The choice of staging "Red Sky" is, to the students and myself, a challenge that is hard to come by.
I have all along wanted the script to be a mere starting point. As an ensemble devised work, "Red Sky" presents itself as a piece with great possibility of further improvisation. The students have put in commendable effort in re-creating the play, as a result, what's on stage today is quite unlike the original. I congratulate and thank them for making it all possible.
It is not easy to assume the physicality of the elderly, but the real difficulty lies in requiring these students who are at their prime to understand what the elders see in life. Nevertheless, this is precisely one of the most crucial abilities of a theatre creator - to have compassion for people, events and objects that are not directly part of your life. Such an ability is hard to teach, as such, one can only hope to inspire.
As part of the rehearsal process, the students and I share among us experiences and stories in our lives, hoping to understand what each of us think life might be. On several occasions. I decide to set aside time to watch the sunset, and encourage the students to do the same. It is an attempt to discover what that red sky means to different individuals. In doing so, I am also hoping that the students would realize what they can learn daily are techniques, while what is needed at the moment of creation is feeling.
"Red Sky" exudes a tinge of Chekovian poignancy, it explains life with series of mundane and absurd events. In rehearsing such a play, one is compelled let go of traditional concepts of plot of psychological actions. Instead, we must hope to sing it as a poetry that could effect various interpretations in different individuals - much like how the old folks in the play would have felt as a result of their different experiences in life when they look at the red sky.
