End of the first rehearsalweek

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Friday January 23 and Saturday January 24

We had a rehearsal only with Sokly. We worked on her solo 'Girl steels rice'. This scene is about a little girl, seven years old, during Pol Pot regime. She stole in the night from the very last bit of rice hidden in a jar as a last resource. When her theft was discovered the next morning, her mother said "maybe the rats have eaten from the rice" but at the same time the mother looked very sad at the little girl and the little girl knew that her mother suspected her of steeling the rice. Her mother did'nt say anything and she did'nt say anything. The little girl longed to confess her crime, but in the culture of silencing she did not manage to say the words. This culture of silence is rather Asian and during Pol Pot regime it was absolutely necessary not to talk in order to stay alive. The little girl felt very guilty about her deed and she started to hate her mother for not helping her confess and this of course made her guilt greater. Sokly plays this little girl here and now, that is a woman of 40 years who tells this story and also says that now she is a medical doctor, quiet successful, but still living with this guilt and shame feeling of little girl.

Friday the visual artists came to the rehearsal. They brought some homework. Annemarie talked with them, gave them some input and Saturday they would come back with new ideas. So they did and it was so much more inspiring what they got. Photographs from material at the market, streetlife, flowers, scooter helmets. It was great. Now they understood that they don't have to come with a finished design of the set, but just a circle around the subject and gather in a playfully way visual material. 

In the afternoon we read all the scenes. Annemarie told the visual artists about the different characters and asked them to come back next week Friday with a costume design for each character. Can be a photo, a picture from a magazine or newspaper, a drawing, anything.

At a certain point during the reading the situation became hectic: nobody knew anymore which scene was which in Khmer or in English, Kethya panicked, papers all over the floor, it lasted for about ten minutes and Annemarie is amazed that such a language-script-Khmer-English-situation didn't happen before.

End of the day.

Goodnight to everyone, Annemarie and Richt.