Happy and in love, Danielle and Chris are just about to tie the knot. But within their picture-perfect relationship lie a train-wreck of betrayal and abuse.
As the champagne gets warm and the cake waits to be cut, the couple is forced to deal with the choices they made in the past, the emotional entanglements of the present and the uncertainty of the future.
Boy, if this isn’t the perfect play to catch this Valentine’s Day.
Bold, dark and funny, Crossings will be the first public performance staged by the new young & W!LD cohort this year.
Consisting of two plays The Mother, The Son and the Holy Ghost and Arbitrio, Crossings follows characters who have arrived at critical crossroads in their lives. They will be making choices that will impact their lives forever.
A brainchild by the eight members of young & W!LD, the final scripts of both plays in Crossings were put together by programme director Rodney Oliveriro. A theatre performer, he has been involved in more than fifty productions.
“Just like these troubled characters, we all have to live with the decisions we make and their consequences,” explains Oliveriro.
Source: Black Box
In anticipation of Crossings, we had a quick chat with the casts of both plays, to find out more about the inventive and thought-provoking plays.
We spoke to Jasmine Blundell, Sharmaine Goh and Krish Natarajan.
CAST INTRODUCTION
Jasmine Blundell as Vix in The Mother, The Son and the Holy Ghost
An actor, musician, teacher and instant noodle-eater, Jasmine graduated from East 15 Acting School, specialising in World Performance – an eclectic blend of conventional and unconventional theatre traditions.
Sharmaine Goh as Danielle in Arbitrio
Currently pursuing her course in Arts and Theatre Management in Republic Polytechnic, Sharmaine is a raging cat lady who likes to, in her spare time, color and of course, pet cats.
Krish Natarajan as Chris in Arbitrio
Presently in LASALLE, Krish has always been into everything art and theatre. From Drama Club in his primary school to enrolling in SOTA when he was 12 years old, Krish practically is the theatre bug.
1. Hey guys, let’s take this from the top – what got you into theatre?
Jasmine: I can’t say I was bitten by the theatre bug. Rather, I was devoured by it. It started from a morbid theatre piece back in junior college. Our group had created a rather solemn, hyper-realistic piece about a suicide pact. The emotional and physical toil really broke through during that performance and the feeling was indescribable. The unexpected pursuit of theatre began shortly after as I decided to take it more seriously.
Sharmaine: I’ve always loved performing! As a child I would always sing, dance and act in front of my family (and I still do). But I think it’s the connections that an actor makes with an audience that keeps my passion alive. I just love how theatre has its own unique way of challenging, comforting and entertaining people.
Krish: I’ve always been into theatre. My father was a source of influence, he brought me to shows. But I think I knew it was what I wanted to do after playing Hamlet in SOTA. I did a terrible job and I made a promise to myself to one day do Hamlet well and kill it.
2. Could you tell us more about the premise of your respective plays and character?
Jasmine: The Mother, The Son and the Holy Ghost is a… realistically surrreal one. The situations and problems presented are surreal, but the way we’ve presented it is in a rather ‘realistic’ way. It’s about a trio of characters who all have their own agendas. It’s also a tribute to people who try their best to ‘fix’ situations but end up making it worse. The play is an oxymoron – real, fast but slow. Vix is self-absorbed, rude, trigger-happy, slightly deluded and vocal in many ways.
Sharmaine: Arbitrio revolves around the choices that we make in life, especially when we reach a crossroad. Danielle has to choose between a lover and her husband. We see how much or little influence external factors have on her decision making process. Danielle is quite a ‘cookie cutter’ type of woman. There is an innocence to her and the situations in the play she ends up in will push her out of her comfort zone.
Krish: Chris is a traditional, good-hearted man. He is a bit of a tech nerd although he doesn’t exactly love his job. And Chris has a bit of a temper and can be rather impulsive.
3. What are the main challenges in bringing your characters to life?
Jasmine: Vix is quite young in the play – something I struggle to experiment with because I am an old soul. Perhaps the most common thing we have is that we’re both fast-talking, naive girls who want to believe in the good in people. She fights for social justice (or rather her own brand of social justice). Unlike her, I’m naturally not good at confrontations. So tapping into almost what seems like an alter-ego is exciting but scary.
Sharmaine: One of my biggest challenges is to get rid of my personal habits when acting, as well as to be more sensitive and attentive to my co-actors when rehearsing.
4. Sharmaine and Krish, we understand you’ve previously worked with each other in When S#!t Hits The Fam. Who do you think has a tougher time portraying the character?
Sharmaine: It’s always a challenge portraying a character. I can’t compare and say whose is tougher but we definitely have our own sets of challenges.
Krish: I think that’s a very difficult question because both our characters have their respective challenges. They both go through things that Sharmaine and I have not exactly experienced personally, so it’s certainly challenging to truthfully portray their plights. And of course the characters aren’t quite different from who we are as people! But if I had to answer the question I would say me cause Sharm is great.
5. What sort of audience is going to love the play and what do you think is going to surprise them the most?
Jasmine: Let’s see. Audiences who love a good laugh, maybe a little cry from time to time, the old, the milennials – basically anyone who loves a good, side-splitting, emotion-worthy, unlikely-friendship story. There’s something in it for everyone, and I’m very sure you’ll leave feeling just a tinge-bit more sorrowful.
Sharmaine: We experimented a lot with this piece, so there definitely will be a lot of unexpected scenarios in this play. I can’t say much or it would’t be a surprise anymore, but there will be many.
Can’t wait to catch Crossings now that you’ve heard from the cast themselves? Or if you’re struggling for ideas for this Valentine’s Day, this may be the ticket to your solution. Pun intended.
CROSSINGS
Devised by the young & W!LD Company, written by Rodney Oliveiro
Venue: Centre 42, Black Box, 42 Waterloo Street, Singapore 187951
Show Dates: 15 – 19 February 2017, 8pm on all days, 3pm on Saturday & Sunday
Ticket Price: $30; $25 for students, NSFs and senior citizens
Get your tickets here
All images are courtesy of W!ld Rice unless otherwise stated.
Also, read 12 Valentine’s Day Date Experiences That Don’t Involve Dinners And Movies
