Lake Odyssey (Part III)

It had been quite a day. It was the last day for the performance of Lake Odyssey, and I’m selling the programme booklets for the day. I reported at the Esplanade Mall at 12.30pm as told, to meet Ms. Sharmila, the teacher i/c. There were about 9 other student helpers. We collected the stacks of programme booklets and transported them to the Foyer entrance of the Esplanade Theatre. The sales of the programme booklets yesterday was extremely low, only around 250 of them were sold.

Ms. Sharmila briefed us on the procedure for the day. We transported the booklets to the various stands and I sat there patiently for the audience of Lake Odyssey to approach and purchase a booklet at $3 each. Some of them were approached me and purchased the booklet willingly, without any complaint; some were rather unsupportive of the idea of selling the programme booklets at $3 each, but in the end, they bought it still. Others were simply too disobliging of the idea and one even muttered in Mandarin cum Hokkien, “Selling programme booklets at $3? It there a mistake?”

My duty ended as soon as all the audience had settled in the Theatre and the performance starts. We collected all the unsold booklets and transported them down to the Foyer entrance. They were then transported to the loading bay by some of the officials of the Esplanade. The next assignment was to remove all the calligraphy scrolls and artwork displayed along the corridor of the Foyer. The artwork had to be wrapped in newspaper and tied up securely; the calligraphy scrolls had to be removed from the display bars, rolled up neatly and tied up securely. By the time we were done with our job, the audience had already started exiting the Theatre. All the artwork and calligraphy scrolls were then transported to the loading bay as well.

I did not accompany the rest of them as I was granted permission to go to the backstage. This time, I brought along a digital camera and took several snap shots of the performers in the backstage. One of the pictures was taken on the stage itself. I was so energized when I stepped onto the stage. Can you imagine, I actually stepped onto the stage of the Esplanade Theatre without the identification of a performer! The whole stage is really deep and wide. The height of the stage floor to the ground of the musician’s pit is 3 metres, which is also equivalent one storey!

Eunice and I waited for Prescilia while she was removing her makeup. I met up her a while later and we went taking snapshots. She took pictures with several teachers too. Eunice, Prescilia and I went home by MRT that day.

I bet Monday’s assembly will be interesting…

P.S. I'm part of the Front of House (FOH).