Be a Mind Reader
It is our intrinsic nature to express our basic needs with our facial expression, body language, and voice, and by the time we get the hang of things, language naturally becomes our communication tool. Yet while speaking may seem an act that is effortlessly done, the art of communication is a hard one to master, let alone delivering a humorous discourse on-stage. "Stand-up comedy is widely considered an art of speaking because we the comedians, or the roles we play, speak the mind of the audience – in other words, the minds of the spectators are resonated through the voices of the actors," said Jim Chim, endearingly known as 'Sir Jim' who is the creator of 'stand-up physical comedy'.
Not surprisingly, there would have been countless occasions where you tried in vain to communicate your feelings, and the reason is similar to what defines the success of stand-up comedy, according to Jim: there needs to be a common ground of understanding. "It goes without saying that stand-up comedy is a type of entertainment, but good entertainment is the kind that inspires and impresses. Which is why as stand-up comedians, we depict everyday characters instead of playing fictional roles. By engaging the audience with everyday materials delivered in a humorous way, we make members of the audience laugh and relieve them of the stress of life, because ultimately, we hope they will feel that we are really just part of them."
Eye Contact, Curiosity, Respect
To Jim, modern-day people tend to have an inordinate reliance on speech as a tool of communication, at the expense of other means of communication. "My latest theatre play Sign of Happiness is one that explores the theme of 'communication' by portraying the way of non-verbal communication between two people from two different places," said Jim. "It is important to note that while speaking is a one-way utterance of sound and vocabulary, communication is a two-way conversation that involves a speaker and a receiver. Successful communication is therefore dependent on the accent, tone or rhythm of your speech, and whether you have left sufficient room for the other party to digest and comprehend your intended meanings."
As a well-versed communicator, Jim admits that body language, instead of verbal language, is the first and foremost communication tool. "The first rule of communication is eye contact, because the sheer amount of information and ideas conveyed through the eyes is abundant. I like to look the other person in the eyes be it in my private life, in training session with my students, or during performance, because that way I will be able to establish a common ground before we proceed with communication." The second rule of communication, according to Jim, is curiosity. "There's reason why people generally find it hard to communicate with their family members: our curiosity in them dwindle by the day because we see them every day, and we tend to assume that the characters, behaviour and ways of thinking of our family members will always be the same. But the truth is we as modern-day people play various different roles every day, and in a way we're changing every day. So communication can be fostered by generating more curiosity towards our family members by respecting their continuous, subtle changes."
Communication is built on conversational topics, which can be positive or negative. In today's society where people gravitate towards recrimination than conversation, letting feelings off one's chest is easily mistaken as communication. "Mutual respect is key to interpersonal communication. To have people to hear you out and communicate with you, you need to let go of your pride and prejudice, understand their sense of value from their perspective, refrain from criticising their point of view, and stay calm. Don't expect them to not be offended if all that come from you are words of complaint or criticism. If speaking your mind could adversely affect your relationship with the other party, it is probably best that you think clearly before you speak," chuckled Jim. "Blaming and criticising are ways to let things out of your system. As actors, we are fortunate to have umpteen channels to let off steam, but even if you are not an actor, you can always let things off your chest by talking to friends or relaying your feelings in words – by all means explore the different ways to help you de-stress."
Have Fun on Stage
With an emphasis on 'pleasure', 'imagination' and 'play', PIP Theatre was founded by Jim as the embodiment of his philosophy on life and play. "Naturally, you would want to play if you want some fun in life, and to me, play is a great way to obtain wisdom and the knack of communication. Everybody loves the feeling of victory because one derives pleasure from winning, but the greatest lesson in life lies in the art of staying in the game without being afraid of losing, so that the achievement of happiness will cease to be a kind of pressure." When asked about his tips on 'staying in the game', Jim said, "Many people are afraid of doing certain things, and I remember clinical psychologist Dr John Koo once said that while we all die just once, some could spend their entire life worrying about dying. What Dr Koo said really struck a chord with me, and I have been living my life to the fullest ever since. By founding PIP, I hope that more people will set themselves free to play, and face life with their imagination, creativity and expectation. It's like relocating to a new place, where every day is full of surprises, once you have learnt to treat the people and things around you with a new attitude!"
But what about the more reticent among us – is speech or drama training a suitable hobby too? "Reticence is never a problem! Many great, expressive actors are in fact stutterers in real life. You need to separate your personal character and the communication skills required of your job or on stage," said Jim, who thinks retirees make great students of drama. "Senior citizens may not be good at expressing themselves, but what they have is a sophisticated sense of self-worth compared to younger people. Many actors are, in fact, enthusiastic performers that are in sync with their self-worth."
More importantly, drama class is like going back to school, where friendship is fostered and new things are learnt. "You don't necessarily have to sign up for a drama class, but by enjoying theatre drama, you will learn to appreciate sharing moments of joy and sadness with the audience, and you will realise drama appreciation is really a glimpse of society, which offers endless conversational topics when communicating with other people."