MsLaT's Corner: National Level English Drama Competition 2011

This year I had the honour to accompany the Sabah English Drama team from SM St Patrick Tawau to National Level English Drama Competition 2011 which was held in Ipoh, Perak. With 15 teams from all over Malaysia (KL pulled out) competing to be the champion, it was a long day indeed to be watching all 15 teams doing their best on stage. We arrived on the 26 Sept in KLIA and a tour-coach bus awaiting for us. Mr. Rosidi, the teacher in charge was nice enough to have been awaiting for the Sabah team for couple hours at KLIA. We shared the bus with Sarawak's team whom was very friendly and respectful. The journey took nearly 4 hours as we did couple of stops. Arriving at Hotel Seri Malaysia Ipoh, we rushed for dinner and the briefing. I had to share my room with the Tawau's team teachers.

The next day was the rehearsal and we were only given 15 mins each team. You got it right, nothing much can be achieved with just 15 mins. But at least they got to see the stage and hall. I trained the team with voice and physical warming up. Would be a useful lesson for them and their next drama team. Since we were free the rest of the day, as Sabah was the fourth team, we decided to walk all the way to Ipoh Parade. It didn't take me long to check out the mall as it wasn't entirely that big. I had my lunch at Kenny Roger's Roaster and took a taxi back to the hotel to have my afternoon nap for the rest of the afternoon. We settled in quite early for the competition on the next day.

On 28th Sept 2011 - SJKC Yuk Choy Ipoh Hall, the stage was taken over by the first team from Labuan exactly at 8am. Sabah performed fourth and got the chances to watch the rest after theirs. I had a migraine which didn't help much but thank goodness one of the teachers gave me migraine pills so eventually I felt much better in the afternoon. I was pretty amazed by Sarawak's team. The story and plot were interesting enough and their creativity in turning the wizard into stone did made the audience watched in amaze. I had predicted that they would have win the competition. Meanwhile other teams that I predicted to be in the top five were Negeri Sembilan, Melaka, Sabah, Sarawak and Selangor. Selangor came with the most and huge props. Meanwhile Johor wowed the audience with their technicians and stage presentation. And Negeri Sembilan, the boys were confident and performed well. The only team I didn't get to watch was from Terengganu as we had to head back to the hotel for lunch and only got a ride back from N.Sembilan team. Overall it was a tiring but good day.

The next day was the closing ceremony and results. True enough, Sarawak won the trophy, followed by Negeri Sembilan and Selangor in third place. Meanwhile Negeri Sembilan won the best script and Perak won the best performer. Congratulations to all teams that won that day. And for my Sabah team, you guys did very well and had shown that we are still very much on the top. You may not win anything this year but we are still the best, comparing to the rest. So keep it up Sabah Drama Teams!