I ended work late today as I had a seminar to attend, so by the time the bus I took reached Yio Chu Kang, it was already nightfall. The bus took the route via the industrial area, and it passed by Yio Chu Kang stadium. Then I transferred to another bus which drove past Anderson Junior College.

This is not the first time in months that I took this route. But now that I took it at night, the scenery that befell was quite different. In fact, the scenery gave me an intense feeling of nostalgia. It reminded me of the preparations for Chadian 7 - Colours of my Rainbow, when all the action had happened around this area, and when night fell by the time rehearsals were done for the day.

I'm sure it's because of the recent An Yu theatre production put up by our juniors last Friday were we went early specially to help them with their preparations. Read about the experience here.

How time flies! It's actually been 9 months since the end of the production!

As I passed the route today, it almost felt like yesterday - that fatigue of going for rehearsals 3 times a week, the frustration that actors weren't turning up for rehearsals, that feeling of anxiety when actors couldn't do their scenes right and when actors kept changing, and that intense stress as the producrtion date drew nearer and nearer. However, there was also the times which I had with the final cast where we shared laughter and tears together. Brokeback triangle, Song dynasty, bear killer, strawberry thief, mama, papa... How in the world did we come up with such biazzare jokes??? But they were a huge part in what made the production work at the end of the day. In fact, these jokes were so memorable that they have become part of our identity. We never fail to tease one another about it when we meet up even till today.

The experience was so intense that immediately after the production ended, I felt a great sense of loss. Imagine having all your energy spent most of the last 1 year on an event and then have it all gone all of a sudden! It was really a huge adjustment emotionally.

I suppose this was in addition to the fact that within that particular 1 year I had been through some of life's important changes - I went through my final year in school, graduated from uni, found my first job, struggled in it, then went for my 2nd job and became a newbie all over again. In fact, the stress was so great that on the day I accepted my 2nd job (which actually did seem to be in a hurry), I sobbed on the crowded MRT train on my way home. Questions just came pouring into my mind about whether I had made the right decision in a right frame of mind. I guess I was really beaten up by that time.

But like I mentioned before, we aimed to be the battered child that emerges as the underdog in the end. I guess we made it. Ticket sales were poor, but reviews from people who came were surprisingly good. I can't believe that I was part of it.

Sigh... nostalgia.




The draft of the script.


First rehearsal.


One of the most chaotic scenes of the play.


End of the first night of performance.


End of the second and last night of performance.