Liverpool Malaysian Night 08 part 2

I just got back from Dublin yesterday. So tired! It was really tiring travelling when I haven't recovered fully from all the strain of Malaysian Night. At least it was a wonderful trip.

I'm going to write about Liverpool Malaysian Night first before starting on the Dublin trip.

The whole project has been a roller coaster for me. Initially, the hardest part was recruiting people into the key posts like director, actors, dance choreographers, etc. I know that I have dragged a lot of people into this deep deep sea with me. Every time I felt like giving up and walk away, it was this guilt of pulling people into this mess that kept me going. Sounds so sad, but that was the case.

I was worried about datelines, costumes, fans, props, workforce, too many to mention. At least the show was a success. But there's still a lot of room for improvement.

On the big day itself, I was already there in the morning, trying to help out as much as I could. I even had to go to my garden to get a bag full of leaves and a few flowers for props and part of the hair accessory for the Chinese dance. I had to bring my hair dryer to blow dry a mop dyed black to be used as moustache for the actors.....which I thought it wasn't too kind to the actors, but luckily in the end, the moustaches were drawn using eye-liners instead.

The biggest disappointment that day was that the lighting and sound system could only be set up at 3pm cause they were handled by students who still had classes. They should have really told us that when we were applying for it cause we were expecting it be be set up in the morning. It was also our fault for not expecting the worst to happen.

Things got worse, the technician only started appearing at quarter past 3 and the lights and sounds were only ready around 4pm. Haih, we were all supposed to have a final run through but it was cancelled in the end. Worst part was, we booked the wireless mikes and were prepared to pay 30 pounds each for the rent a day but they never appeared. Poor actors, have to shout their lungs out and the audiences may not even hear them properly. At least we put up microphones at the end of the stage but it wasn't effective.

The projector arrived like 6.30pm, half an hour before the doors open. I mean, this is seriously bad management. But what can we do, if we complained too much, they can just chose not to set it up for us.

I went up to the preparation room to have my dinner to find that there wasn't enough food at that time. So, went down to get more food before I could eat in peace. I wasn't feeling nervous at all which I thought must be due to too many things to worry about.

Doors opened at 7pm, in the end, about 150 people turned up for the event, which was half of what we've expected. But the show must go on!

The worse time to realise that we didn't take the rehearsals seriously was during the show itself. We didn't allocate time for the dancers who were actresses in the next scene to change their clothes. I was even helping one of them to take off pins and tying knots before my queue for the Chinese dance.
Ok, music started for the Chinese dance, but my friend hasn't started which made me nudge her a bit. Luckily, it was corrected instantly. I was really glad that the rest of the dance went well.

Came back down and rushed to change into the Indian costume cause the dance was shortly after. Took some confetti to throw on stage when we first clap our hands in the air. To my horror, 2 of my friends who were supposed to be in front of me haven't arrived on time to the other side of the stage when the dance started. Finally, I saw them and they quickly joined the dance. Phew, what a relieve. The music did start a bit too early but all was saved.
The skirt which I was wearing for the Indian dance was so heavy that I was worrying that it might fall throughout the whole dance. So scary, but at least I was wearing my black pants underneath. With the climax building up nicely till the end, we had a great ending and I thought that all my worries were over.
With a big sigh of relief, I came down the stage and changed back into my Chinese costume for the curtain call. I was about to make my way to the audience to sit and enjoy the rest of the show when one of the main actors asked if I could go get some paracetamol for him as he was feeling really dizzy. Ok, he cannot faint on us right now before the show was over. So, took off my really huge skirt, ran upstairs to get my jacket and purse and off I went to Tesco.

Asked the security guard at the door if they sold any paracetamol which he kindly brought me all the way to the shelf and off I went running back again. Ok, he's still standing, which was a good sign. Gave him 2 tablets as it says that's the maximum dose each time and hoped that he could endure till the end.

Finally, I could at least enjoy being the audience for a while. A scene before the curtain call, I went to call all the dancers to get ready. Went out 3 times for the Chinese dance, Indian dance, and secretary. Now, all my worries are over.

Which camera to look? There were just too many from so many anglesAfter returning the costumes to my committee in-charge, I brought PL and BT back. At the entrance to my house, I even showed PL the bush where I got the flowers from. PL made me take a photo with it.

I did get a shock when I looked into the mirror, the make-up was really really thick. I seriously look like a ghost. Quickly washed it off. Then started planning where to bring PL and BT for the next 2.5 days.

Thinking back, if anyone asked me if I wanted to join Malaysian Night again, I would probably say no if I were to be in the committee cause it's too stressful. If I were working full time purely on Malaysian Night, then I wouldn't mind. Studying medicine at the same time is just too taxing cause I just don't get the time.

I'll be retiring for good for next year cause I really do need to concentrate on my studies. Looking forward to the AGM now.