STRIKING A BALANCE, LETTING PROCEED OF CREATIVE CONTROL
In conversation, Mister Pang often juxtaposes his natural irreverence and aversion to authority with the patriotic gig he has already been tasked with that demands him to “deal with civil program sensibilities and bureaucracy”.
After all, he has acquired “artistic and innovative control” over their work choices for almost 12 years since setting up Pangdemonium.
His theater company is known to get “telling stories that are not just for amusement value”, he stated. “We hope to cause you to think and feel and talk and argument and, you know, obtain angry. So I’ve been told never to make people furious. ”
However, the work for NDP, which began about 11 months ago, required Mr Pang to “find the happy medium” while “retaining some feeling of creative control”.
This particular balancing act has proven to take “a bit of guesswork, concern and a lot of hope”.
But Mr Pang remains mindful of the significance of his role, pertaining to NDP 2022 may mark the come back of live shows on a grand range after celebrations had been pared back two years ago.
“As maverick since my own instincts may be, I’ve had to, to a large extent, kind of mood that for the greater good, ” this individual told CNA.
“Nobody makes work that they hope is not liked. But you know, (Pangdemonium has) never been the type of company that intentionally creates work or chooses specific bits of work as crowd pleasers, ” he additional.
“So now, being in a position where I’m very aware that you are creating an experience for the whole nation … it might be having to approach that will with a different mindset. You just have to be quite cognisant and ensure as many people are taken care of as possible. ”
There is a need to stability “the appetite, sensibilities and people’s needs” in this “very tricky time” when the country has been “tested in every way”, and find out whether that means a far more celebratory or traditional show, explained Mister Pang.
This often means reshaping his personal vision to accede in order to requests from various parties. For instance, when something in the display has to be altered, this affects every department from choreography to lighting and songs.
But he has taken this in stride, aware that there are other creatives whose responsibilities are “beyond mine”.
“The stage is just giving creative freedom to these creatives as well as respecting their own work and wanting to align everybody’s individual visions into one coherent beast. That’s been a huge challenge. ”
As such, the journey so far has been “a lesson in humility”.
“It’s been a training in listening, a lesson in attempting not to swear so much. That one I’m nevertheless learning and screwing up. Especially not to the microphone at The Drift to rally the troops, ” this individual said, laughing.
“And it is a lesson in … drawing the total amount between ‘Listen, I want this, so can you discover a way to do this? ’ plus ‘I don’t care what you think, I would like this. ’”
Reflecting on the past 11 months, Mr Pang admitted there is certainly “quite a lot that’s really out of your control”, and the job required him to “let go and give in”.
“It’s many cooks trying to cook a nine-course meal. And you also hope it’s attractive to 5. 7 million people. You can’t win, ” this individual said.
“We can only wish that most people appreciate most of the courses, otherwise all. Chances are there will be people who are not crazy about a certain course, or perhaps a certain ingredient or even a certain serving plate … but ideally everyone comes out of the meal feeling that will they’ve had a fulfilling meal that is nutrition for the heart, soul and mind, ” he further informed CNA in a text message.
“So I’m just likely to shut out all the noise and carry it with a huge sack of salt, and try and put together the best damn show that people can. ”