I've been looking forward to watching Shakespeare In The Park - The Merchant of Venice ever since I saw the advertisements all over the columns of Raffles City Shopping Centre as well as the banners on the street lamps. It helped that I studied "The Merchant of Venice" in Secondary 1/2 (I can't really remember) for English Literature. Also, I had a great time at last year's Othello and was hoping for another entertaining evening under the stars.

The weather last night was really good. It was cool, breezy and although there was a forecast of rain, there wasn't a drop of it. I had a date with myself since nobody else wanted to go with me and the only one who would is now in Canberra :(

Anyway, true to it's style for all its Shakespeare in the Park plays, SRT's production was a highly modernised interpretation of "The Merchant of Venice". The stage was super modern and had lots of flashing lights and the music was leaning towards techno. Shylock's character was played by an Indian (nice play on stereotypes, although I wonder whether people got the play on how Indians are often called the 'Asian Jew') and the rest of the cast was a mix of all nationalities. Costumes were mainly business attires, gowns and the 'Jews' in the play wore costumes that bear the Nehru collar.

I get how they want to modernise it and use modern scenes (cue the bar and cocktails) as well as the clever use of the 3 light stands that rise and fall whenever the 3 caskets were needed/not needed in the scene.

What I don't get is the introductory 'dance' scene. It felt too stylised and pretentious in trying to introduce the cast with modern technology such as iPads and what I thought of as Stock Exchange jackets. The choice of music at certain parts were also too jarring and made me too conscious about them trying to fit everything into a modern context.

The saddest part was that I didn't feel the chemistry between the cast members. Although there were quite a few kissing scenes, it felt *ahem* too staged (pardon the pun), unlike 'Othello'. The only parts that I quite liked were the scene where the Prince opened the silver casket, only to find a picture of a blinking fool as well as the monologue of Lancelot.

I was so bored that I left during the interval. Sorry SRT. I will support you guys year after year but I was not convinced this year. Hopefully the next year would be better.

I was very fortunate to win a pair of tickets to "The House of Bernada Alba" staged by W!ld Rice. So, I brought my mum to watch it along with me.

2 Peranakan ladies watch a Singaporean Peranakan adaptation of a Spanish novel. Apt, don't you think? Thanks to SMRT, we got seats in the 2nd row from the front. One of the few times that I get to see the actors on stage in HD. LOL.

"The House of Bernada Alba" tells the tale of a matriarch who declares 8 years of mourning after the death of her husband and this decision shows the tension, stress and dysfunction within the Alba family of 5 daughters and Bernada Alba herself. The original novel is a classic drama by Spanish poet and playwright Federico Garcia Lorca.

W!ld Rice pulled no stops with this production, starting with the stellar cast of Margaret Chan, Claire Wong, Neo Swee Lin, Jo Kukathas, Glory Ngim, Noorlinah Mohamed, Karen Tan, Serene Chen and Sharon Lim. Celebrated director Glen Goei was at the helm and I was surprised to find out that my Uni friend Marcia is the Asst. Director for this production. Of course, a lot of credit has to go to the playwright Chay Yew who did an excellent job of updating a script that was full of witty comebacks, easy to understand to the lay person but yet retained a lot of the layers/ themes such as the Role of Women and Repression of oneself. Also, the decision to make it a Peranakan setting was brilliant because it could then be easily understood by the local audience who would think that the play was 'fake' if the cast were dressed like Spanish in the 1800s.

At the end of the 2 hour of non-stop tension, it ends on a melancholic note and you can't help but be blown away by the fantastic acting that was just presented. Margaret Chan had a lot of fun playing a lunatic grandmother who, ironically, has the most insight and has the most freedom of speech. However, I felt that Neo Swee Lin's character was too small for her and that it didn't allow her to really stretch and show off her depth of acting. Maybe it's because I'm so used to seeing her play bigger roles but then, I didn't feel the same way when I saw her in "Anna & I".  

All in all, I highly recommend any theatre-fan to go watch "The House of Bernada Alba". The play is ongoing till 29 Mar 2014! For more details about the play and on how to purchase them, click here.

On our 2nd day of our Spring holiday, we went to Kyoto for a 1-Day sightseeing as well as to meet up with a friend whom I haven't seen in over 2 years!  Kyoto is definitely not a 1-Day touring city.  You'll need at least 2 days and a good pair of walking boots.  I also highly recommend getting the bus travel pass although our concierge didn't recommend it.  However, after walking for a day, you DO NOT want to walk back to the hotel/ train station/ wherever.

Arriving in Kyoto, the scenery is very different from Osaka. Older, more quaint and subdued.

We were greeted at the station by the statue of the supposed founder of Kabuki theatre, who was a woman.  Highly ironic that women were banned from Kabuki during the Edo period and only men were allowed on stage.

Across from the station and statue was the kabuki theatre where you can pay a hefty ticket fee to watch a 3-hour kabuki play.  Would love to be able to do that one day but alas, my pocket is empty and my time is filled.

The first tourist spot that we headed to was the Yasakasa Shrine, which is one of the 3 temple routes to the mountain (I forgot the name) and is also one of the oldest shrines in Kyoto.

I just love how there are so many old buildings in Japan that may not necessarily be used but they still stand and the juxtaposition against modern cars is just great!

Wishes, anyone?

Companies or individuals can donate various sums of money to the shrine and if you hit certain amounts, you can have your company name or name written on lanterns/ lamps/ tori-gate etc.

Pathway to the mountain

(Above) Why is there 1 special name written in blue??
(Below)  F-1? Well...not the Grand Prix.  It's just the name of a Pachinko parlour in Kyoto.

Got a bad lot? Tie it and leave it on temple grounds

God of binding fate?

After visiting the shrine, we headed off to Kiyomizu-dera, which is a temple that I had visited in 2005 but never went in. This time round, I simply HAD to go in.  I highly recommend taking the walk from Yasakasa to Kiyomizu-dera because there are a lot of things to do and see (plus eat) on the way.

Old and narrow streets of Kyoto

This woman dyed her poodle's hair hot pink!!

The last time I came to Kyoto, I didn't manage to see any maiko (geisha trainees) but I finally managed to catch some!!

Maikos at a photoshoot

On our way, we passed by the first pagoda in Japan.  Again, something that you wouldn't see by taking the bus or train. So it's worth the walk up the hill/mountain...depending on how tired you are.

The view at the crossroads towards Kiyomizu-dera

What do you do when you're tired and at a pseudo pit stop towards Kiyomizu-dera?  Why, you eat of course!  We started off with a Tofu Manju (JPY200) which comes with a cup of hot green tea if you sit down to eat.

The filling was really subtle but yet quite yummy.  It's not the usual tofu but the whey of the tofu that has been cooked with other savoury stuff.  It's also eaten in some traditional Japanese breakfasts with rice.

That's me enjoying my manju

When we walked further up the slope, there was a Croquette specialty shop and the special was their Monaka croquette.

As you can see, it is a normal beef croquette sandwiched between 2 wafers and a special cream sauce and cooked black beans.  When closed, it resembled a dessert but it's really a savoury food party that bursts into your mouth.  The beans are slightly sweet and this mixes with the savoury croquette and all is tied together with the creaminess of the sauce. 

We also ordered a normal beef croquette which was simply delicious eaten hot.  I don't know why but the croquettes that are sold in Isetan, Singapore, do not hit the same spot as these babies.  Alas, I only took a photo of the 1st character of the shop (as seen in the photo below)...so happy hunting.  Would it help if I mentioned that they ONLY sell croquette? *sheepish smile*

 
Walking even further uphill, we reached the major crossroads where the buses were offloading tourists and Japanese high school students on tour.  Just in time for lunch.  I spotted a noodle specialty shop that's on the 2nd floor and that's where we went to savour soba.

Name of the shop = Menkuroudo

My cold duck soba set

Siew mai's ten don soba set, which was the special of the day

I shall leave you with the photos of the food for this part as on my actual trip, this was where we took a well deserved rest before heading off, walking around the half of Kyoto.

I went to watch 'Chestnuts in 3D: Nightmare on Glee Street' on Saturday with Sing, Chow, Moon, Moon's mum, LF and YY. I must say that this is becoming an annual gathering for us. Haha...

Good thing is that this year's Chestnuts is WAYYYYYYYY better than last year's. The jokes were tighter, funnier and had less references to other plays. More mainstream for sure. As usual, the 4 mad bunch of chestnuts (led by Jonathan Lim) sang, danced and parodied the jokes until we laughed out loud. My favourite is the whole skit where they interviewed Ris Low's sister. You HAVE to watch this scene. Excellent!! Would actually fit in nicely with the Hossan Leong Show. Oops... :P

Anyhows, here's a personal shout out to my friend, Terence, who is the producer of 'Chestnuts'. Well done mate!! Good to always see you annually during Chestnuts! :)

Went to watch Duet for One on Wed evening and you can read the synopsis of the play by clicking on the link.

It is a very serious play and it has been a long time since I've watched something so intense. Overall, I felt that the acting was superb except that the lead actress, Juliet Stevenson, was a little TOO dramatic at the start. She showed her range of sarcasm, hysteria and melancholy a lot better towards the later half of the play.

I didn't know that this play is so old that a film starring Julie Andrews, Liam Neeson and Rupert Everet was made in 1986!

Let me leave you with a quote from the play, which I think sums up the whole moral of it. "The meaning of Life is life itself!"

As you've read in yesterday's post, bro and I went to Nobu for lunch on Saturday. After that, we went to St. Paul's again as I didn't manage to see the inside of the church the last time. Just nearby St. Paul's, we saw the old gate to the city of London...


And the London Stock Exchange...


That evening, we went to Regent's Park to watch "The Importance of being Earnest" with a few of my bro's friends.
It is an open-air theatre and this is the same theatre that I watched "Much Ado about Nothing" last month. I love this play from Oscar Wilde. It is funny, witty and sarcastic. It is strangely appealing and a bit relevant despite it being first staged in 1895!

I didn't like the use of stage for this particular production. It was distracting and doesn't gel well with their 19 century costumes. The way they changed the stage mid-way in the 2nd half was distracting too. Their backstage crew wore black...but wouldn't it make sense for them to wear white since the stage is white? What's up with the musicians who stroll in and out at weird and distracting moments?

The actor who played Earnest/Jack Worthing was obviously faking a posh accent and it started to grate on one's nerves after 5 minutes. His reaction time/expression was retarded too. Thank goodness his poor performance wasn't enough to dampen the excellent script and the performances of the other actors. All in all, I love this play!