Theatre Lesson : (Sep'15) Realism : < Homesick> Artistic Enthusiasm a.k.a. Intuitive Response

My Artistic Enthusiasm for Homesick, the play. 

I don't know what to say. After reading the script of the Singaporean Play Homesick, I don't have the urge to go home, so I guess that's not the ultimate purpose of the play. However, I do have an intense urge to draw a mask. A mask with a smile on it. But the mask was cracked, and parts of it are shreded off, some of it broken in to pieces and crumbled in to fine powder. 

The mask I drew signifies a disguise, used by almost everyone in the story to cover up their original identity, which was quite saddening because none of the children in the family really considered themselves as Singaporean. They recognize themselves and also introduces themselves as the residents of another nation, another country of their dream. Marianne and Manoj only refers themselves as the citizen of United States; Arthur loves China so much that he might just as well be a China Chinese; Herbert thinks that Anglo-saxon status is higher than others; Patrick thinks highly of the Australians only and Daphne is the typical World Citizen that promotes public awareness in everywhere except Singapore in the name of Globalization. The mask is placed on top of the topographical map of Singapore which once again stresses on the disguise created to hide their true self (Singaporean).

My intuitive response is drawn in the form of a puzzle, which juxtapose the concept of the cracking mask. It's ironic: A mask is supposed to be flawless and smooth and lustrous, in the end of the end, will crack, lose its colour and radiant, and fade, and shatter into pieces; whilst a puzzle, no matter how jumbled up the pieces are, in the end, when there's a will, there's a way. The persevere ones will prevail and the puzzle can be fixed again. The puzzle in my artistic enthusiasm, or the so-called intuitive response is the symbol of a family. No matter what happens, a family is always a family, and they are always there for you and for me. 

The artwork is made of only three colours: Black, Grey and White. Black and White represents definite answers, evidents and proofs. These are the important aspects in the world and our lives are inevitably intertwined with these things. Nonetheless, "grey" regions do exist too. This is where emotions and feelings, judgement and biases, assumptions and opinions, come into the picture. Homesick gives me such a feeling when I first read it. I was quite vague for me to describe it in words but I feel that despite being critical, and rational, sometimes, letting intuition and emotion rule wasn't always a bad thing. > <