{"id":26247,"date":"2016-12-01T15:42:32","date_gmt":"2016-12-01T07:42:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/glutenfreepleasure.com\/__proxy_domain\/www.wildrice.com.sg\/?p=26247"},"modified":"2021-04-13T11:36:44","modified_gmt":"2021-04-13T03:36:44","slug":"grabbing-the-bull-by-the-horns-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/glutenfreepleasure.com\/__proxy_domain\/www.wildrice.com.sg\/grabbing-the-bull-by-the-horns-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Grabbing the Bull by the Horns"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In\u00a0Monkey Goes West<\/em>, Darius Tan is doing something he\u2019s never done before in a W!LD RICE pantomime: play a man.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is the first time I\u2019m not performing in drag,\u201d laughs Darius, who is grabbing a quick bite to eat backstage before suiting up for the show. \u201cThis time, I have to channel my masculine side.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For each of his four previous pantomime outings, Darius has cross-dressed to play the Dame \u2013 drawing laughs and stealing scenes as an evil stepsister or a mother with a gambling addiction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPeople have actually asked me if I will be funny since I\u2019m not playing a woman!\u201d he confides with a twinkle in his eye, and pretends to be offended. \u201cHello, what are you trying to say?!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Clothes maketh the man \u2013 and the Bull!
(L-R) Darius with Monkey<\/em>\u2019s incredible costume team:
Saksit Pisalasupongs, Theresa Chan & Phisit Jongnarangsin<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI like King Bull!\u201d he goes on to say of the powerful demon he conjures to life on stage every night. The role, originated by Lim Kay Siu in the 2014 production of Monkey Goes West<\/em>, is \u201cfun\u201d, and Darius has enjoyed putting his own stamp on it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNot a lot of people know this, but I have some basic training in Chinese opera,\u201d he reveals. As a result, Darius was able to work with martial arts choreographer Gordon Choy to revamp and expand a key fight sequence in the show.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Darius also came to Monkey Goes West<\/em> with a clean slate, so to speak. Due to an insanely busy schedule at the time, he did not get to watch the show during its sold-out run in 2014.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe first time I watched it was on video, after I\u2019d been cast,\u201d he confesses. \u201cAnd I remember thinking, \u2018Oh my god, it\u2019s a very<\/em> good show!\u2019 That\u2019s when I started to get very stressed out, right up until the last day of rehearsals.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He credits his director, Sebastian Tan, with helping him to find his feet within the production. \u201cSebastian has been very, very good in easing me into Monkey Goes West<\/em>,\u201d he says gratefully.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And he\u2019s thrilled to be working with his \u201cpartner-in-crime\u201d, Chua Enlai, again \u2013 this time as husband and wife, after their riotous \u2018sister acts\u2019 in Beauty and the Beast<\/em> and Cinderel-LAH!<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Darius and Enlai vamping it up
as the late Emma Yong\u2019s stepsisters in Cinderel-LAH!<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

What makes Monkey Goes West<\/em> particularly special for Darius is the way it breaks from tradition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m glad W!LD RICE has started adapting Asian stories into pantomimes,\u201d he explains. \u201cI think people do relate to Monkey Goes West<\/em> more, in a way, because it\u2019s based on a Chinese story we all know. In the future, I hope we can do some Singaporean stories as well!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the meantime, Darius is looking forward to the rest of Monkey Goes West<\/em>\u2019s month-long run \u2013 although he\u2019s keen to dispel any notions that performing in a pantomime is child\u2019s play.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNo pantomime is easy,\u201d he points out. \u201cYou can\u2019t expect your audience to laugh every night \u2013 you have to earn it. That\u2019s something all performers, myself included, need to learn and constantly remember.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s true, too, of every show he\u2019s ever done. Darius prides himself on always giving it his all, even if he\u2019s feeling under the weather. He believes he owes it to the people who made time and paid money to see the show.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019ve performed in a two-and-a-half-hour production for just 20 people before,\u201d he remembers. \u201cBut that doesn\u2019t mean I give any less of my effort.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He recalls with vivid clarity how he saw the original cast of Beauty World<\/em> perform, way back in 1989. He can pinpoint the exact moment during the show when he decided that he wanted to become an actor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019ve had that experience myself, so I know how watching a show can change someone\u2019s life,\u201d he observes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Children have come up to him after Monkey Goes West<\/em> to confess their desire to, perhaps, become performers one day. It\u2019s not a responsibility he takes lightly. \u201cThat\u2019s why I love my job, and why I make sure I do my job well!\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Monkey Goes West marks Darius Tan\u2019s fifth pantomime with W!LD RICE \u2013 and the first time he\u2019s playing a man! He chats with us about joining the cast of this hit show and always giving it his all on stage.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":26248,"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":[158,280,152,189],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/glutenfreepleasure.com\/__proxy_domain\/www.wildrice.com.sg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26247"}],"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=26247"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/glutenfreepleasure.com\/__proxy_domain\/www.wildrice.com.sg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26247\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glutenfreepleasure.com\/__proxy_domain\/www.wildrice.com.sg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26248"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/glutenfreepleasure.com\/__proxy_domain\/www.wildrice.com.sg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26247"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glutenfreepleasure.com\/__proxy_domain\/www.wildrice.com.sg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26247"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glutenfreepleasure.com\/__proxy_domain\/www.wildrice.com.sg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26247"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}