they walk and on what line, etc...). Once the play is blocked, we'll start to combine the different sections and run it together and see if it flows. If it does, we carry on. If it doesn't, we try to figure out what the problems are so we can fix them.

Friday was very fun. It was Ian's first day so he was an excitable little bunny. Patrick was sick so I had to sit in for him, which pissed off Thor cos on this particular rehearsal, we were scheduled to rehearse a scene where Thor's character really rips in to Patrick. Seeing as Patrick wasn't there, he had to settle on me. I would've thought he'd love getting to spit out a few abusive lines at his director.....I know I would. But he kept going on...."Not the same la, I wish the old bahger was here so I could give it to him nicely...." (or words to that effect)

Ian and Thor share a very cool exchange together in this scene, which basically consists of Max giving Joey tips on how to be a good boxer, but not necessarily in a most loving of ways. Once they get their lines down and start adding more dimensions to their characters, its gonna be a great little scene.

That's all for now. Take care.

Family Pix

2006-02-06T17:56:00.000+08:00

Here are some pictures from Friday's rehearsal featuring Thor, U-En, Ian and Gavin, who stood-in for Patrick because he was sick.

Ian admires the size of his directors feet.

Thor amuses us with stories of World War 1.

"Normandy?......Hah! I was There!!"

Yes. We rehearse in a big studio because we're special.

Typical Malaysian Theatre: Director Talks while Stage Manager wonders what's for dinner.

More to come. Check back regularly!

JW

Casting and other bits of nonsense

2006-02-06T15:53:00.000+08:00

Hello all, the Gavman's here! I know 'the Gavman' is cheesy as hell but I'm in a funny mood so sue me. We've posted a few pics for your pleasure, as well as the front and back visuals for the postcard which should be out pretty soon. We'll be putting up the big ass image of the actual poster up pretty soon so keep a look out. Also, Jia-Wei took a bunch of photos of last Friday's rehearsal (Thor, U-En and Ian were the actors on call that night) which should be up within the next day or so. Would have them up sooner but I'm a moron when it comes to technology so I gotta rely on other people to do this shit for me, or at least show me how to do it but no.....nope, everyone's busy with other things.......I guess they're all busy locked up in a room somewhere learning their lines.:) Once we get the rehearsal pics up, I'll start talking a little about what's been happening during rehearsals, better if got visual guide, isn't it?? So for right now, I'd thought I'd talk a bit about casting and how I came to choose the actors.

I ain't gonna lie....with the exception of Thor and Patrick,this play was a bitch to cast. With Thor and Pat, it was almost as if I had no choice. Less than half way through the first page of the play, I saw Thor as 'Max', and it was the same with Patrick's character, 'Sam'. The thought of those two guys playing brothers, sparring together onstage was too good to pass up. It also occurred to me that these guys had never been in a play together! I couldn't believe it.....no, Life Sdn.Bhd2 doesn't count. What also excited me about getting these two to do it was that for the first time in a while, they would be playing roles completely against type. Normally Patrick is asked to play these aggresive larger than life chinaman type roles, which he does very well, but he's been doing too much of it lately and I really wanted to see him do something different. So the character of 'Sam' is a great departure for him because its a very subtle put down upon character. There's a lot of sadness and mystery to 'Sam' which is giving Pat the chance to go places as an actor that he doesn't always get the chance to go. I'm stoked about it, and I'm pretty sure he is too.

I was a little hesitant to call Thor at first, cos less than a few days before I read the script, he was at my place bitching about how he didn't wanna do anymore theatre.........we've all been there man.hehe. I called him anyway and if memory serves I believe the conversation went something like.......

Thor : Hello?
Gavin : Thor!
Thor : Ah!
Gavin : Gavin here.
Thor AH!
Gavin : You got five minutes or not?
Thor : Got.
Gavin : Hey, I know ......I know you said you didn't want to do anymore theatre......
Thor : Ah.
Gavin : AH! But what if I promised you that this time we sure have a lot of fun?
Thor : What's the play?
Gavin : The Homecoming.

Long silence

Gavin : Hello?
Thor : The Homecoming?
Gavin : Ah.
Thor : Pinter?
Gavin : Ah.
Thor : Crazy ah?
Gavin : AH! I'd want you as Max and Patrick as Sam. Sounds like fun, right?
Thor : Who's directing?
Gavin : Er...me.

Long silence

Gavin : Er....hello?

Another long silence

Gavin : Hoi bugger!
Thor : Ah.
Gavin : So how?
Thor : Promise me something
Gavin : Okay.
Thor : Promise me it'll be better than your last production.
Gavin : Promise!
Thor : Okay.
Gavin Okay! So you're in?
Thor : Ah.

And that was how Thor came aboard. Next came the role of 'Teddy', the oldest of the three sons and, along with his wife Ruth, the one who comes home after six years (hence the play's title). My first choice was Pete Teo but his schedule wouldn't allow it. I talked to quite a few other people about the role but there was no dice. Either they weren't available or they weren't suitable. Then on the opening night of Caesar, I bumped into Ben Tan who I hadn't seen in a while. We got to talking, he asked me what I was working on. I mentioned I was getting ready to direct The Homecoming and he asked if he could audition for it. Now to be honest, I was hesitant. I hadn't thought about Ben for the role because it wasn't the kind of role you would associate with Ben Tan. Ben has a flamboyance to his person that kinda makes you not think of him when you're trying to cast a more low key character. But the more I thought about it, the more interested I became in casting Ben, because in many ways, it would be a huge departure for him. He's never played a role like this- low key, kinda gruff, straight...... and Ben hadn't done a play in a while and he was hungry to do something, ripe for a challenge. So he came in, auditioned and got the role. Actually, I'm really looking forward to his performance. I love it when actors do something different, y'know like Tom Hanks in 'The Ladykillers', Jim Carrey in 'Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind', Jack Black in 'King Kong', Elijah Wood in 'Sin City'.....y'know what I mean?

Then there was the role of 'Ruth', Teddy's wife and the one whose presence, in more ways than one, turns the family household on its ear.....I won't say how but its gonna be so freaky!!! Anyway, this was probably the role I saw the most people for. One thing I knew for sure was that whoever played the role, she needed to be a fresh face. I wasn't completely against casting a familiar face, but it would have been a last resort. Nothing to do with talent mind you, I saw some hugely talented actresses. Its mainly to do with me wanting the character of 'Ruth' to be a surprise. If I had cast some big name, say Ida Nerina, you'd be waiting for her to do something. There would be all these expectations for the character because of who's playing her.....otherwise whaffor cast Ida Nerina, right? I wanted to avoid that. I wanted the audience to not really notice Ruth at first so when she starts to come into her own, she becomes all the more fascinating to watch. While I was in the midst of 'Ruth' auditions, Jia-Wei and I sat down to talk about the set (clever girl pulling double duty as production designer). As she is the set designer for the play, its only fair that she be allowed to read the play beforehand. I passed her a copy and the next time we talked, she told me she loved the play and Ruth's character. I half jokingly asked if she'd like to audition and much to my surprise (and hers a bit, I think), she said yes. She gave a great audition and that was that.

Then came 'Lenny', the middle child and the biggest role in the play (at least in terms of dialogue). I didn't see too many people for this role. Mainly because I just had trouble seeing anyone doing it! I auditioned a couple of people but for some reason, I believed that going the 'normal' auditon route wasn't gonna work for this character. I started to pay more attention to the people around me, particularly the non-theatre people. I figured I had Thor, Pat and Ben, it would be great if the seconf half of the cast could be newcomers (Jia-Wei hadn't been cast yet). So I started approaching friends and strangers. If I thought they had an interesting look, or interesting demeanour or whatever la I happen to find interesting about them, I would ask them if they'd like to audition. Some told me to get fucked, but most of them said yes. That was how I came to cast U-En. He's a mate and we catch up for a drink every once and a while. One night, we were guzzling beer and I looked at him and I saw Lenny. I know that sounds like bullshit but its true. I saw Lenny.......I didn't know if he could act or even if he WOULD act but what the hell, it was worth a go. He read for me a couple of days later and I cast him on the spot. He was the only one who didn't have to wait for an answer.

Last but not least, the role of 'Joey', the youngest, the stud, the guy who's, in Lenny's words, "had more dolly than you've had cream cakes....". When I was rehearsing Caesar I asked Michael Chen if he wanted to play the role. I thought he would've been great for it so I ran up to him all excited but the asshole said no.........trying to give me some bullshit about wanting to continue his studies or something. (joking ah brother) This role was the most fun to audition in the sense that I had the most entertaining bunch of auditionees. The problem was I had a very specific physical type in mind for 'Joey'. The character works in construction in the day and is in training to be a boxer at night, so naturally I needed to find someone of a certain physical type so he would at least be physically convincing. And everybody who auditioned for the role was either the right build but couldn't act or could act but not right physically. Ian is a trainer at the same gym where I work out so I thought of him one day and thought "Hmmm .....I wonder..." He was keen to give it a go, so I had him read for it. Physically, he was great, but what I really liked about his reading was he gave 'Joey' a sincerity that I thought would make for a very interesting interpretation. I had my cast.

As you may have noticed, with a couple of exceptions, none of the people in the play were my first choice. It doesn't always work this way. My last production, 'Double Bill' for example, was the total opposite. Pretty much everyone in that production (except Lennard and Cheryl) was my first choice. When you read a play with the intention of staging it, its only natural that you are going to have a 'dream cast' in your head. But its important to not get too locked in to that idea because you never know what little gems you may find by taking another route. Casting The Homecoming has been one of those routes that's paid off very nicely.......so far.

Bye for now. Cheers.

Come home. If you dare.

2006-02-04T17:47:00.000+08:00

Thor Kah Hoong is Max........... "You leave it to others? What others? You paralysed prat!"

Patrick Teoh is Sam....................... "Never get a bride like you had, anyway. Nothing like your bride ... going about these days. Like Jessie."

U-En is Lenny................ "There's no need for us to go to all this expense. I know these women. Once they get started they ruin your budget."

Jia-Wei is Ruth ................. "You would have to regard your original outlay simply as capital investment."

Send a postcard to the folks back home.

Why The Homecoming?

2006-02-04T13:45:00.000+08:00

Gavin here. It just dawned on me that I managed to ramble on and on yesterday without explaining how I came to choose The Homecoming in the first place. So I thought I'd give you guys an idea.....you may care, you may not.....ah never mind, if you think I'm talking out of my ass and you wanna put me in my place, just make a comment about Romi and Joo Lee......that always gets me going.:)

Originally I wasn't planning on directing The Homecoming at all. The thought never even entered my mind. I had planned to direct The Seagull by Anton Chekhov. I studied the play when I was still in the US and found it to be very funny and tragic at the same time. I remember I was the only one amongst my group of friends that liked it. I have quite a few mates that feel that the only thing that's 'comical' about Chekhov's comedies is the fact that he had the balls to call them comedies. I disagree, although I totally see where they were coming from. My friend Matt put it best "Chekhov's plays are in dire need of a few nob gags....". Did I mention Matt's english? By the way, 'nob' means penis aka dick aka schlong aka one eyed monster aka mushroom aka purple headed yogurt slinger aka.....well, you get the idea.

But anyway, I digress..... I really wanted do The Seagull. The only problem was that I had a very specific actor in mind for the lead and when he told me he wouldn't be able to do it, I started to have second thoughts about doing the play. You have to understand, The Seagull is the kind of play where if you don't have the right cast, its not worth doing. It'll die a slow, miserable death so I shelved it. I still have every intention of directing it, I guess the stars weren't in alignment this year.

I stumbled on The Homecoming pretty much by accident. I had read the play years ago and loved it but for some strange reason, the thought directing it just didn't register until one day I was running from my car into the office, desperate to take a shit. The closest toilet was the men's room on the ground floor which I made a bee line for. Now, I happen to be one of those sad individuals who is incapable of taking a crap without something to read.....sad but true. Particularly tabloids....something about tabloids that just facilitates release. However on this fateful day, there wasn't a rag in sight so I stopped by the resource center (where we keep all the plays that survived the dataran merdeka flood) and hurriedly searched for something I could read. I saw 'Pinter' and just grabbed it without even looking at the title. I figured how could I go wrong with Pinter, right? I made it to the men's room, sat down and I kid you not, I didn't leave the toilet for about half an hour. I was sucked in from page one. I think a few passer-by's were a little freaked out from all the laughing coming from the far right cubicle.....

Anyway, that's how the decision was made. I told Joe about it, he ok'd it and that was pretty much that. Anyway, I gotta go now people. I gotta go toilet.....where the hell's my HELLO mag......

And so it begins....

2006-02-03T12:26:00.000+08:00

Hello there people, Gavin Yap here. Before I begin, I would just like to say that I have never had a blog before. I've never kept a diary or a journal before so if I happen to ramble on without making any kind of sense for a long duration of time, chalk it down to teething problems....y'know, kinda like the Cameronians.

Anyway, welcome to The Homecoming blog. For those of you who don't know, The Homecoming is play by Harold Pinter (who recently won the nobel prize by the way....no, that's not the reason I decided to direct the play but you have to admit, it doesn't hurt either). What's it about you ask? Ah, well.....that could take a while....not to say its very complicated or anything like that, its just that for me, there are so many ways to describe it. Lemme put it this way....its about a family so fucked up, that after watching this play....you're gonna wanna drive straight to your parent's house and give them the biggest hug in the world and get on your hands and knees and thank god above (or below, whatever your preference) that you don't have a family as fucked up as this one. So....intrigued?

The whole point of this blog is ...well, I guess you could call it a bit of an experiment. This isn't a personal blog, (although I'm sure some real life shit will treacle in somehow) its a production blog. Kinda like what Peter Jackson did with King Kong. Before the film's release, he brought out a King Kong production diaries DVD set so those interested in finding a little bit more about how the film was put together could get thier behind the scenes fix before actually going to see the film itself......that's kinda what we're attempting to do here , with one huge difference... you don't have to fork out RM299.00(yes, I inquired....what can I say, I'm a DVD whore). Why are we doing this? Because we thought it would be pretty interesting, both for us and for you. You get to keep tabs on the progress we're making and hopefully, it'll get you excited about coming to see the show. And don't worry, you won't have to put up with my shit all the time. The rest of the cast and crew are in on this blog and they'll be making a few postings themselves. So you'll get to hear from me, the director, members of the cast, the production designer, and whoever else wants to give his or her two cents worth.

From now until the play closes, anyone who's interested can log on to this blog and get a little behind the scenes look at The Homecoming rehearsal process, and of course you guys get to go crazy with the comments and talk mad shit to us and about us. Think of it as your home away from Kakiseni.....hehehe. We only just started blocking a couple of days ago and so far, its been very fun. And once I put all my notes together and figure out how to read my handwriting, I'll be back to give a blow by blow account of what's been happening. Till then, take care. Be back soon.