The secret of love

“And now here is my secret, a very simple secret. It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eyes.”
      The Fox

Why do people love the novel The Little Prince? I ask myself this question for several times. Because of the rich imagination about the unknown worlds? Because of the fascinating plot and description of the Little Prince’s experience? Because of the ample and distinct personalities of various characters? After watching our video for several times, I eventually come up with the answer from my smile in the end: because of its simpleness. Unlike many novels which hide deep theories under intricate vocabulary, everything in this novel is straightforward. Each character represents a unique feature in their own story, which could eventually lead to a significant principle of life. All these principles are really simple but important to make us know how to love, appreciate, treat, and cherish everything in the world.

This is what makes our final play unique: we know how to love, appreciate, treat and cherish this play. In my previous blog, I have mentioned that “ all of our group members were in a pretty free atmosphere, which actually triggered our performing talent(He)”. For the final version, all four of us must have reached the climax of our performing skills since we gradually comprehend our dialogues and own characters better. By acting as the rose, I eventually understand that love can mean the need of each other, fear of loss, uncontrollable emotion, and white lies. The Little Prince means everything to the rose so that she always acts like a spoiled child and shows off her cleverness. She is afraid of losing him and also afraid of letting him know that; her emotion is strongly affected by what the Little Prince says, and she boasts to emphasize her uniqueness. Therefore, I added a lot of small movements during the Little Prince’s monolog to indicate her “sharp” and “poor little strategies”: she just wants the Little Prince to care about her more. In the second scene, the king represents loneliness, which is hidden under his arrogance and queer behavior. Olivia always surprises us when she is at her “acting” mood. Not forgetting her line is the first step, and depicting the character perfectly is absolutely a gift. Adults are always weird, but they also own children in their deep heart. The fox is a mentor of life, patient and gentle, teaches the Little Prince the meaning of love: accompany and responsibility. Chrrie is the best choice of this character: soft and vivacious, containing all the fault of the Little Prince. As for the Little Prince, Eric eventually has some facial expression!!! He learns from his experience, grows up and ultimately understands his love to the rose. This process is inevitable for everyone in the world, between families, friends and lovers.

For this project, our group, as a whole, excavated the secrets of love. We had a lot of fight, laughter, work, and joy, which are a lot more valuable than just the project itself. During the discussion of details, we repeated our philosophical lines and felt the deeper meaning under each word; we were not only performing a play but expressing our own interpretation of all these secrets we have learned. Love is what makes the world intriguing and gorgeous. Do not hesitate to express love, appreciate love, and cherish love. Only if love comes to shine our lives, are we meant to be ourselves.

All in all, this is my favorite play in the year! Goodbye, literature and performance, which increases my confidence! Goodbye, blogger, which improves my creativity! I will definitely continue taking acting classes in the future! See you soon!

https://youtu.be/g0vNTroJ-vo

A play from heart

During this entire year, I have performed in various tasks including modern Romeo and Juliet, original Romeo and Juliet and My Love, My Love. The working experience with different fellows was not only fascinating but also challenging: it was hard to appeal everyone’s attention and get everyone in characters at the same time. As an impetuous person, I always became impatient and yelled at my partners if I felt they were not focused on the work. At the same time, I had many crazy ideas which seemed to be difficult to accept for some of them. To tell the truth, I was a little concerned about Eric and Cherrie when I first knew we were in the same group since both of them were kind of quite and shy. Accompanied with worry and expectation, we eventually started our performance after preparation for the scripts. 

To my surprise, everyone suited their characters except me! Eric could nearly memorize all of his lines, talk in various tones and express the innocence of the little price; the character arrogant king was exactly for Olivia, which made her totally focused on her performance; Cherrie was super emotional in her scene that I could clearly notice how she abandoned her prudence and reserve. I was the one who did not know how to show both “sweet” and “spoiled” personalities of the rose at the same time. Voice control was an essential task since “sweet” required soft voice which might be too quiet, and on the contrary, “spoiled” needed a sharp voice which might eliminate the effect of “sweet”.Therefore, I spent a lot of time finding a balance between these two characteristics, although it was not completely achieved yet. We will arrange our choreography. and I will shout at Eric to require him to speak to the audience with a louder voice. 

Julie’s group was performing a very impressive short story. I was moved by the plot and their emotion a lot, although I could see the “shadow” of My Love, My Love in their performance, where Derisee and Papa also keep each other alive in difficulties. Because of former experience and close relationship, they really reveal the short story and its deeper meaning to audience visually. As for the other group, their use of flashback was interesting. Leo did a very good job in depicting various characters with different tone and facial expression!!! However, the identity of the other two actors became a little more confusing so that they might need costume changing to indicate their characters. 

For this project, I felt that all of our group members were in a pretty free atmosphere, which actually triggered our performing talent. Each of us made some progress when comparing with our other projects mostly because we were not under pressure or strict rule now. Thus, our performance was coming straightly from our heart: we were not completing an assignment but enjoying the process of creating a piece of play. For everything in our life, we should always embrace the process instead of worrying about the end since the experience would actually be the most magnificent scenery in our lives. Fighting!

Laugh Tonight!

Who loved the show last night the most? Who was the winner of life last night? It must be John Jiang! Rejecting the confess of Elle; kissing Angelina, possessing Mr. Dykmem’s power and appealing my favorite actress Sam Weed! Did john bribe Ms. Guriono? I bet that he could win  the lottery last if he bought one, since me and my roommate, oh no, my roommate and I, sang "John Jiang the Latte boy" for the entire night. Anyway, jealousy  would not help at all; I have to commit that I really enjoyed the play which was extremely creative, unique entertaining. Unlike the other plays, this one was full of surprise and mysterious: you never knew what would happen next until you started to laugh.

I always believe that acting could change people little by little since I have been increasingly confident through performing in class. Last night, I have seen many familiar but brand new fellows who seemed to be different from their original lives. They were like professional actors who just want to depict their characters well, despite their gender, appearance, or anxiousness. They really put themselves into the show passionately and made the characters their own. Particularly, for the skit about morning meeting, I could immediate figure out who represented which teach. Their way of speaking, moving and even facial expression were exactly the same! How could that be possible!

Last but not least, the performance was soooooo funny! I should really visit those masters who wrote and directed the show and study with them to improve my comedic skills. British play writer Hada Bejar has said that "the fragrance always stays in the hand that gives the rose"This play must be a rose which was given from the performers to the audiences, and the fragrance would radiance our campus for a long time. I hope that I could see this show again and again and again! Please, upload the video! I bet that John Jiang will also hope that he could treasure this forever!

Script with costume list, prop list, music and light

Prop List:

1. Two chairs
2. One desk
3. A cubic box
4. A large painting of planets in the universe
5. A calculator on the desk
6. A large painting of the garden that the little prince and the fox meet each other

Costume List:

1. Rose:Red dress with a crown of flowers.
2. Fox: A mask or ears of fox; yellow dress
3. King: A golden shiny crown with a robe with red colors
4. Little Prince: a light color cloak(yellow is the best); a grey colored costume showing he has traveled a long time and distance.

Stage design

For scene one, there is a yellow background (yellow planet by drawing) and a chair. Two fake volcanoes are needed.

Scene two, the background is with several colorful planet by drawing. Wood table in front of the seat with books, notes, calculator, and feather pens.

Scene three, the background with rose garden and trees by drawing.

Scene four, same as scene one.

Character Development

Rose: 15 years old. Pride and unreasonable. Red long dress with a crown of flowers. Rose, even though loves the little Prince, shows her love through a false way in which she constantly demands things in order to let little prince stay with her. She eventually realizes her fault during the time when little prince is absent.

The Little Prince: 15 Years Old. He is naïve and simple. First appears on stage with a clean suit and while he meets the fox, his clean suit changes to a grayish costume, showing that after a long journey, he is tired and has endured hardships. He hasn't noticed her love towards the rose until he tames the fox.

Fox: Emotionally mature but appears to be young. She's nice and mild. She has fox ears. She loves the little Prince and teaches him the concept of love.

King: 40 years old and has the characteristics of the geographer, businessman and conceited man combined. He is self-centered and arrogant. He is ignorant of others' thoughts and he loves to give orders. He wears gold crown and gold cloak.

Scene 1: (Lights on, rose wakes up)

Rose: (Stretch)Ah! I am scarcely awake. I beg that you will excuse me. My petals are still all disarranged…

Prince: Oh! (stare at rose for 3 seconds)How beautiful you are!

Rose: Am I not? I am the only rose in the universe, And i was born at the same moment as the sun…

          I think it is time for breakfast, if you would have the kindness to think of my needs

Little prince run away to get fresh water quickly

Rose: What took you so long? Do you want to let me starve to death?

Little prince:I.. I am sorry. I am trying to…(worried to explain)

SECRET MUSIC

Rose: Stop explaining. I bet you don’t wanna irritate the only rose in the universe

Little prince hand in the water

Rose: That’s too much! Do you want to drown me?

Rose orders the little prince all the time

Rose: Let the tiger come with their claws!

Prince: ...There are no tigers on my planet. And anyway, tigers do not eat weeds…

Rose: I AM NOT A WEED! I am the only rose in this UNIVERSE!

Prince:(stand up ) Please excuse me…

Rose: I am not at all afraid of tigers, but I have a horror of drafts. I suppose you would have a screen for me.

Prince: A horror of drafts--that is bad luck, for a plant...This flower is a very complex creature.

(Take off his cloak surround the rose)

Rose: At night I want you to put me under a glass globe. It is very cold where you live. In the place I came from…

Prince: (where you came from? You came as a seed!)

(cough cough) The screen

Prince: I was just going to look for it when you spoke to me

            (cough cough)

            (running around angrily)I ought not to have listened to her. One never ought to listen to the flowers. One should simply look at them and breathe their fragrance. Mone perfumed all my planet. But I did not know how to take pleasure in all her grace. This tale of claws, which disturbed me so much, should only have filled my heart with tenderness and pity!!!

I love her too much and she never cares about me! I will leave her!

Black Out

Lights on

Scene 2;Wood table in front of the seat with books, notes, calculator, and feather pens

Little prince wondering

King: (play with a little flower, bored, then see LP)Ah! Here comes a subject! A visit from an admirer! (cough, clear up, sit up) Approach, so that I may see you better.

Little prince:(whisper) How could he recognize me when he had never seen me before?(Walk slowly and yawn)

King: It is contrary to etiquette to yawn in the presence of a king. I forbid you to do so. And I order you to call me Majesty!! (Hands movements)

Little Prince: (frightened, like Daxiong) Excuse me, Mr. King. I can't help it. I can't stop myself.

King: Call me MAJESTY! SECRET MUSIC

LP: Yes, sir!! I...I… mean... mean Mr. King!

King: Ah, Ok, Ok , fine! Now, I order you to yawn. It is years since I have seen anyone yawning. Yawns to me, are objects of curiosity. Come, now! It is an order!

Little prince: That frightens me… I cannot anymore…

King: Hum!Hum! Then, I order you sometime to yawn and sometimes to…

Little prince: May I sit down?

King: I order you to do so.

         Do you really admire me very much?

Little prince: What does that mean——admire?

King: To admire means that you regard me as the handsomest, richest, most intelligent and powerful man on this planet.

Little prince: But you are the only man on the planet!

King: Do me this kindness, I will make you a minister.

Little prince: Minister of what?

King: Minister of—of finance! Oh wait, three and two make five. Five and seven make twelve. Fifteen and seven make twenty two, twenty two and six make twenty eightTwentysix and five make thirty one. phew! The that makes five hundred and one million,six hundred twenty two thousand, seven hundred thirty one!

Little prince: Five hundred million what?

King: I order you not to disturb me.

Little prince: Five hundred million what?

King: Little golden objects that lazy men to idle dreaming. Stars!

Little prince: And what do you do with these stars?

King: I own them. (complacent)

Little prince: I myself own a flower, which I water everyday.

King:  Huh! Flower is ephemeral. (ironically smile)

Little prince: What is ephemeral?

King: It means, which is in danger of speedy disappearance.

Little prince: Is my flower in danger of speedy disappearance? (worried, kind of talking to himself, ignore King)

King: certainly it is. (smile)

Little prince: My flower is ephemeral, and she has only four thorns to defend herself against the world. And I have left her in my planet, all alone! I have to go back!!

King: Don’t go!! I can make you minister!!! And… You you have to explore the world outside your tiny planet!!

LP: Oh, yeah, I should continue my journey…

King: Or you can stay? !

LP: Sorry, I’m afraid I can’t. Your majesty.

King: What did you say?

LP: Bye, Mr. King, I mean your majesty…

King: (stare and then say to LP’s back) Go to earth, My friend. That’s a beautiful planet.

(Faint)

Black Out

Lights on

Scene 3

(Fox stages right, LP walks in and looks around this new world)

Fox: Good morning

Little Prince: Good morning

The little prince looks around

Fox: I’m right here

Little Prince: Who are you? You are very pretty to look at.

Fox: I am a fox. SECRET MUSIC

Little Prince: Come and play with me, I’m so unhappy.

Fox: I cannot play with you. I am not tamed…

Little Prince: Ah! Please excuse me…

Look at fox, few seconds later

Little Prince: What does that mean? Tame?

Fox: You don't live here. What is it that you are looking for?

Little prince: I’m looking for a man. What does that mean? Tame?

Fox: Man? They have guns, and they hunt. It’s very disturbing. They also raise chickens. These are their only interest. Are you looking for chicken?

Little prince: No, sir. I’m looking for friends. What does that mean, tame?

Fox: It is an act too often neglected. It means to establish ties.

Little Prince: To establish ties?

Fox: Just that. To me, you are still nothing more than a little boy, who is just like a hundred thousand other little boys, and I have no need of you, and on your part have no need of me. To you, I’m nothing more than a fox, like a hundred thousand of other foxes. But… if you tame me, then we shall need each other. To me, you will be unique in all the world. To you, I shall be unique in all the world.

Little Prince: I’m beginning to understand. There is a flower, I think that she has tamed me.

Fox: It is possible, on the earth, one sees all sorts of things.

Little Prince: But this is not on the earth?

Fox: On another planet?

Little Prince: Yes

Fox: Are there hunters on this planet?

Little prince: No.

Fox: Ah! That’s interesting. Are there chickens?

Little prince: No.

Fox: Nothing is perfect. My life is very monotonous. I hunt similar chickens, and similar men hunt me. And in consequence, I am a little bored. But if you tame me, it will be as if the sun came to shine my life. I shall know the sound of a step that will be different from all the others. Other steps send me hurry back, underneath the ground. Yours will call me, like music, out of my burrow.

Fox gazes at little prince for a long time.

Please tame me.

Prince: I want you very much. But I have not much time. I have friends to discover and a great things to understand.

Fox: One only understands the things that one tames. If you want a friend, tame me.

Prince: What must I do to tame you?

Fox: You must be very patient. First, you will sit down at a little distance from me, like that, in the grass. I shall look at you, out of the cover of my eye and you will say nothing. Words are the source of misunderstanding, but you will sit a little closer to me every day…

(sit down) few days past

Prince: I have to leave here

Fox: aH, I shall cry

Little prince: It is your own fault. I never wish you any sort of harm: but you wanted me to tame you…

Fox: Go back to your planet. You will understand now that yours is unique in all the world. Say goodbye  to me, and i will make you a present of a secret.

Prince: Goodbye

Fox: goodbye. and here is my secret, a very simple secret: it is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what us essential is the invisible to the eye.

It is the time you have wasted for your rose that makes your rose so important.

Prince: it is the time i have wasted for my rose...i am responsible for her

Black Out

Lights on SECRET MUSIC

Scene 4(walk to the rose)

Little prince: You are not the only rose in the universe, but you are unique. I have tamed you, and you have tamed me.

Rose: Tame? What does that mean?

Little prince: You are beautiful and you are not empty. I could die for you!

Rose: But I asked you to put me under the glass globe,  to shelter me behind the screen to kill the caterpillars for me.I grumbled I boasted and even sometimes I said nothing.... (walk further, ashamed)

LP: That what makes you my rose. I ought to have judged by deeds and not by words. You cast your fragrance and your radiance over me. I ought never have run away from you.(walk closer)

Rose: you ought to have guessed all the affections that lay behind my poor little strategy. I was too young to know how to express my love.

LP: I was too young to know how to love you. (repeat)

LIght faded