A Seed: A Series of Underground Art by Artistic Director Jeszlene Zhou and Producer Terence Tan is an admirable and ambitious endeavour: it is an entirely self-funded festival intended as a platform for amateur artists from a variety of disciplines.
The anthology of micro-works – monologues, duologues, a dance item - I saw on opening night was crippled by technical problems and at times awkward to watch: unsurprisingly, the pieces lacked polish and actors came across as over-eager (especially in the limited confines of a Substation classroom). The items were also surprisingly safe; I was expecting riskier, more off-kilter experiments.
But I believe low-key, no-frills spaces like A Seed are extremely important. The very act of being in a public performance can be a great learning experience for these writers and performers, many of whom are students. A Seeddeserves our support: the festival which runs for the next three weekends at The Arts House / The Substation with different performances each night, is pay-as-you-want, features a range of different art forms and the evening runs in blocks of 60 - 90 minutes. Take it in the spirit it is intended and have a little fun. There is always a diamond in the rough to be discovered.
(A Seed also reminds me of the period in the late 1990s and early 2000s when independent theatre companies were sprouting up all over the place with lots of fresh, young faces. Whatever happened to Thank You Maskman? The small Theatre? Peel Arts?)