Daily Archives: November 10, 2019

The Last Survivor

Written by: Benjamin Tan

Tiger Performance by Deve Weaver

What a unique performance performed and directed by Deve Weaver.

I like how Deve place the underlying message of protecting the endangered animals through this whimsical play.

He used many different strategies to display the relationship between humans and tigers. From role-playing many different characters in which Deve played more than 3 characters during the play and sometimes doing 2 characters simultaneously!

Deve Weaver playing multiple roles during the performance

Moreover, he used music and a song to talk about the fragile relationship between the tigers and humans, how the tigers are eating the humans and how the humans are attacking the tigers.

He did many other strategies such as repetitively playing a certain film again and again as he shares his story.

But among all the strategies, the greatest impact is when he got everyone to do something together. One moment was when we stand up and hummed to summon the tiger spirit. I could feel the resonance on my chest as everyone hums together. It was about a whole minute of humming!

Audience humming to summon the Tiger spirit

Another moment was when we got everyone to read out loud the words on the screen. It was quite shocking how everyone was so participative and with that kind of engagement, it just creates a mark to remember and bring back after the play.

The Audience reading out loud the words appearing on the screen

Home… This is a word many people hold very close to their hearts. It is not just a physical place, but it is about the people that live in that house that gives substance and meaning to the word home.

This word also resonates in the Tiger performance it talked about India’s Pench National Park is one of India’s last sanctuary to the wild tigers. With tigers being endangered, it really pains my heart to see how these home for the tigers is literally their only hope for a home in the entire world.

It got me to ponder deeply too, my family is the only home in the entire world, what am I doing to protect it? What am I doing to build that home? How am I thankful for that home? As Thanksgiving is coming, let’s not wait till then to be thankful and do something for our family. It starts now. What can I do today to appreciate my home? 😊