Teen Talk

By: Cindy Kim

I’ve always found it funny when I tell people about my interest in the arts. They look at me in a way which clearly suggests they consider me something similar to a two legged donkey riding a tricycle. Their response is usually ‘Oh good. What other tricks can you do?’ or “Oh good God. What happened to you?”

Hi, this is Cindy, one of the guest reviewers and interns at HKELD. Theater happened to me. I’m also a teenager, which explains a lot. I’ll be providing you with insight into the alien mindscape of a young adult - an inscrutable enigma to most, probably even to ourselves - in the form of a weekly blog. My views are certainly by no means representative of the entire teenage collective, of course. But they are mine, and they’ll be covering a wide range of topics on the subject of the arts.

What is theatre to teenagers?  That’s a question which gets asked a lot. Typical for us, there’s always messing around with the backroom props. The vaguely Freudian sword fights with wooden sticks taller than we are, dressing up in ridiculous costumes used for past productions, and collectively complaining about the inevitable written work, those are what immediately come to mind. Drama lets me express myself in various silly ways I wholeheartedly enjoy. Exploring scripts with the enthusiasm which comes with a Friday afternoon; that’s what theatre means to me, and I’m fairly sure most of the people my age as well.

Of course that’s not all to the answer.  To me, theatre isn’t an intellectual pursuit. It’s a visceral, heaving thing fitted into a frilly leotard. It always amazed me to see masks come to life; whole personas appear where there weren’t before, especially when these illusions are cast by deft hands. Compared to the explorative fumbling of IGCSE drama students everywhere with nigh on constant black-outs, it’s breathtaking to see on stage. To see a whole new person emerge from the depths with unabashed self-confidence, that was the moment when I decided I wanted to be involved with this obviously magical wizardry. I was also eight at the time.

So that’s what the arts have done for me. They’ve instilled a healthy appreciation for dramatic potential and the ability to laugh when I make a fool of myself on stage.

If you have any questions or particular topics you want to know more about from the teenage point of view, you’re more than welcome to leave me a comment!

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