Ying’s Experience (Participant)

I think this isn’t just theatre work, but something reflective of our day to day life. Just under the surface, barely hidden by society, there is a need to understand and reconcile with what is deemed as acceptable and otherwise.

Working on the self, you’ll also come to learn that everyone is way too different to compare, but also in a strange and comfortable way, similar.

A lot of things you thought you knew, you don’t. And many times, what you didn’t think you understand, it’s a lot more

Many times we set too many rules for ourselves unknowingly, and then put it on society to blame. And now, understanding how my thoughts and actions work, I can also learn to understand others without putting on certain stereotypes or preconceived judgements. I cannot control how others think and feel. I can only be in tune with my own thoughts and feeling, and learn to be more present with myself and others.

“Humans are such insufferable creatures.” Something brought up in the middle of such a session. It sits with me still today, and it will be something that resonates with me many years to come.

WOTS has created a safe space for me to learn to care for others as much as for myself, as much as detaching myself from the self imposed rules and restrictions I succumbed to and built in the last 27 years of living.

Something I read in the course of this workshop:

“The human being is complex and I find the vile acts, contradictions, and sublimities characteristic of our condition astonishing. Our existence would be an exasperating shade of gray if we were all flawless.”

- Agustina Bazterrica, Tender Is the Flesh