Denyse Chua’s Experience (Participant)

Being a deeply flawed human being, I joined Work On The Self to, quite literally, work on myself. I was under the impression that this workshop was a masterclass inspired by how-to books, a self-help improvement course packaged through theatre. In these 10 weeks, I thought we’d learn: 

• How to win friends and influence people

• How to build your leadership presence

• How to Get Smart, Healthy and Rich

• The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People

• About the Five People You Meet in Heaven

I’m kidding. A friend signed up for this first and I thought it would be fun to do something together other than eat, watch a movie, or talk shit about people we used to know. I didn’t even realise we were working towards a showcase till session two — as someone who is Very Lazy this came as a surprise. Me paying money to entertain people? Wasn’t it supposed to be the other way around? This was probably the theatre world’s interpretation of disruptive innovation I guess.

Each week we explored movement and how our movements corresponded with an accompanying memory or thought, which was what we referred to as an ‘association’. This was the first time I was using the term ‘association’ without prefixing it with the word ‘People’s’, but nonetheless it felt as taxing, confusing, and sometimes frustrating. And I have no doubt that you the audience will also experience these range of emotions as you watch our show. 

The Work On The Self is by nature a very personal endeavour. It was a nostalgic journey moving, remembering and associating, sometimes even dissociating for me, and I hope this piece also invokes an association in you. When, at any point of time, you find yourself confused, my suggestion is to look out for the weirdest movement/word/action and muse on it. It’s easier than pretending to understand what’s going on, and much more fun to have something specific to talk about and exaggerate after the show too. Thanks for watching!