Plays and Players.

Recently, my Foundation in Science (FIS) class at Nirwana started rehearsals for our Animal Farm play, based on the book of the same name. Obviously, it's not something we'd do on our own accord - the play doubles as our presentation for English class.

For those of you unfamiliar with the story, it's basically about a group of animals who rise up against their farm's abusive owner and end up running the farm themselves. Childish, you say? Not quite - it's an allegory of the Russian Revolution. Plus, it was written by George Orwell; the guy who wrote Nineteen Eighty-Four. Never heard of him or the book? Shame on you. Look it up.

Anyway, I don't have any speaking parts in said play. Heck, I don't even have any acting parts neither. As co-chief scriptwriter I figured that I wouldn't be required to act - turns out I was wrong. I had to go through the screening process just like everyone else.

It just so happened that I wasn't in the best of moods at the time. I hardly put in any kind of spirit or enthusiasm into my audition, and after that was done, the directors decided that I should be the guy in charge of sound and music instead. I'm guessing that my acting was so poor that they figured that I should be kept as far away from the acting as possible. 

I'm not exactly gutted about it. In fact, I actually feel kinda happy about the whole thing. Being the sound guy is the best role I could have hoped for. I don't really have a whole lot to do, and whatever I do have to do isn't really that hard or burdening. They got another guy from the other FIS class to help out as well, so that's halved my already meagre workload.

The best part is that I don't have to skip lunch. You see, the rehearsals are held every day during the lunch break (1.30 - 2.30), as well as during English class. While everyone else has to stay back to act (and stuff), I'm just happily taking my time, making the most of my hour off. And since my regular lunch buddies are busy with Animal Farm, I find myself having lunch alone even more these days. While I don't mind eating with my friends, I do appreciate the alone time. Sometimes I just need time to cool off.

I'm not entirely sure about when we'll have to present the play to our lecturers, possibly sometime in mid-November. In any case, we don't have a lot of time. I'm not really expecting the show to be a success of Broadways-sized proportions, but I'm hoping it'll at least be presentable - especially since the FIS students who'd come before us had also presented the same exact play earlier in the year. Our version of Animal Farm would have to at least have something to set it apart from theirs, or the lecturers would get bored.

Hard work + Teamwork = Masterpiece.

I'd done plays before, back in the day - one I wrote for a teacher's farewell ceremony in Rembau comes to mind. If memory serves, we'd been given even less time to prepare for that one. Despite the time constraints, we still managed to put on a good show when the time came. Granted, the actors had natural talent, and the play was based on actual events - but the point remains. If you put in the effort, you'll get the results. You reap what you sow, and all that.

Miracles happen. And I believe in miracles.