STOP! LOOK! GO!

VIDEO/SLIDESHOW OF FINAL OUTPUT

Synopsis of Story: STOP! LOOK! GO! was a cabaret-like performance depicting scenes of adolescent conflicts utilising pop music, dance, drama and spectacle. The performance is interactive and allows for audience to suggest or role play solutions to the conflict situations. Supporting Archival Materials STOP! LOOK! GO! – Images of Performance, 1998. (YouTube)

ART MAKING PROCESS

Performance training, devising and output The project began with two-and-a-half days of focus group enquiry with 45 adolescent students, led by 4 adult actors. Creative drama techniques such as storytelling, improvisation, theatre games, role-play, forum theatre, and writing exercises were used to enquire about common conflict situations faced by the adolescents. The information gathered was used by the actors to devise the performance which consisted of 5 scenarios on adolescent conflicts. Information elicited from the students using focus group and creative enquiry methods provided the actors with sufficient content on teenage conflicts. From the information collected, the actors devised 4 fictional conflict scenarios for a TIE performance relevant to an adolescent audience. The scenarios highlighted different types of conflict experienced by teenagers and highlighting the parties involved, feelings and emotions experienced by teenagers, the manner in which their conflicts escalated and the type of action taken by teenagers when dealing with their conflicts. Prior to students viewing the TIE performance, teachers administered a conflict literacy kit on students over 3 lessons in the classroom. The kit was made up of a teacher’s guide and desk activities for students; which included word games, worksheets, and discussions. The kit was prepared by the director and researcher to reflect the theory of conflict. It was hoped that students would be able to apply the information learned from the kit when making interventions into the interactive TIE performance. Ten performances of ’Stop! Look! Go!’ were played, to a total of 1300 teenagers aged 16 and 17 years in Penang; the actors played out scenes of adolescent conflict through intelligently construed dramatised roles and situations. During the TIE performance, audience found it easy to identify with the characters in the dramatic scenes. The actors sometimes used ‘under-distancing’ techniques to get the audiences to empathise with the characters. These included emotive songs to portray the characters’ inner feelings, and a ‘hot seat’, where characters revealed their hidden thoughts or motives. Over-distancing techniques or alienation was also incorporated into the performance, offering audiences an opportunity to comment objectively on characters and their actions. Audiences carried three cards which they could raise up at any point during the drama, to indicate if they agreed (green card), disagreed (red card), or were unsure (orange card) with the characters’ actions. A mediator would then ask the audience to propose an alternative action if they disagreed with the character’s action, or to intervene through role-play by replacing a character. The performance provided an active platform for participatory intervention, where the audience became actively involved in taking responsibility for their views, values, and positions. Design and Outputs

Contemporary visual artist Liew Kung Yu was the designer and art director for the production of STOP! LOOK! GO! The direction he took in the visual design of the performance drew heavily from the current trends of the time, which were influencing the target audience group of Malaysians aged between 15 and 17 years old. Using a palette of neon ‘pop’ colours, the set for the production consisted of a ‘prize wheel’ and four chairs which were designed to stand out and be engaging in the often drab surroundings of school halls and uniforms. The prize wheel was divided into five different coloured segments akin to a pie chart. Each segment was then decorated in contrasting colours and titled according to the different kinds of conflict which the students had learned about. The four chairs were wrapped in seat covers, which were embroidered in bright contrasting colours, using sparkling and glittery thread; the legs of each chair were also wrapped in bright, sparkly gauze material. This neon pop design also flowed into the costumes of the performers, who were decked out in an overwhelming mash-up of the latest fashions of the times; pop socks, tights, mini skirts and dresses, etc.

REFLECTIONS FROM PARTICIPANTS

Lim Chung Wei
Actor
Project: STOP! LOOK! GO!, 1998 – COMING SOON –