志异 Draft by Drama box december 2013 (english) | Page 61

ories are
d stored in
the body
es also
retainer
ies. once
imuli are
d to the
memory
ressed via
most as if
x action.

phase 3

REHEARSALS AND PERFORMANCE –
ENTERING THE THEATRE SPACE
Of all the phases, the seniors were
most fearful of this one. While
memories and stories were ?uidly
shared, explored and developed in
the last two phases, this was the
phase which required them to
commit lines, images and
movements to memory.
The participants were aware of the
nature of the project and were
cognizant of the fact that their
performance served as a sharing
platform; as triggers for others to
recall their memories and for
re?ection amongst the audience.
They were fearful then, of forgetting
the lines, the blocking and most
importantly, of not being able to
perform (in all senses of the word).
The keenness to share was

mediated by the knowledge that
the sharing would now be done
in a different space, serving a
different purpose.
Helen Nicholson believes that
‘connecting to the past through
recalling personal memories is
also a process that invites people
to make sense of the present, to
locate their lives in relation to
public events, and to share and
re-evaluate their cultural beliefs,
values and aspirations’2.
In Our Show, the participants
shared the origins of their names
and their parents’ expectations of
them through the names. They
shared childhood games they
enjoyed, in relation to those their