{"id":25699,"date":"2017-07-01T15:52:12","date_gmt":"2017-07-01T07:52:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/glutenfreepleasure.com\/__proxy_domain\/www.wildrice.com.sg\/?p=25699"},"modified":"2021-04-07T18:00:18","modified_gmt":"2021-04-07T10:00:18","slug":"all-the-worlds-a-stage-oon-shu-an","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/glutenfreepleasure.com\/__proxy_domain\/www.wildrice.com.sg\/all-the-worlds-a-stage-oon-shu-an\/","title":{"rendered":"All The World\u2019s A Stage: Oon Shu An"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I first started performing <\/font><\/strong>in speech and drama class as a kid. Ironically, my parents sent me to those classes because I was very shy and wasn\u2019t talking! Thereafter, I remained firmly involved in the arts \u2013 I was in the primary school choir, did Buds Youth Theatre through secondary school, joined the drama club in JC and was part of the second batch of students graduating from LASALLE College of the Arts\u2019 Acting BA programme. I was also one of the founding members of TheatreStrays, a physical theatre group.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was hopeless at<\/font><\/strong> learning things out of textbooks. I\u2019ve found that, to really learn or understand something, I need context. Give me a history textbook and ask me to memorise facts or dates, and I won\u2019t get it. But I would if you gave me a script or a documentary \u2013 something that explains how people at the time felt, the struggle they were undergoing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Drama was<\/font><\/strong> one of the things that came most naturally to me. It was easy for me to work on it and make it better. At school, I quickly discovered that I truly enjoyed myself the most was when I was working on a show. Every time you do a show, you create a world \u2013 which you can see, feel and almost smell, sometimes. That world makes sense<\/em>. I could never get that from a textbook! Which is a real pity because I love learning. I think that\u2019s why I loved drama so much, too. Because I could learn about the world, and faster.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My favourite part of theatre-making<\/font><\/strong> is the rehearsal process. I love all the hours we can spend on discussing the script, and trying to figure out how a scene runs or how to make a moment happen. It\u2019s like working out a puzzle with like-minded people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Performing live on stage<\/font><\/strong> is a new challenge every single time. You have to work really hard at being alive and listening to your fellow actors and the audiences, which change from night to night. That\u2019s exciting, and a different kind of puzzle. I still get stage fright, though! I manage it better now, but I definitely prefer the rehearsal process. Give me a shorter run any day!!!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Shu An having a #UnicornMoment in the Victoria Theatre!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

When it comes to my career<\/font><\/strong>, I feel like I\u2019ve been very lucky. I stumbled into a lot of things, almost by accident. I didn\u2019t even think I was going to be a full-time actor. For a time, I thought that I perhaps wanted to be a psychologist \u2013 although I decided that wasn\u2019t for me when I realised that it required a grasp of statistics! Some people think of me as a beauty blogger and a social media person, but I really kind of fell into that too. I went for the Tried & Tested<\/a><\/em> audition, and walked out thinking I would never get the job because my beauty knowledge, at the time, was rather rudimentary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m very, very grateful to the people<\/font><\/strong> who have believed in me, such that I have been lucky enough to get all these opportunities. I\u2019m especially thankful that I get to be in this line full-time, because, at the end of the day, it\u2019s still the thing I enjoy most \u2013 working with people to tell stories. Whether it\u2019s theatre, television or film, there\u2019s a real sense of camaraderie and community when people come together to create art. It really does take a village to make any show happen, and I\u2019m really glad to have had the chance to be a part of so many villages!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have a phobia of musicals<\/font><\/strong>. I can handle a tune, but I\u2019m not a singer. A few years back, I was hired to be in a musical. They told me it would be fine \u2013 they would work around my limitations, and make the music work for me. In the end, they didn\u2019t change a single note. Not that they should<\/em> do that, either, since the music tells the story. Soooo\u2026 if I can\u2019t help it do that, then what\u2019s the point hor? Moral of the story: if I\u2019m not right for a role, please do everyone a big favour and don\u2019t cast me!!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Theatre is<\/font><\/strong> home. It really, really is. I love being able to focus on one thing for such a long time. For screen work, you finish shooting the scene, and you move on. In the theatre, there\u2019s something comforting about coming to work every day and being able to really dig into the same story, with the same people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For me, the arts is<\/font><\/strong> about connection. The world can be a bit of a lonely place, and I feel that it can be very difficult to connect with other people. But there\u2019s an instant connection in the arts, even if you\u2019re strangers. You can be in a theatre, watching a play or a film, and have other people laughing or crying with you. You may not be friends, but that shared experience \u2013 the sense of a common humanity \u2013 I love that. I think that feeling will never go away.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Chances are you\u2019ve seen Oon Shu An light up the screen, in films or on Netflix and YouTube. Where did her love affair with the arts begin? What keeps her coming back to the theatre? Find out here!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":25700,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"default","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"default","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[222,220,219,221],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/glutenfreepleasure.com\/__proxy_domain\/www.wildrice.com.sg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25699"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/glutenfreepleasure.com\/__proxy_domain\/www.wildrice.com.sg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/glutenfreepleasure.com\/__proxy_domain\/www.wildrice.com.sg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glutenfreepleasure.com\/__proxy_domain\/www.wildrice.com.sg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glutenfreepleasure.com\/__proxy_domain\/www.wildrice.com.sg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25699"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/glutenfreepleasure.com\/__proxy_domain\/www.wildrice.com.sg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25699\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glutenfreepleasure.com\/__proxy_domain\/www.wildrice.com.sg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25700"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/glutenfreepleasure.com\/__proxy_domain\/www.wildrice.com.sg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25699"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glutenfreepleasure.com\/__proxy_domain\/www.wildrice.com.sg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25699"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glutenfreepleasure.com\/__proxy_domain\/www.wildrice.com.sg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25699"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}