Romeo Tan's latest challenge: Playing a man with Tourette syndrome
PUBLISHED ONJanuary 06, 2020 8:06 AMByTrini Ng
To get used to his unusual role in the new Channel 8 drama Happy Prince, local actor Romeo Tan inadvertently got family and friends worried about his health.
The 34-year-old would shake his head or twitch his eyelid rapidly out of the blue, prompting concern from his mother and also from his personal trainer.
(Mum wasn't impressed with his explanation, grumbling good-naturedly instead: "Why you always get these kinds of roles?")
In the 20-episode local series, Romeo's character Wang Zi Le has Tourette syndrome (TS), a neurological disorder characterised by repetitive and involuntary motor tics such as head jerking, blinking, and vocalisations.
In an interview with AsiaOne last Friday (Jan 3), Romeo shared how he prepared for his role.
Apart from watching related videos on YouTube and conducting his own research, he also learnt directly from a TS patient, who is a special needs teacher.
"We spent a day talking, for me to understand more about the disorder and his daily life, and how the public actually respond to his tics.
"For a month before filming, I tried adding in the tics or sounds like hgh, hgh, hgh, into my daily speech, every day at home or whenever I remember."
The movements became easier to reproduce with practice and improvisations during filming.
The biggest challenge, Romeo added, was deciding how to incorporate the tics into his character's life, and assimilating it naturally into his speech as if the tics don't happen.
He explained: "People with Tourette syndrome are not aware of their tics when it happens. So, let's say I'm telling you something right now and the tics occur, but I can continue with my conversation as if the tics weren't there.
"As an actor, this is something that I needed to plan, because I cannot randomly throw my tics anywhere in my lines, if not the editor would have a hard time editing the scenes. So I made notes in my script, and it was all these little details and homework that I found quite difficult."
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Once during filming, he recalled, he heard his neck crack loudly and had to stop the filming momentarily to check on himself. It turned out to be a false alarm but ever since, he told himself that he needed to do warm-ups before the cameras rolled.
For Romeo, playing a character with Tourette syndrome was "like playing a normal human with a bit of imperfection, that's all."
That's why he hopes the public will not be prejudiced and judgmental towards them.
He also hopes to raise more awareness about the disorder, and that people would show understanding and treat patients like normal humans.
"I find that Tourette syndrome patients are very optimistic. I think it's because of this disorder and the tics they have to overcome. It's a battle within themselves", Romeo concluded.
Happy Prince premieres on meWATCH, previously known as Toggle, on Jan 13, and on Channel 8 on Jan 15, 9pm.
trining@asiaone.com