| Guess
who's doing the Lovewave?
August 1, 2001
Beatrice and Mark are up to something and
hiding from the cameras…just what kind of hanky-panky are they up
to?
By Junie Ong
(Click on pictures for larger image)
Shunning the cameras, hiding from the lens,
that's what Mark and Beatrice are opting for.
The pair have ditched their actors' personas
for a place behind the cameras to direct a stage play called Lovewave
96.6FM.
  Weaving
a tale around the fictitious radio station on the 96.6 bandwidth,
Mark and Beatrice will be prodding into the lives of madcap DJ personalities
creating mayhem on and off-air.
 The
right combination
Both have appeared together in numerous other collaborations,
the most recent being the highly controversial Shopping
and F**king.
This time, it was playwright Haresh Sharma who
roped them in to explore their other talent of directing, after
watching Rain in 1999, a short play that Mark and Beatrice wrote
and directed.
Can they multi-task? "No way...I can't write
and direct others and try to direct myself. I'm not Kevin Costner,"
Beatrice
declared.
 A
pity though, we haven't had a chance to catch Mark acting alongside
wife Vernetta
Lopez so far. "Vernetta enjoys TV work more and I love theatre,
so the possibilities are quite minimal," he told us.
Now that's a shame, we would have loved to see
some of that off-screen chemistry on-screen as well.
Cast from hell! 
That's exactly how Mark described his posse of actors Brian Richmond,
Vernon A and Sheikh Haikel.
He gave us his blow-by-blow analysis on each
of his 'monstrous cast'.
"Brian Richmond was chosen because of his experience
on radio and has got great stage charisma and oozes sincerity. Besides,
we needed his help for some homework, so we had to reward him somehow!"
So much for nepotism, Brian earned his part
good and proper with no favours at all.
"Vernon A plays a newsreader with an awful voice
because we love working with contrasts and ironies, and we all know
what a great DJ he is."
 And
on Sheikh Haikel who has recently traded his dreadlocks for an explosive
afro-do, Mark told us," His talents are immense and we needed a
character who could add the tension and dimensions into the play.
Haikel already carries with him such flavour as a person."
Beatrice, the cut-throat DJ
We're well acquainted with Mark's ease on air as a Class 95 DJ hosting
the evening Cartunes slot with Vernon A. Will Beatrice, well known
for making waves with her honesty, shine or stink as a DJ?
 Mark
thinks it'll be a piece of cake for her. "Beatrice would make a
good DJ. Firstly, she has a good voice and speaks well, so 50% is
conquered. She also has a strong personality and doesn't mince her
words, backtrack or apologise for her opinions."
We can just picture Beatrice
chewing the heads off Glenn
Ong and Rod Monterio when they brandish their hilariously risqué
jibes on air with her!
Femme fatales
Lovewave will also star stage veterans Selena Tan and Neo Swee Lin
as Brian's long lost love interest.
We nudged Beatrice into telling us if there
were any 'battle of the sexes' on set between the feisty ladies
and the macho males, but we were sorely disappointed.
"… Selena and Swee Lin are easily 30 times more
ferocious than me and I have a crew of female production managers
and stage managers who are all also 30 times more ferocious than
me. So what battle of the sexes are we talking about? In fact, the
men give way to me all the time!" Beatrice
laughed.
Now we know who's really calling the shots on
this stage.
Lovewave 96.6FM
Dates: Aug 1-5
| Venue: |
Tampines East Community Club (2nd floor) |
| |
10, Tampines Street 23 |
Tickets: available at Sistic, free
seating
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