Kay Chin on knitting, remembering lines, and bizarre\ninitiation rituals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
~<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Tell us\nabout yourself.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n I don’t like to window-shop, and I don’t have much money to shop for real. So when a friend told me that there was a “biomechanics” workshop — by director Chris Jacobs –\u00ad going on, I decided to fill my weekends up with it. The next thing I knew, I was part of what is now The Ensemble Theatre of Kuala Lumpur.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The KL Ensemble\nwas officially set up last year. How did it all begin?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n It began, unofficially, after the completion of that\nChris’s workshop. Some of the participants sort of realised that we could\ntolerate each other. Chris saw that opportunity, so he gathered us children\ntogether, and gradually eased us into weekly trainings — that eventually led\nto our decision to set up the company.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We love\nthe catchy title of KL Ensemble’s next show: “A Bucketful of Beckett: 8\nShots”.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Catchy, you say? There you go. Mission accomplished.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Tell us\nmore about the pieces chosen for this anthology of Samuel Beckett’s works. How\nand why did you decide on these pieces?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n While the pieces chosen seem like different stories of\ntheir own, there is actually a common thread running through them. Though I\ndidn’t choose the pieces, the other members of KL Ensemble and the director\ndid. I didn’t. Not I. Not I, at all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Why\nBeckett in the first place?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Again, it was my other members’ and the director’s\nchoice. All I know is that after they attended the Beckett Residency (held at\nthe Kuala Lumpur Performing Arts Centre in 2006), they all went Beckett-crazy.\nAnd I couldn’t stop them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Tell us of\nthe role(s) you play in “A Bucketful of Beckett”.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n I get to sit inside an urn and do some knitting\nunderneath, with my face plastered in flour, while my mouth shoots off the\nscript at rapid fire. I think I should be able to finish a sweater by the end\nof the fourth performance. If I don’t keep dropping the needle halfway, that\nis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What are\nrehearsals like? Fill us in on the chaos.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The rehearsals are like roller-coaster rides. Fun for\na while, then frightening — chaotic, and then orderly. In control for a\nmoment, then state of panic all the way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And what\nof the people involved? Are they all colourful characters?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Very colourful indeed. Got Malay, Chinese, Indian, Mat\nSalleh dan Lain-lain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What can\nwe expect from you guys in the future?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Expect from us gals<\/em>, you mean? Sigh … There are more girls than guys in the Ensemble. We need men. More men, please.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Coming back to your question, I’d say: expect the\nunexpected. We like to surprise even ourselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Can anyone\njoin the KL Ensemble? Any bizarre initiation rituals involved?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Yes, anyone can join us. But no, not everyone can join\nus either. Seriously, it all depends on how disciplined and determined the\nindividual is. No bizarre rituals lah. Just a bit of blood and a lot of sweat\nand tears. Like that, tough meh?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Any funny\nstories about your fellows in the cast?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Got. But I can’t remember, now. My head is now full of\nlines to remember. So I don’t dare to remember other things.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Who \/ what\ninspires you?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n My neighbours, my colleagues, my relatives, my folks,\nmy in-laws. The driver in the next car, the check-out counter girl at the hypermarket,\nthe bartender, the fler who cut my queue at the cinema.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What are you up to, next?<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n Get a dog, maybe. At the same time, I’ll keep trying the jackpot. <\/p>\n\n\n\n First Published: 26.04.2007 on Kakiseni <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Kay Chin on knitting, remembering lines, and bizarre initiation rituals. ~ Tell us about yourself. I don’t like to window-shop, and I don’t have much money to shop for real. So when a friend told me that there was a “biomechanics” workshop — by director Chris Jacobs –\u00ad going on, I decided to fill my […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"iawp_total_views":2,"footnotes":""},"categories":[34,3558,3535],"tags":[228,3642,3641,2085,3640,46],"language":[7523],"writer":[7614],"class_list":["post-27252","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles","category-interview","category-theatre","tag-interview","tag-kay-chin","tag-kl-ensemble","tag-samuel-beckett","tag-the-ensemble-theatre-of-kuala-lumpur","tag-theatre","language-english","writer-juliet-jacobs"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/myartmemoryproject.com\/ms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27252","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/myartmemoryproject.com\/ms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/myartmemoryproject.com\/ms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myartmemoryproject.com\/ms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myartmemoryproject.com\/ms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27252"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/myartmemoryproject.com\/ms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27252\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":39083,"href":"https:\/\/myartmemoryproject.com\/ms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27252\/revisions\/39083"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/myartmemoryproject.com\/ms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27252"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myartmemoryproject.com\/ms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27252"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myartmemoryproject.com\/ms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27252"},{"taxonomy":"language","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myartmemoryproject.com\/ms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/language?post=27252"},{"taxonomy":"writer","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myartmemoryproject.com\/ms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/writer?post=27252"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}