NIDA Neither

The recent saga with the National Institute of Dramatic Arts (NIDA) had inevitably put the drama school back on to the radar for all the wrong reasons.

The public debacle was triggered by a soon to be published article from a former boarder member, Chris Puplick . In his paper he criticised the current director and board chairman Lynne Williams and Malcom Long without a single dose of hesitation. These include Lynne William’s qualification to lead the prestigious drama school and the new direction for the school. NIDA, lead by Malcom Long then hit back criticising Chris as disaffected. Both sides have no signs of backing down and both sides are ready to pounce. 

As a person who worked there and had partly studied there (as part of my Theatrical Studies course at UNSW), it is sad to see that it had come down to this.  I personally do not know Lynne Williams or Malcom Long. However, judging from what I noticed in recent NIDA productions, I do have some issues with the current direction of the curriculum. First most, the importance of voice work had been diminished in the curriculum. With the departure of some of the best voice teachers in the country at the school, there is a reduction in the importance of voice work in the curriculum. The result? Some pretty bad voices on the stage – there was a performance I went to late last year and I was third road from the stage but I couldn’t hear a clear word from the actors up stage. This how bad some of the voices have become. I don’t know whether it is Lynne William’s CV’s issue or she really does not like people having a voice, that the voice component of the training was so marginalised.

The other thing that I personally dislike is the slicing and dicing of the library space at the Institution. As an educational institution, and being a tertiary education librarian for so many years, the dismissive attitude of the current NIDA management to the library is appalling. More real estate were allocated to building study rooms and because of that the collection was sacrificed. The attitude of modernising the library by providing more computers for online resources and ignore the fact that a lot of materials, especially Australian materials, are not online or even published, NIDA as the leading drama school of the country does have the responsibility to keep a good archive of materials for their students. The attitude of “if any materials has low circulation, it is not worth getting or keeping” is totally against the principle of higher education librarianship that has the duty of “maintain records and archives of materials that helped shaped the society and culture”. And this role is particularly important when it comes to the NIDA library; that can be specialised for this function. Further really, not everything is on Google. Google is a search engine that serves its purpose as an entry to knowledge but Google has no obligation to provide inspiring documents, videos and scripts that help the Australian theatre landscape to further develop.

The current public saga with NIDA certainly did not paint a good image for the drama school. But the core here is whether NIDA still aims to be a drama school that provides great training for actors and prepare them for the rough road ahead; or is NIDA just going to be a soap opera actor factory that produces actors with bad voices and pretty face? If so, apart from a legacy that was created by previous teachers such as Tony Knight, Kevin Jackson, Bill Pepper, Julia Cotton, Jane Harders, Ken Healey etc. etc. and the likes of talented graduates such as Cate Blanchett, Mel Gibson, Judy Davis, Colin Friels, Hugo Weaving, and Richard Roxburgh, what is going to distinguish the modern NIDA from just any other “acting school” in the streets? That is something whoever is serious about acting should think about.

I am sure Lynne Williams and Malcom Long will have things “in control” and will be in all out damage control for the school for this is what is needed for both them and the school.  No doubt no outsider can have a say on how the school uses its resources and budget, including that at one stage Lynne Williams used the school’s money to hire private detectives to investigate staff about a “potential life threat” against her in the school, which turned out to be just a prank played on her by someone. However, if dramas continue to unfold, it will no doubt cast shadows on the reputation and credibility of the once respectable drama school. Whether it would become a “War of the Roses” style ending with undesirable collateral damage is yet to be seen, but certainly no body wants to see that the students who went there to study ended up being the collateral damage from the politics above. 

T-Virus and the Tech Zombies

In one week, we got two major tech announcements – the Apple iPhone 5 and Nintendo’s Wii U launch and the announcement of its price points. A week ago we got Amazon’s Kindle Fire HD. As we get closer to the holiday season, the tech giants send their new product campaigns into overdrive.

However, this time round it seems that both Apple and Nintendo have lost their mojo. So far the iPhone 5 has not been as exciting as a lot of analysts expected. It was incremental, nothing much new was introduced etc etc. The general idea was that iPhone 5 is a disappointment.  Similarly, Nintendo’s Wii U has not been receiving great reviews up to this point and even the price point was highly criticised.  What interested me though were not just the new products, but the claims that despite both iPhone 5 and Wii U disappointed, they will sell. They are coined as disappointments that will sell millions. This statement saddens me.

Without a doubt I am a tech craving person.  However, I am not to a point that I just buy gadgets because they are new or because everyone has it. For me gadgets have to meet my needs before I make a purchase. Yes I have two tablets, the PlayBook that can hook up with my BlackBerry to browse the Internet and read emails while I am on the road, and the Nook Tablet for reading, taking notes etc. So I justified the purchases (also the Nook Tablet was purchased while the BlackBerry was in repair and had no sign of recovery at that time).

Therefore I find it very interesting when some people can base on ‘just want to have the latest stuff” and make a purchase without thinking whether these items fit their purposes at all. Apple and Nintendo have created brand loyalty that’s for sure, and that’s the same for Sony and to some extend Microsoft. However, this kind of brand loyalty or craving for new gadgets have gradually turn a lot of us into “Tech Zombies” to feed the cash register of these companies.

“Tech Zombie” is a new breed of organism that was infected by the T-virus (Tech Virus) produced by either one or a cohort of tech giants. They lack independent thinking but have a huge craving for new tech products disregarding their functionalities and suitability. They go blindly after the launch of new products and need to be at the front of the pack all the time. They usually try to “infect” other people by raving on how great their new gadgets are and convincing them that “this is the way of life”.

“Tech Zombies” roam around the city day and night, and if you are careless, you may just fall into their ambush. Unlike normal zombies, “Tech Zombies” do not have that distinctive rotten flesh and empty eyes look. (Well, sometime they have blank eyes because of staring at the screens for too long). They can be your friend, your colleagues or even you partner. They “attack” when you are least prepared. The only way to survive an infection is to understand where you stand in this world of technological race. Self-understanding is the key to survival in this world of  “Techn Zombie” outbreak. What you need to do is to know who you are.  

Unfortunately for the already infected, there is no medicinal cure. “Tech Zombie” is a strange species that it has to wait till the effect of the virus wore off and the infected being came back to its senses, then the condition will be cured. This is why tech giants such as Apple has new products updates every year to make sure that their loyal subjects receive a sizeable dose of virus every now and then.  iPhone is a very good example of this tactics. Since the first debut of the iPhone, it has gone through incremental upgrades every year to make sure that their loyal zombies stay in their camps.

“Tech Zombie” is a sad phenomenon in this highly modernised society. But as with a lot of things, when mankind leaps forward, humanity pays the price.

The United World of Colour

Colour – a simple yet complicated concept.

When we were young colour is about the tones of shades materialised before our eyes and conceptualised in our brain. As we grow up, the word become more and more complicated just like our lives.

We live in a colourful world with “colourful people”. Colourful people usually mean people who are interesting and different from each other, and we mean this in a good way. However, if we slightly changed the combination to simply “coloured people” the connotations are not as positive anymore. Depending on how you see it, “coloured people” for me is a less flattering term to distinguish people of Anglo descent (the “White People”) from the rest of the world (the “Coloured People”). “Coloured people” come in all colours – yellow, brown, black etc. etc. But identifying someone simply through their skin colours is a step towards generalisation as you no longer identify them as individuals but as collectives.

I have been working on colour-blind casting for a few years now. During the process, I was reminded by one of my peers that it is better to take out the whole connation about colour-blind – it is about diversity not colour. This came as a huge reminder to me as I had never thought about this from that angle. So I owe a big thank to that individual who reminded me of this.

Some people think that basically colour-blind casting means diversity casting. On the surface it seems so. However, if we look deeper, it is more than so. Colour-blind casting is still basing individuals according to colour while diversity casting is to promote diversity. The previous carries the burden of the past but the latter promotes a positive future. Also the term colour blind can be twisted in certain ways to promote individual’s agenda. One of the good examples is the Airbender movie, when the Asian mythological animation was “White-washed” when being adapted as a life action movie. That’s “colour-blind” for some. 

As for diversity, we promote greater choices when the circumstance is right. We diversify our screen presence according to who is the best actor and not who belongs to which colour. The colour factor never got involved because it is about diversity, opportunity and performance.

The Australian screen and stage has long been condemned of being Anglo-centric.  On main screens and main stages they are predominantly white. Also we can see that sometimes the power holders are just doing lip services for a little while when they were condemned. They “jump” to joy to announce things when they had one non-Anglo character in their productions. They said this is hard because they have to justify the existence of a non-Anglo character. But for me the funny thing is I never need to justify my existence among my peer. But only when it comes to the stage or the screen that I suddenly need to do so.

However, things are changing in the last two or three years. The changes start in the independent scenes – indie productions are embracing diversity and so are the younger generation of practitioners who grew up in more culturally diverse Australian society. These younger generations did not come with the burden of a white-Australian society and they do not need colour blind casting because colour is not a main issue for them.

The change is slow and sometimes painful, as you need to tear down layers and layers of cultural stereotypes before people can see your true self. But when that happens it is rewarding. I had people asking me why bother fighting, I personally did not see that it is fighting at all but something I simply believe in and try to achieve. As with all things, the road to success is never easy but if we don’t make the journey, we will never see the destination. 

PS: If you are interested, join us at Diversity Casting Australia

How Costly Are Our Dreams?

Have been addicted to Downton Abbey since it first came out. Great writing with a great cast really brought this upper class family struggling with reality of the world to life. It is now well into the third season and although it is not on air yet, there is nothing but expectations.

As I watched the latest Christmas special that ties up a lot of loose ends from the second season and sowed seeds for the third season, a recurring theme keeps getting stuck in my head – how costly are our dreams?

We obviously are no longer living in a strict and rigid class society, but class did not disappear. It might have disappeared structurally but certainly not socially. When I was a kid, I was taught that I should chase my dreams. But when we grow up we start to face the truth of the world and start putting price tags on our dreams.

Cost – the highest value option forgone to obtain another item of the same intrinsic value; is a two-edge sword. It can motivate us to overcome difficulties to achieve what we want to achieve, but at the same time, it can also become the invisible wall that turns us back from who we want to be.

In the Christmas special of Downton Abbey, Matthew met up with Mary to pay tribute to the late Lavinia, and returned her father’s ashes to her grave, as he wanted. Isobel was the bystander. After they parted, Isobel pointed out the obvious and pursued Matthew on the matter with Mary. Matthew replied, “I deserved to be unhappy. So did Mary”. Isobel replied, “Nobody deserved to be unhappy. If you think so then the war had taught you nothing.” – very simple but straight to the point.

Matthew and Mary had been through a lot, and the to and fro had built up a price that both understood as too high to be paid. That is similar to our lives from time to time. We chase our dreams but at the same time we need to make a living. And then making a living became such a big part of our lives that, chasing our dreams gradually became irrelevant. But when we took our dreams out again, the cost of chasing it became so high that sometimes they look unsurmountable.

I have never been a person who likes to compromise. However, at times, I did think I have no choice but compromising. What can you do when you have a student loan to pay off? Rent / mortgage to be paid? A family to support? When we arrived at that stage, chasing our dreams seems nothing but a luxurious item with a cost that we cannot bear. So we settled down. Settling down is painful for me and it depresses me. Matthew and Mary thought by settling down, even if they were not happy, they could avoid the cost of pursuing what they wanted and thus be the best solution for everyone. But is that so? Are they really not going to regret their decisions? Is it being unhappy for life less costly than taking a risk and doing a leap of faith? This is a question that I always have in my head.

One may thinking this kind of issue only affect people who are materially worst off as they have to meet their daily needs. I can assure you that this might look like so but it is far from so. I know people who are particularly well off, but they face similar problems. Their problems might not be material but of social. May that be family expectations or simply their dreams were not acceptable in their society. Sybil’s love for the chauffeur is a classic example. It was not socially acceptable and she knows it will cost her a lot to chase this dream. It is a matter of a leap of faith for the dream that she had – not knowing whether you would land on solid ground or fall off the edge of the world.

No one can guarantee the result of this leap, but for me the question is whether it is worth it if I crash and burn with the leap? Dreams, same as everything, are no free lunches.  But then there is always a second question – is regret a higher price to be paid?  As Isobel said, “nobody deserved to be unhappy”. So am I making myself unhappy so that I feel like I got an easier way out now? If the easier way out is just a one-way ticket to regretville, is it all worth it? I think that is a dilemma that us mortals will have to face from time to time during our lives.

The Circle of Life

Was sitting at a shopping mall having KFC. As I was munching through the crunches of the heavily flavoured chicken with oil dripping from my fingers, I couldn’t help but notice that it was Saturday afternoon, and everyone was at the mall. There were families of several generations coming out for a good day out (or in, depends on whether you think going to the mall is going “out”).  Young parents were caring for their babies and toddlers in their prams, and some elderly parents were being taken care of and being wheeled around in their wheelchairs. They seemed to be happy just being together.

As I watched and observed as usual, I started to feel how strange our lives come around in a circle. We were being pushed around in prams at the beginning of our lives and then after decades of living, could end up being pushed around in wheelchairs again. Life is pretty cruel I reckon. When you are back to the stage of being wheeled around again, it is not because you can look forward to walk and move around again but you were unable to do so anymore.

I am never a fan of growing old. I even hate the word old unless it is about wine. But then I prefer to use the word vintage. I certainly understand that growing old is a process nobody can avoid, but why does the process of growing old need to be so painful and depressing in some cases? Watching yourself not being able to perform basic tasks that used to be just something so natural is hard to accept. I have observed my granny’s process of growing old. God bless her cos she is very good for her age, but I can still remember the frustration she had when she found out that certain easy tasks are no longer easy. As family members we helped out but her frustration of losing that autonomy to perform certain tasks really edged inside me. Now seeing my parents growing old and hearing some issues they have, I feel like my sense of security for people around me is being continuously eroded by the waves of time. This frustrates me.

I certainly try to keep myself on the watch, as I cannot escape growing old either. Some friends think that I am over-reacting to the whole growing old thing, but I know what family medical history we have, I read about potential issues, I just want to help myself to minimise the impact of this growing old thing. I have no idea what I would become when I grow old but I always advocate to have myself admitted into a home when the time comes. Some people think that I am too pessimistic about this but I just think I am being pragmatic so I feel less sad when that day arrives.

I always maintain life is cruel and want to get the most out of it instead of just living what most people think is a normal life.  So when the day arrives, I can look back and understand that I did live a life I want (mostly for there will be things that I might not be able to achieve) and reduce the sad factor as much as possible.

I am not afraid of death and in fact death is a relief for me but I just don’t like the process of getting there. My belief does not believe in ending things your way but when life is no longer a life should we be lingering on? That is a question I always have in my head.

This post might sound very grim and depressing, but that is not my purpose. I just want to record my thoughts while they struck me so I know at a certain point of my life, this is me and my mentality. I don’t know whether this would change or not, but at this moment, at this hour, this is part of me in this circle of life.

When the best was not good enough

The Olympics has now been in full swing for 3 weeks. Australian athletes have been battling out with all the other best athletes around the world – China, US, Russia and the list goes on. Stakes are high and competitions are stiff.

Australia’s performance so far has been a constant debate – did our athletes do enough? Why are we having less gold as compared to our last game? What went wrong? Are the athletes good enough?

Whenever I read articles on people criticising our athletes when they failed to score gold I got annoyed. Humans are judgemental creatures, that’s for sure, otherwise I will not be writing this blog. But sometimes when we judge, are we giving people sufficient space for the benefit of the doubt? Olympics is a world class game. These athletes trained all their lives just for the game and a lot of them didn’t even have the financial support to get them through. I find it very unfair when someone sitting in front of a terminal watching the games, then just put their judgemental thoughts into words and threw them out without understanding all the hardships these athletes went through.

Yes, it will be great if they score gold, but when they are doing their best and their best is just not good enough to pull them through, should we judge? Have we forgotten all the sleeps they lost during these years for training, the financial hardship some of them had gone through, the mental breakdowns that were dealt with privately off the screen and the immense pressure they havdswhen they were out their in the fields, in the pool or at the stadium? It is always easy to judge but are we judging fairly? That is the question.

Being a kid brought up in a traditional Asian family environment, we grew up being judged all the time. We were being judged by our cultural behaviours, our academic merits, our music or sports merits if we took up any of these extra-curricula activities and of course our professions when we finished education. Sometimes I found it hard to swallow when my parents will just went through all the subjects I only scored around the 80s and 70s simply because they are not good enough – yes everything needs to be in the 90s. I am used to it although some people do wonder how we can survive, but I managed. For me the hard to swallow part was not the criticism but the focus on the failures instead of appreciating my efforts. And this applies to our Olympians.

I always maintain the view that if you are going to compete you should aim to win. I am never a big fan of participate just for the sake of participating. Sure I don’t want to give myself pressure but I will do whatever it takes (in a legal and ethical manner) to win if I participate. So I am sure our Olympians will have the same attitude. However, as with anything in life, what you put in does not always materialise into the desire outcome. If they won gold, that’s great, but if not, as long as they gave their best, I think we should appreciate their efforts to try and do their best. Writing articles like “Does blah blah blah still has what it takes?”; “What went wrong with blah blah blah”; “A disappointing blah blah blah with disappointing results” are nothing but mean, inconsiderate and heartless.

The only time I think someone warrants such kind of criticisms is when they didn’t try and just give up. That lack of spirit and respect for what you are doing deserves outrageous criticisms. However, when someone gave his / her very best and got out done by even better competitors; or they gave their very best but their bodies had reached their limits given the circumstance, then we should just leave them alone or even give them our full support no matter what the outcomes were.

It is always easy for us to judge when we were not the people who gave the hard yards and put ourselves out there. However, are we doing good to the world or other people when we do that? I think that is the question I want all those people who put in harsh criticising articles in the media to seriously think about.

Capricious Thoughts on 9/11

10 years on. Still not ready. People say that experiencing or witnessing the fall of the Twin Tower on 11 September 2001 is something that one will never forget. Yes that's true. I still remember exactly where I was and what I was doing the moment the first plane crash was reported in the news. Then for the next half an hour, I sat and watched before rushing back to the college to really try to understand what's happening.

Everyone in the college was up. People who had TVs in their rooms were sharing their TVs. Some were in the TV room downstairs but everyone was up and every door was opened. The next day we still couldn't believe that it was a reality. As the reality sank in so was the sadness. We were not there but we were still wounded, hurt by the lack of humanity the what we called human race had exhibited.

Before we knew, it is 10 years from the incident. At that time I thought maybe the world would get better as we re-evaluate our humanity. Did the world get better? I can't really say so. I would not say that I am a pessimist but rather I would classify myself as a reserved optimist who always try to have an optimistic outlook without committing to being overly positive. For I believe, the less you expect the less you would be disappointed.

10 years from that day, I look back and look around - more people were killed in wars, politicians are still about themselves, people who lost their jobs were eventually the people who forked out their tax money to bail the riches out whom were the people who caused that situation, people said harsh things about karma when the tsunami hit Japan, idiots like Alan Jones still dominating the radio waves propagating their idiocy to the general public, some people still care about themselves more than the environment etc.

When I was a kid I was told that we study history because we want to learn from the past avoid making the same mistakes. That doesn't seemed to have helped, at least according to what I observed throughout all these years. In the last few weeks, when I saw all the promos about the 9/11 specials, it really annoys me because thousands of innocent people died on that day and the human race had not improved. Our phone got smarter, our TV got smarter, everything we created got smarter but not our humanity, which is supposed to be the essence that distinguish us from the rest of the living organisms on this planet.

Everyday when I saw idiots like Alan Jones and Tony Abott who are all about themselves saying stupid things and breaking promises while condemning other people committing the same crime, my blood boils and I wonder how did we end up with a world like this? Not only in Australia that politicians continue to increase their own pay while cutting spending on essentials for the society, that's the same thing in the States when the Republicans just want to tear down bills so that the have an excuse to accuse Obama for not being able to fulfill his promises. What kind of mad world are we living in? Did 9/11 actually make us more selfish than opening our eyes to the world?

Maybe being a reserved optimist I am still not being built for this world. Or maybe if I was not trained to think critically when I was a kid, I would be a happier person. But at the end of the day where can humanity go? For me 10 years on, the world hadn't become a better place and it seems to me that the human race will never improve. Is this God's will? If so does that mean we will be seeing the arrival of the Four Horsemen soon? Maybe it's time for me to go and watch Supernatural Season 5 instead.

9/11 is a wound that will never heal. Or maybe I am still getting too sentimental on this day. Or maybe I should just go to sleep and forget about the human race.