Yes, this was it, my challenge of the year. Encouraged by a friend (who signed up too), I decided to apply for this, and managed to enrol for it despite a last minute application. And there, one new year resolution out of the way.
Armed with my laptop (and barang barang), it was off to Ubin for an intensive 24-hour brain-wrecking, playwriting "bootcamp" organised by Theatreworks. Part of The Writers' Lab, this competition has been running for 14 years already, and counting. We used the OBS campsite for the competition.
OBS, Ubin has changed a lot since I went there more than 10 years ago in secondary school. Then, in my vague memory, it was really run-down. Now, it has been totally revamped with clean and new facilities, almost, as my friend puts it, like those resorts with outdoor activities sites (think maybe Club Med). But of course, it's not so luxurious and the bunks were not like resorts lah. And no hot water for showers. But I was just glad it was clean and not like what I had expected or prepared for. Seeing the obstacle courses and next-to-nature surroundings brought back memories of my ODAC days. Anyway, we were given a nice air-con room (yes, got air-con!) as the writing venue, so we were kind of "locked up" to complete our writing within 24 hours. We could move around or go sleep, but not too far and should be back for the releases of the stimuli. The stimuli (specific and non-specific) were words/phrases or experiences that we must incorporate into the script.
So, what did I write? I used the "squirrel" as my motif/theme. Why "squirrel"? I believe I have a small affinity with squirrels given that I have taken a few good shots on different occasions. This is my current fave, from my recent Korea trip, which is also my current PC wallpaper.
Staring at it so often got me "lamenting" (ok, not that serious, but for want of a better word) about the fact that we hardly get to see squirrels much these days in our bustling city-state, probably caused mainly by all the increasing build-up we have. I recall the time in secondary school where squirrels do pop up occasionally (probably because we were located near Shangri-La). So there, a title for a new play came about - "You Don't See Squirrels Anymore". (I often come up with ideas starting with a title)
Even though I came up with this during the week, I didn't actually intend to use this for the competition, but maybe for a later time in future, because I felt there wasn't enough time for me to brainstorm about how to use this. Too fuzzy and abstract. I actually started with 2 storylines during the competition, one being a mystery/thriller (nothing to do with squirrels). However, given the short time (mystery/thriller too challenging) and having a blank mind for the first few hours, I decided to build on my squirrel motif anyway.
Squirrels give people the perception of playfulness and energy, but they are also known for prudence and practicality as they save up on food, sometimes over-stocking. I could play on these 2 ideas, but decided to put more focus on the latter. (I could probably have wrote a murder or romance or based on the 1st, but never mind). So there, squirrels are symbolic in my play. I could have gone the environmental way, but that would be too challenging for me.
This sounds all so deep and creative but what did I come up with? A super cliché melodrama. Well, that was the only thing I could come up with in that time. Not very original, but it was worth a try. I did attempt to leave some open-ended conclusions for reflection, if anyone picks it up. I also hope people can make some correlation about certain things that were said and happened. Anyway, I just hope on reading, one can reflect a bit on life. Maybe sometimes you don't need to plan too much and could instead use the time to show more love and be loved, with no regrets. Squirrels disappear when habitats are lost. I hope we don't lose ours.
Squirrels give people the perception of playfulness and energy, but they are also known for prudence and practicality as they save up on food, sometimes over-stocking. I could play on these 2 ideas, but decided to put more focus on the latter. (I could probably have wrote a murder or romance or based on the 1st, but never mind). So there, squirrels are symbolic in my play. I could have gone the environmental way, but that would be too challenging for me.
This sounds all so deep and creative but what did I come up with? A super cliché melodrama. Well, that was the only thing I could come up with in that time. Not very original, but it was worth a try. I did attempt to leave some open-ended conclusions for reflection, if anyone picks it up. I also hope people can make some correlation about certain things that were said and happened. Anyway, I just hope on reading, one can reflect a bit on life. Maybe sometimes you don't need to plan too much and could instead use the time to show more love and be loved, with no regrets. Squirrels disappear when habitats are lost. I hope we don't lose ours.
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