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" We've been through nothing, birds...
We are still in the same place."
- Hoopoe,Conference of the Birds
Wisdom, in its most wonderful sense, is obscured by its simplicity. Unto the Knowledgeable and Faithless, they shall be never hearing and never perceiving. The Innocent does not seek, but has all wisdom found in him after all.
In Conference of the Birds, we celebrate this irony of life. We do not presume to have all solutions to life's mysteries. But like the birds in the story, we invite our audience to a spiritual journey for a time of inner listening… To recall life's wisdom we already knew, that is always strangely forgotten.
My gratitude goes out to my gracious God, the dedicated production team, my cast whom I am growing to love like my baby and Syams for all his wisdom and patience with me.
Joy Tan
Director
Life can be many things. To some, it represents a plethora of opportunities to be seized, an optimistic celebration of the chance to endeavour. To others, it closely resembles the tragedy of Sisyphus, an almost predictable and disturbingly consistent routine of alternating successes and failures. And then, of course, there are others.
But whatever its manifestations may be, Life has always been generally seen as a journey of sorts, a continuous experience that lasts for only as long as one breathes. Where that journey leads to, though, how it is made, and what it constitutes of is still largely dependent on the individual who steers its way. Hence, we could surmise that the general perception of Life itself, at the macro-level, is in fact a fusion of these journeys, each intricately interwoven unto one another.
And it is one of those unique journeys that this year's Paparazzi Production seeks to portray and bring to life, a story that we wish to tell. The Conference of The Birds, a quest by birds all over the world to seek what they perceive as their King, fuelled only by their own thirst for answers to burning questions, and guided by the unrelenting conviction of a charismatic leader, the Hoopoe. Like all journeys, we see instances of will-testing obstacles and sacrifices, and like all stories, we learn of new perspectives, perspectives that perhaps add on to ours as to what Life can be.
It is my hope, as Co-Director of the play, that what we have done here would leave an indelible mark on those who will experience our journey come the performance days, just as our experiences of the birds' journey have left an indelible mark on us.
Syamsul Ramadhan Awang
Co Director
