8 Mediacorp Stars Took An 8 Day Acting Course In Taipei, Guess Who Was The Teacher’s Pet?

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They say learning is a lifelong journey… especially if you’re an actor.

On July 17, eight Mediacorp artistes — Ayden Sng, Zhang Zetong, Nick Teo, Denise Camillia Tan, Sheryl Ang, Gini Chang, He Yingying and Chantalle Ng — flew to Taiwan for an eight day acting course at Taipei’s Studio Q.

8days.sg reached out to Chantalle, 28, and Zetong, 30, to get an idea of what the intensive program was like.

According to Zetong, they had “around 8-12 hours of class per day” with all the classes arranged like subjects in school. The acting coaches included Taiwanese actress Bai Bai, TV producer Tang Sheng Jung and opera instructor Tseng Kuan Tung.

“We had Peking opera class, voice training, body movement and breathing techniques, script analysis, and finally a skit to round off the camp,” said Zetong.

Their teacher apparently also had a really interesting way of getting them to warm up.

“Every morning before class, the teacher would want us to mop the floor with rugs. It’s one of the breathing techniques [we were taught] and it helps set the tone for the entire camp,” Zetong added.

Zetong also told us that the program was initiated by Mediacorp’s artiste management unit The Celebrity Agency, and he and his colleagues had to audition to be selected for the course.

How did they prepare for acting camp then?

For Chantalle, apart from memorising the scripts and watching how the original actors played the roles, she also did some research on the teachers and directors who would be teaching to better prepare [herself].”

“Other than that, I wanted to go with an open mind, to be an empty cup, so I could fill [myself up with] new learnings,” she added.

Just like any class, there’s bound to be someone who’s the teacher’s pet.

“I’d say Gini was like the class monitress. The teachers totally loved her,” said Chantalle. “She was super enthusiastic and always participated a lot in class. She’s a happy girl, and the teachers loved her positive attitude towards learning!”

Meanwhile, Zetong seemed oblivious to who was favoured by the teachers.

“I don’t think there’s one to be honest. Wait, when I say that does that mean it’s me?,” he chuckled.

Lucky for Zetong, Chantalle also sung his praises.

“I think Zetong did an awesome job. We were all moved by his final performance, and we made sure he heard how much we liked it,” she gushed. “His performance came with him believing exactly that he was his role, and it also came with vulnerability.”

She continued: “I think this acting class pushed all of us beyond our usual acting methods. By the end of the class, we all ran to tell Zetong how well he did and ended up crying and tearing up together.”

How did Zetong feel about his own performance though?

“I felt something new when I did the final performance, and was honestly surprised to hear compliments from my fellow classmates. [It was] my first time ever,” he said.

Chantalle, on the other hand, doesn’t think she performed her best.

“But that’s okay! It was an environment for us to learn and fail with no judgments. Most importantly, I managed to identify areas I can improve on and was given advice from the teachers on how to work on them,” she said.

It wasn’t all serious thespian work though.

When we asked Chantalle if anything funny happened during class, she said: “During rehearsal, Yingying and I were in the same scene. I stared at her so intensely that my contact lenses fell out. We pushed through the scene without laughing, but we were both struggling inside. #TheShowMustGoOn.”

Sounds like someone was the class clown?