4. EMPATHY IS THE BEDROCK OF THE THEATRE

So in college, we were staging a Singaporean play, and my friend landed the role of a wide-eyes, innocent young woman who would later struggle with her attachment to her slowly-decaying house, and her long-lost husband. During the cast's first meeting, my friend said that after reading the script, she was a little shocked by how much she saw her own mother in her character. Being part of that play, then, became a way for her to understand her mum's insecurities and empathise with her; in a way to overcome the misunderstandings and personality clashes that often marked their relationship.

Most people get that the whole point of acting is to step into the character's shoes, feel their struggles, get in touch with their psyche, etcetera, etcetera. You've got to watch even the little things, like the way you laugh or sigh or scream, and do it in character (which can be a real challenge for someone like me who still tends to slip back into self-consciousness!). But as important as it is for you to find the character within yourself, I've realised that finding yourself within the character is sometimes more powerful. Okay, not always yourself -- it can be anyone, like your friends or your family. And that's where interpretation comes in; when the actors make the role their own, or when the director makes the play his/her own. When you realise that you and the character are not so different, or when you see the people you love reflected in your character and you learn to embody that, you're not just entertaining the audience anymore. You're sharing a part of yourself too, and that brings you and the audience just that little bit closer.

We were staging A Midsummer  Night's Dream during my graduation year, and my drama teacher left us with the line: "The best in this kind are but shadows". (I didn't know this, but apparently "shadow" is the old term for an actor.) Why was the American public so moved when the Death of a Salesman was first staged? Why did my college friends cry so much when they watched my friend's play? I sometimes find theatre a little more raw and emotional than prose because it's more mirror-like, like our own lives are playing out before us (pun intended). It literally shadows us, and helps us understand ourselves, and the people around us, more intimately.

5. THE FINAL SPARK LIES IN PERFORMANCE NIGHT

So, you've spent weeks and weeks learning the lines. The props and sets, lighting and acting, have finally come together. But no rehearsal is free from mistakes, and you just can't get that last line, or that last nuance of your character, down. And inevitably, you start to worry. Will what you've spent so much blood and sweat on actually work?

I
f it's any comfort, I've found that performance night itself (or day, actually ... but usually night) adds the last spark the whole play. It's something like what we call in Chinese 画龙点睛, literally "painting the eyes onto the dragon" -- the last stroke that brings a work of art to life. I'm still not too sure what it is, but suddenly, when you're performing for real and the lights are on and you know you have something really special to show your audience, suddenly something crazy happens and the play ends up being better than you ever expected it to be. It's almost like magic.

But like my teacher said, theatre is full of magic.