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TREASURE ISLAND in Bras Basah Park

October 1983

October 1983. This production was a defining moment in our lives.

In our brief existence of one-and-a-half years as ACT 3, we had managed to win acceptance from the general public. With this we gained credibility. Invitation came for us to be part of the prestigious Drama Festival, organised by the Ministry of Culture.

And on our insistence the festival was, for the first time, leaving the structured auditoriums and stepping out into the open. Bras Basah Park - a plot of, once, grassy land on which one part of SMU stands today; the tip between YMCA Stamford Road and Cathay Building.

What an inspiring challenge it was.

We were at one with the elements - no microphones to aid voice projection - the sun, winds and the ceaseless hum of traffic sweeping all around the park added flavour to the thrilling adventure of Treasure Island.

We were three actors - Ruby, Jasmin and I - playing a total of 15 characters between us.

Quick change of costume pieces - in full view of the audience, a tweak to the posture, a shift in mannerism and we transformed from say, an refined doctor to a drunken sailor to a blood-thirsty pirate.

With a quaint coat stand to hold the costume pieces, a couple of narrow raised platforms to elevate certain scenes, our all-purpose green trunk (in which the boy, Jim Hawkins hides to eavesdrop on Long John Silver's devious plot), the "stage" was set for the tale to unravel in front, amongst and around the on-lookers.

It was a gamble - would people come? could we draw them to this park in the middle of town? could we retain their attention once they were there? would the weather be kind to us?

Observing people strolling in well before showtime - both adults and school children (in uniforms some more) - gave us heart. As the story unraveled the size of the audience kept growing, with curious passers-by adding to the numbers.

And they stayed well after the treasure was uncovered, the mutineers deservedly served with their comeuppance and the applause warmly offered and received.

To quote Jeffrey Tan, now Head, Education & Outreach, Singapore Festival of Arts, NAC, who as a 12-year old, Primary 6 student was there to soak up the atmosphere -

"Watching Treasure Island at Bras Basah Park blew my mind that theatre can take place in the open. Before this experience, I always thought theatre only happened indoors...

ACT 3 planted the seed of living room theatre from parks to living rooms! All we need is rich imagination and creativity!"

This jaunt in the park made up our mind. The experiment had been successful. We could create theatre here in Singapore.

And this mission deserved our full attention.

The next step was for us to chart the course, with conviction, towards professional theatre.

The Journey continues with "ACT 3 Theatrics, Singapore's first professional theatre company".

2010. R CHANDRAN. All Rights Strictly Reserved.

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Living Room Theatre


Politicians go door-to-door canvassing votes. In our early days, we literally went Living Room to Living Room to nurture an audience for children's theatre.

Living Room Theatre - ACT 3's concept of taking theatre out to the people wherever they are.

By the end of the 1970s, where English language theatre was concerned, groups like Experimental Theatre Company, Stage Club and Scene Shifters were regularly staging a handful of productions a year. They were established groups with a strong following.

There was no such fare for young audiences, though. Furthermore if we wanted to take theatre in Singapore to the next level, then we had to dramatically increase the theatre-going population.

An adult decides if he or she wants to buy the performance ticket. On the other hand, to win over the child you have to win over the parents, too. They are the ones making the decision to go or not to go to a show.

So we and our brand of theatre set up shop to unravel exciting, colourful stories right amongst families wherever they were - birthday parties at home, book stores, shopping centres, libraries, schools, housing estates, community centres, parks.. along beach strips....

We have even ridden on a truck - the equivalent of the army 3-tonner - to HDB car parks. Parked, unhinged the sides and used the back of the truck as the stage to bring alive, literally, street theatre. (Thanks Singapore Baggage & Transport Company.)

This trained us, early on, to shape our productions to fit any venue. For instance, in a book shop the audience is literally an arm's length away - you can spot the children with runny nose and even guess what they had for lunch from the remnants stuck between their teeth, (that's how close they were) - whereas in the shopping centre we had to contend with not only the vastness of the space, but the multitude of distractions and activities taking place up, down and all over.
And when we were out in the park or along the beach, we were one with the elements, be it strong winds, drizzle, enveloping humidity.

As a result we were challenged to innovate and tailor-make our props and sets. In Jack & the Beanstalk, the beanstalk was a two-way wooden ladder intertwined with vines. On one side was Jack's backyard. You climb the ladder and descend on the other side and - Fee Fi Fo Fum - you are in giant's land.

To an extend, the audience was encouraged to tap into their sense of imagination. Which meant that the acting, characterisation, costumes and make-up had to be spot on.

Materials needed to be light, easily portable and durable. The performers, highly adaptable.

Even today, we enthusiastically embrace the Living Room Theatre concept. Give us any space and we will whip up high drama any time.

The Journey continues with Treasure Island in Bras Basah Park.

2010. R CHANDRAN. All Rights Strictly Reserved.

Giant - MPH Stamford Road. January 1982.

Page 3

A Giant (with a ) Headache

There I was, the Giant - in the final scene - chasing Jack (played by Jasmin) down the Beanstalk.

My head was throbbing - must have been the tension - I was muttering to myself - "Please, please, please, Jack, chop down the bloody beanstalk and let us get it over with fast."

And when the moment arrived, I dramatically and gratefully plunged to the ground. While Jack and his Mother (Ruby) were bringing the proceedings to a close, I lay there thinking - "Is this the only memory I will have from our first ever performance as ACT 3 - a giant headache?"

That was January 1982 - MPH Bookstore, Stamford Road - barely two months since we had formed the group.

Wah! So much we learned in those two months.

We were to produce and stage five different famous tales over the period of five weeks. This meant I had to write five plays in that blink of an eye period. No choice, I trained myself to focus and work efficiently. Mind you, I was hand-writing my scripts (I was doing so right right into the 1990s). It developed my biceps, too.

The fact was we were a cast of three actors playing multiple roles - male & female, young & old characters for that matter. For example in Jack & the Beanstalk, while Jasmin played Jack, Ruby had to be his mother as well as the Giant's helper; I was the Giant plus the man who sells Jack the magic beans; in Hansel & Gretel, while my partners played the two children, I was their Father and the Wicked Witch.

My script writing had to take this into consideration, giving the transforming actors enough time to disappear and appear while the action on stage continued.

Costume changes had to be effective yet achieved in a matter of seconds - no dilly-dallying, having a drink in-between and all that.

Costumes were designed for instantaneous changes (thanks to "velcro"). Yes, even make-up needed modification.

I achieved the transformation from Hansel & Gretel's father to the Wicked Witch - with a skirt & blouse, straggly wig, blackened tooth, hooked nose, red lips, crackly voice, bad attitude - in the 70 seconds it took the children to get lost in the forest and stumble onto the Gingerbread House.

Perhaps the most valuable lesson we learnt as actors was how to convincingly play differing characters - voice modulation, restructuring posture, adopting varied mannerisms, juggling accents...

The fact that Jasmin and I locked ourselves in a windowless room (thanks Ken Sunn) during the Chinese New Year holiday period that came before our run at MPH - Ruby joined us when she could escape her CNY obligations - experimenting and improving on the look and make-up of characters like the Big Bad Wolf, Witch, Giant, Rumpelstiltskin, convinced us of our collective sense of professionalism.

Having produced a set of dramatic wolf ears stuck on a hat to be worn by the character, we realised I shouldn't have exposed human ears (the children would see two pairs of ears.) Therefore we pasted fake hair on my ears to give the impression that it was part of the hair on my head. Each time we pasted and tore off the fake hair the natural hair on my ears got ripped off as well, only to reappear thicker, coarser and longer.

Big Bad Wolf - MPH Stamford Road. February 1982.

Now, I blame that exercise for the fact that I need extra facial grooming time, pertaining to the ears, on Saturdays.

The Journey continues with - "Living Room Theatre".

2010. All Rights Strictly Reserved. R Chandran

One Moment in Time

page 2.

One Moment In Time

It was the evening of 15th November 1981 that the idea crystallized - to form a group and specialise in children's theatre.

Jasmin, Ruby and I were having tea at Changi Sailing Club. We were at a table by the sea - literally - waves were swirling close to our feet. The late Jumbo, a highly-charged beagle, was weaving in and out amongst the furniture.

The three of us had been part of an experiment in 1979 - MediaCorp, then known as Radio Television Singapore (RTS) had plans to launch local English drama on TV. After attending a 3-month Teledrama Workshop to groom writers and actors, the group of 30 of us, graduates, were offered roles in a couple of programmes, targetted at children. I, in addition, got the opportunity to write for these.

As fate would have it, the Speak Mandarin Campaign was launched in a big way in 1980, and resources went into producing Mandarin programmes for TV.

So the experiment, that we were part of, dissolved bit by bit, only to resurface decades later.

at that moment in time.

But the experiment had stirred up the passion in the three of us - passion for theatre, passion to share stories with children.

That evening itself we decided on the name ACT 3 - notice "ACT" is all caps. We have spent a lifetime convincing the media that it is so and has to be so. Still, it often comes out as "Act".

We had no long-term plan or short-term plans. We had no notion it was necessary.

People ask - how come one Chinese, one Malay, one Indian? - so Singapore. It was not by design. Also not by design was the fact that other than acting, the three of us, instinctively, had strengths and were inspired by the spectrum of jobs related to theatre - in my case, writing; Jasmin could create a functioning prop - and I mean this seriously - even from a ball of dust; Ruby had the flair for design that could transform curtain material to a ball gown.

Within two months of that tea by the sea, we would have secured a deal for 10 performances with MPH Bookstores (thanks to Ashley Bala), written the scripts for five different titles, completed production work, rehearsals and staged the first show, under the ACT 3 name, at the Stamford Road Bookshop.

The Journey continues with - A Giant (with a) Headache.

2010. All Rights Strictly Reserved - R Chandran.

RETRACING THE JOURNEY

Here it is - I am finally putting these memories down in words.

Over the past few months, while attending the weddings of folks who have been part of the ACT 3 family, I became aware that talk always gravitates to experiences people had with the company.

I also realise that ACT 3 has brought people together who have gone on to bond into a network of true friends.

Also meeting "strangers" on the streets and in restaurants, who come up and volunteer anecdotes on how ACT 3 has touched their lives.

And the audience. This is one of my favourite shots of the audience. Here is a group of children watching the same performance and the exact same moment. But look at the variety of expressions - spontaneous. What a blessed and rewarding vocation, mine.

All this has inspired me, while my memory is still vivid, to recount the journey of ACT 3 Theatrics from when it was just an idea and weave it to the present and current.

Ruby and Jasmin, thanks for the Magical Adventure.

I dedicate this to my loving Wife, Amy, and sons Joshua and Jivan. May you always remind me how blessed my life has been, (in case I forget).

The journey will continue with - "One Moment in Time".

all rights strictly reserved. 2010. R Chandran