Dreams in November
Hands Percussion
KLPac Pentas 1
19 November 2009

Hands Percussion has built a reputation for its high impact and high energy shows, with strong production values. In the uncertain environment of the arts in Malaysia, where expensive shows can be terrible and free shows excellent, Hands has consistently guaranteed a fun night out for all comers, whether connoisseurs or neophytes. This is what makes their most recent offering, Dreams in November, such a departure from the norm.

Last Thursday night, Pentas 1 at KLPac was packed with Hands fans. Groups of schoolchildren and gaggles of housewives waited eagerly for the lights to dim. But when the lights came up again during intermission and at the end of the night, the atmosphere was much more subdued. It wasn’t that Hands Percussion failed to deliver, but that it delivered a different show than expected, and its mainstream audience was not altogether convinced. Although Dreams included the usual high-energy large-group drum performances, these items were interspersed with quieter and, dare I say, more arty scenes.

There were extended periods of dancers moving in silence, during which the audience shifted impatiently, snored, and gossiped. A group of schoolgirls behind me burst into giggles over the appearance of dancers clad in briefs. Sometimes audience members provided their own sound effects where they felt they were lacking. Judging by the loss of focus in the audience around me, some musical scenes went on longer than the audience could tolerate, especially the solo drumming and the female percussionists on their platforms. Before intermission, when the audience generally needs to be pumped up and sent out into the foyer excited and chattering, an extended fan dance scene, lyrical and gentle, had the opposite effect. And at the end of the show, instead of going out with an enormous crash of drums, the lights faded slowly as a single dreamer sleepwalked slowly through the audience and out the back door of the stage, leaving the audience bemused and silent.

But for all its unorthodox dramatic choices, Dreams was full of well-crafted poetic images. In the opening scene, a silver Chinese lion lies snoozing in the middle of the stage, head tucked into its back feet like a cat, the scales on its side rippling like a fish. When it rouses to dance lightly on its feet, it seems to shrink and expand, now tall, now very small, on a stage covered with red cloth, bright as a Rothko colour field, which resonates green on your retina when you blink.

At the end of the first large drumming sequence, the drummers in white skirts whirl like dervishes, their drum sticks held out in both hands before them. They continue to turn long after we feel they should have collapsed to the ground with dizziness. The lights dim agonizingly slowly, and at the end, wondrously, they still and remain standing. Not reeling, not swaying – just standing.

A round platform slowly rotates onto the stage. On it sits a girl in a white spiky fur stole, surrounded by glass vessels which ring in different pitches when she taps them. Like a snow queen on a drifting iceberg, she plays her glass bowls like icicles, the shifting lights of the aurora moving around her. Later another platform enters, this one covered in brass gamelan units, with the player in their midst lit like a pinnacle in a lava flow.

A man lies on top of the big king drum, arms and legs outstretched. His shadow on the ground marks the limits of his pool of light like the Vitruvian Man. Two other men join him. Their slow movement gradually gains pace, until they are leaping on and off the drum, supported each other to reach greater height. Two men hang off the third in a weight-sharing hold. The lightness and control of their jumps is admirable – these men are gymnasts as well as drummers!

The drumming, unsurprisingly, is supreme. The variations in rhythm, the sense of humour and connection between the drummers, and the different methods of making sounds that are more than just gimmicks – sliding sticks flat across the skin of the drum in aggressive conversations, or whacking at the drums with long flexible rattans that give more power and leverage – all conspire to elicit a deep kinesthetic sympathy from the bodies of the audience. This is Hands’ real strength, and I cannot help wishing that there was more of this, and more attention paid to maintaining a conventional dramatic trajectory throughout the entire work.

Nevertheless, with Hands, I get the sense that they know what they are doing. They are so good at delivering crowd-pleasing commercial shows that their choices with this production suggest that this time they are deliberately trying to extend and educate, to stretch their mainstream audience’s viewing capacity. It’s an admirable intent, but it remains to be seen how much their audience will decide to accompany them on this journey.

Images supplied by Hands Percussion.

Thespians don’t just work in rehearsal rooms but they work around the clock, just like everybody else who are doing something else. We research our character(s), stories, authors, movement methods, dance, vocal and many more. If there isn’t much information written for the character, we would make it up according to the entire story being told. We imagine our character with the facts that we have and present it in the way we see it. Hence, it’s an interpretation of how an actor sees his or her character, which would be specifically moulded by the director.

Since The Oral Stage: “Oh Dad, Poor Dad,” ended, I haven’t been to KLPac at all. I was simply too knackered and completely occupied with stuff. Therefore, I’ve lost touch of any news, rumours or information that would scatter within the compound of KLPac. This is the reason as to why I feel ‘lost’ to a particular aspect of activities.

I received a friend request from a girl in facebook about a couple of weeks ago. The name was totally unfamiliar. I can never recognise anyone based on a picture. Basically, the picture didn’t help but we had plenty of mutual friends and that amazed me because how could we have so many mutual friends and yet, I don’t know her and there she was requesting to be my virtual friend. So I sent her a message to enquire where and when we’ve met because I would never add someone who I’ve never met in person. A week later, I still didn’t get a message from her and clicked on ‘ignore.’ However, before I clicked, I checked her profile again and saw that the number of mutual friends increased tremendously. So I posted a status update asking everyone how they know of this particular person. A lot of people were rather confused too but another friend (Tony), knows who this girl is and said that it was an actress who created that account and used her character’s name from her current production. I felt glad that I ignored the request because one, I felt stupid of me to fall for something like that but then again, I never expected anyone would do such a thing unless you’re close to that person. Two, this person was terribly mean to me about a couple of months back. So, there you go.

Sometime around last week, a friend made a ‘friend suggestion’ to me. This particular friend is someone who I haven’t met for months and I’m aware that he has given up on layan-ing me in virtual and in reality, so I kept my distance. When he suggested this friend, I really thought that this person must be important or that he wants me to make a new friend. So I sent the suggester a message, enquiring about his suggestee and he replied cheekily. He’s known to be cheeky at most times anyway so I wasn’t bothered to ask him more. A week later, the suggestee added me, which means that this time it wasn’t a suggestion but he made a move on his own and I checked out his profile and immediately recognised him. It is the suggester. Again, I felt like a fool.

I’m not really complaining. Don’t get me wrong but I just felt cheated because I felt really stupid and belittled. Although I’m a fellow actor but I’m not their fellow cast member and in this case, I’m a general member of the audience. As an audience point of view, I really felt like I was made looking like a fool in my virtual world. I was emotionally down and couldn’t accept my stupidity or ignorance, I would say.

Then it made me think positively – could they be doing this as part of their characterisation research. If so, then it was very selfish of me to discard their good intentions of becoming my virtual friends and what kind of a friend or even a person am I, to not help them build their characters.

After a few moment, I disregard my optimism and continued with my humiliation of being a twat to not notice who they are, in the first place. I supposed it’s a new method of a marketing gimmick. I leave that for you to decide if that were to happen to you. Still, I like everyone in their production except for the girl because she mistreated me a couple of months back and therefore, I’ll definitely watch their performance. Oh *sigh*

I’m just going to copy and paste the information from the original website, which is The Actors Studio.

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From the team that created and presented the hugely successful BROADWAY PARODIES LAH! and the Cameronian 2008 Audience Choice Award winning BROADWAY PARODIES LAGI LAH! comes MAMAK MEE-AH! – THE MUSICAL SPOOF

Still borrowing well known tunes from the world stage and set under a tree somewhere in Malaysia, MAMAK MEE-AH! – THE MUSICAL SPOOF tells a story of love, and food, and love OF food, whilst tackling issues of world hunger, self esteem and growing up in a technical world.

Sort of…

We’re looking for talented triple threat stage performers to fill these roles!!

ROLES
Wei Lee – Student. pretty, sweet, bit preppy – clear minded, bit bossy but good natured environmentalist. Soprano, Needs to belt.
songs: SMS (originally Abba’s SOS);
Boh Doh (Bui Doi from Ms Saigon);
Peas and Rice (JC Superstar)

Geek Bodoh – techie, shy, wants a girl, socially a bit clumsy. Lyric or Baritone tenor. Needs to be able to articulate.
songs: I Got To Get A Message To You (Bee Gees),
Bare Celebrities (Bare Necessities from Jungle Book)

Mak Cik – bossy but ultimately loveable – ideally needs to contrast Mamak in size and shape terms. Songs are quite big, need alto voice and able to sell the songs.
songs: Makcik Life (Mack The Knife),
Love Letters (The Pat Boone classic),
Low Class Bad Word (Lonely Goatherd from Sound Of Music)

Mamak – the visual opposite of Makcik. Friendly, large character, cook. bass/baritone voice.
songs: Empty Chairs (from Les Miz),
Under The Tree (Under The Sea from Little Mermaid),
If I Were A Tan Sri (If I Were A Rich Man from Fiddler on The Roof)

Fat Lawyer – Not a demanding role, but quite critical in plot terms. Need an articulate voice. Baritone tenor preferred.
Songs: I Feel Hungry (I Feel Pretty from West Side Story),
What I Had For Lunch (What I Did For Love from Chorus Line).

Ah Pek – father of Geek Bodoh. Need to be Ah Pek one. Bit arrogant, hamsap, foot on the stool at the coffee shop type. Baritone/Tenor.
songs: I’ll Eat Anything (I’d Do Anything from Oliver)
Sambal Nights (Summer Nights from Grease),
No Pork No Pork (New York New York)

Assistant One and Two – ladies, basically chorus voices and dancers for all songs. Some lines. Will need to understudy lead roles.

Mamak Son One and Two – young guys, chorus voices for songs and dancers. Some lines. Will need to understudy lead roles.

Audition Dates
7pm to 11pm Monday October 12th
7pm to 11pm Tuesday October 13th

To book your slot call Dylan at 017 3338916 or e-mail him at dylanctl@hotmail.com

I’ve had a couple of busy periods this year but the last one drained me completely, which was from early August until 4th October. The one before was in March – May when I was involved with The Actors Studio: Rexona Moment Program, which I had to go to 50 government schools in total during the day in the weekdays, attend workshop cum rehearsals for “Shakespeare : From The Page And Onto The Floor” and teach salsa in the weekends.

As tiring as that may sound, the period between August – October was much more exhausting and harmful in many ways, and not just metaphorically. I had “Short + Sweet Theatre Festival Malaysia 2009″ where I directed a piece with many issue and related & unrelated ‘drama’ and my involvement with The Oral Stage production with the above mentioned title, which began one day after I had finished stage-managing T4YP : “I Loved You Once, I Love You Not.”

This is definitely one of the few productions that doesn’t have any ‘drama’ besides the work that entails. I had a brilliant time working with every single person and there was no doubt that it ended well. The rehearsal process was exciting but it made me completely knackered every single day due to its scheduling – 6 days a week with full physical activities expected at every rehearsal. It sure made a military out of us but I still didn’t turn any slimmer. What a bummer!

The scheduling was made by the director, Kelvin Wong who I respect for his courage, organisational skills and creativity. A good director as well as a good friend but certainly isn’t good with making schedules. This piece was written by Arthur Kopit, an American who completed his Masters in England. You can google him if you’d like to know more. Anyway, I was the lead ensemble and played two roles: Head Bellboy and Albert Edward Robinson Rosepettle III. Aha! The latter might sound fancy but it’s actually just a corpse. LOL… Many would think that playing the corpse is easy but it’s more work than the Head Bellboy.

There were four scenes in total and I was in all of them. Although I was not on-stage or couldn’t be seen on-stage but I had work to do as I had to do loads of physical movements for scene 3 and 4. For Scene 1 and 2, I appeared as the Head Bellboy and just a random party guy who shags a girl behind a panel that resulted as a huge image of a silhoute. Now, that was fine although my back hurts like a bitch and my hips won’t lie. Haha! Shirin Jauhari was my shagging partner and we were told that we were the best shaggers among all. We achieved to convince the audience of how real it really was. HaHaHa! I then appeared as the corpse on stage-left twice, stage-right once and a slow-motion walk on up-stage with Hanneke Talbot, who played Rosalinda (the bitch) which took a massive energy out of me. Phew! The final scene had me locked inside a bed for a good 25 minutes before I springed up and lie flat on Rosalie, which was also played by Hanneke. The second time I jumped out of the bed (after being pushed back by Rosalie), I was pushed from the bed and onto the floor. Audience may think that it wasn’t a big deal and it’s not but the rehearsal process was far different than what it seems in Pentas 2.

I’ve probably broken the record for an actor to have had most number of injuries in a single production. LOL… I was pushed from a high table and fell on the ground with my head curled downwards and caused a few seconds blackout, non-stop headache and a bloody back-pain. I had to go for an X-ray and was given medication for the headache as well as the pain but a CAT scan wasn’t necessary. Soon after, I was kicked by ‘Jonathan’ (played by Alfred Loh) and my mouth bled with a cut on my bottom lip, my upper rack of teeth shook and my mouth bled. Then there was the frequent finger injuries as I was stepped by ‘Rosalie’ with those huge whorish heels she wore. On the final show, ‘Jonathan’ kicked my shoulder joint and it was so bloody painful but the joy of ending the show with a good performance made it all worthwhile.

I thoroughly enjoyed the company of each and single one of them in this production. It’s a very good team. We hardly find a good match where the overall is good. Usually, there are cliques in most productions or the cast wouldn’t get along well with the production team and such but this was simply beautiful.

For those who came and watched us, I thank you very much for your support. For those who didn’t, you suck but I hope to see you at my next show.

Duod
Evolving Motion, featuring Cathy Seago and Rosalind Noctor
Friday 4 September 2009
Indicine, KLPac

Malaysian artists complain that Malaysian audiences like to get things for free. Well, why not? Case in point – Shobana’s performance of Maya Ravan at KL Convention Centre, tickets starting from RM 153. Verdict from the cognoscenti? Rubbish! Contrast this with Cathy Seago and Rosalind Noctor presenting their work in progress Duod to an audience sitting on the floor of the Indicine at KLPac, most of whom got there shamefully late, but were still allowed in and even invited to participate in the show. Result? Ah, heaven…

Cathy Seago, lecturer in dance at the University of Winchester and director of the dance company Evolving Motion, and her dancer Ros have been holed up in a studio at KLPac for the last month. They chose to go abroad to develop their work, presumably to get away from distractions, but now they think they might return to Malaysia some day and I really hope they do! Watching such accomplished dancers enjoying each others’ movement is a treat that we enjoy too seldom.

On Friday night they performed four sections out of the seven that will exist in the finished work. As the audience shuffled shyly in to find a place on the floor, Ros and Cathy were sitting on a piano stool, necking. And by this I mean not kissing, but the movement that you sometimes observe in giraffes or cats, a rubbing of the head and neck against each other, leaning, entwining, unwinding. From here they progressed to a slow deliberate crawling on the floor, still firmly attached to each other, but with a sense of sleepwalking in the dangling, leaning, rocking and shifting of weight. For a moment they engaged like wrestlers, the tops of the heads pressed against each other, pushing, now one giving way, now another.

The second section began with the dancers donning tight caps with a long white fringe over the face that reached down to the floor. The impression was half burkha, half Chinese opera, a swaying white sculpture through which we could not see, but sensed we could be seen. Joined again, the dancers shifted from one slow one-legged position to another. At length they broke apart, whirling with arms and legs flung out, Ros like a dancer, but Cathy as if she were blind and clutching.

The third section lightened the mood. Like a game, hiding and seeking around the audience, the dancers scuttled to sit or stand next to each other, then rebounded away. The play moved faster and faster, the dancers stabbing limbs through each other’s negative spaces, bouncing off hips and backs, occasionally colliding, copying and following, swinging with immense momentum. The speed of their improvisation was impressive, born of long hours spent together in the studio and a deep inexpressible understanding of each other’s weight and physical habits.

In one particularly telling instance, Cathy made a slight miscalculation going into an inversion and hit Ros on the mouth with the end of her foot. The audience shared a in-breath of collective horror, but a few seconds later the dancers smiled at each other from the midst of their movement, and we knew that everything was going to be alright. The smile, of course, was for our benefit, not for theirs. Ros already knew that Cathy hadn’t hurt her, Cathy knew she hadn’t hurt Ros, and both of them knew that the other knew they knew!

In the fourth section, the dancers returned to a more businesslike mode with a choreographed phrase marked with moments of contact. It was intricate and visually interesting, but after the frenzy of the previous section it seemed like the exhale, the cool down. Afterwards, the dancers invited the audience to participate in a little experiment, holding the ends of long strands of raffia and passing them around the circle, while in the centre Ros became entangled.

I have described the movement of this work in some detail because — although Ros and Cathy have an established conceptual structure which they are exploring in their work, revolving around the seven stages of tension theorised by Jacques LeCoq – to me the highlight of the event was observing the sheer physical facility of the two artists and the kaleidoscopic delight of their bodies in combination. So it made more sense to me when Cathy and Ros remarked that their initial starting point in developing this work was that they really wanted to dance together, and they wanted to dance a lot.

It made me think that, within the right framework (one carefully censorious of self-indulgent wanking, for example), sometimes it is enough just to revel in the joyousness of two dexterous bodies at play. Nothing more is needed. There was an element of watching the cavorting of sea lions or dolphins, perhaps, if dolphins were familiar with fractal theory. Especially during the improvised section, you could see the dancers processing information and making split-second responses, weighing options and diving for new ideas, all the time moving faster than many of us will ever have the ability to move.

The finished work will be performed with elaborate costumes, designed by Ros, playing a major part, but it was nice to see the work in progress in a rawer state, unencumbered by additional layers of meaning. Nevertheless, I would be happy to see Duod in any state again, and I really hope that Evolving Motion will be able to bring their finished work back to KL for a proper performance. But I count myself very lucky to have been among the few to see them share their work-in-progress, and all of it, you see, for free!

All images for this article by Foo Chiwei — many thanks!

Sri Sathya Sai – Love Is What We Seek

EDEN Creative Studio’s musical Love Is What We Seek will be staged on Sept 19 and 20 at Pentas 1, KLPac in KL. The musical centres on a young photographer who is distraught with life after a series of disheartening events and much hardship.

The story follows his quest to trace the whereabouts of his long lost sister due to the separation of his parents and his ongoing conflict with his mother, whom he blames for the severance.

This musical revolves around love, the essential value in our lives, as advocated by spiritual leader Sathya Sai Baba.

It is produced in collaboration with the Seputih Choir under the baton of Stanley Cheong. Cheong has performed numerous times in India and was awarded a silver medal in the Songs For Religion Category and a bronze medal in the Mixed Choir category in the 1st Asian Choir Games in Jakarta in 2007.

Tickets are priced at RM20, RM50 and RM100. For details, call 03-4047 9000 or browse klpac.org.

The Star Reference

Sathya Sai Baba - Love Is What We Seek

Love is What We Seek centres on a young photographer who was distraught with life after a series of disheartening events and much hardship. The story traces him on his quest to trace the whereabouts of his long lost sister due to the separation of his parents and his ongoing conflict with his mother whom he blamed for the severance.

This musical revolves around love, which is the essential value / ingredient in our lives as advocated by the great guru – Sathya Sai Baba – and will be brought to life by a group of enthusiastic performers.

Love is What We Seek aspires to put across this message – love begets love; life is love experienced” and hopes that this musical drama portrays Sathya Sai Baba’s teachings.

Produced in collaboration with the Seputih Choir, Love is What We Seek features many original music composed to express the purest human value of all – love.

The Seputih Choir under the baton of Stanley Cheong has performed in numerous performances in India and was awarded Silver Medal in the Songs for Religion Category and Bronze Medal in the Mixed Choir category during the 1st Asian Choir Games in Jakarta in 2007.

We welcome you to enjoy this musical drama as it will fill your heart with love…(KLPAC Reference)

This was my worst Short + Sweet and even theatrical experience, so far. I was only involved in the festival as a ‘Director’ and nothing else. To begin with, I didn’t get the script that I had chosen and was assigned to one. This was entirely my fault though because I submitted my request at the very last minute. Still, I was fine with what I was given and took it as a challenge.

I began my rehearsals one and a half week after I’ve cast my actors and it’s due to unavailability of actors. I had four actors in total, which consisted of 3 female and 1 male. The script required 2 male and 2 female but I couldn’t find another male actor to wanted to do it, so I changed the gender of the characters, after I’ve discussed with the writer. Rehearsal began but my only male actor decided not to come for my scheduled rehearsal and made excuses by saying that he had exams. I understand his situation but what I didn’t understand was the fact that he couldn’t even come for a few hours of rehearsals. As if he doesn’t leave the house and read his books all the time. There are so many students in the performing arts industry and yet, they still attend rehearsals and perform. I then found out from a few people that he went to Penang for a holiday without informing me, while the 3 ladies and I rehearsed. He had told me that he had to re-sat for his exams because his college suspected him of plagiarism. That tells you a lot actually. I still didn’t confront him about it and kept mum.

I was involved with another production and that had taken a lot of my time and worries. With the addition of my only male actor, it stressed me out completely. Just two days before tech-run, he called to inform me that he can no longer be part of my production because he was ill. He said that it might be H1N1 but I also saw some pictures of him at Zouk a couple of days ago. One day before he decided to quit, I had confronted him through the phone about his past absence and the lies of ‘lack of information’ because he didn’t come for rehearsal, and this was again due to illness. That’s when I confronted him. He had promised me that he would come for the next one but when the day arrived, he called me to quit. This was a major problem for me. I told myself that the worst possibility is for me to replace him but my dear friend, Aiman Asmawar volunteered to help me, without even looking at the script. On Sunday evening, which was one day before tech-run, we had one rehearsal only and that was when my writer saw the production for the first time. She had informed me that she didn’t like my interpretation. I tried to compensate by asking her views and enquired on how to change it but she didn’t tell me how but just told me that she was unhappy with my views.

So, one problem solved and two problems raised. One problem was with my  writer and another concern was about Aiman. The latter had done a brilliant job since his first run of the play but I was simply worried if he couldn’t memorise his lines or blockings on time for the tech-run, dress rehearsal and performance. However, he managed to pull through and made it work brilliantly. On Sunday evening and Monday morning, I saw my writer posting some status updates on Twitter of how unhappy she was with my interpretation and how I had discard her original intentions and many other words and sentences that denotes my ability and credibility.

What I simply didn’t understand was the fact that we had talked about it the night before but there was nothing much to be done. Also, I had every right to interpret it in any way I want, as a director. Out of courtesy, I’ve always asked her to come to my rehearsals but her time could never sync with our time and therefore, she never came to my rehearsals to see it until one day before the tech-run. There should be some sort of discretion between a writer and a director. If she was really unhappy with the way it turned out, she should have gone straight to the Artistic or Festival Director, and not the public. I did not touch a single word of her script but just the interpretation and stage directions because I am allowed to do so.

I called her on Monday morning, just before I went to KLPac for the tech-run and asked for her reasons as to why she resorted to complain or vent out her unhappiness to the public, as it is inappropriate and certainly not good for the production and her reply was that she needs to let them know that it is no longer her work that they’ll be watching and it is not how she wants it to be seen. I reckon that any members of the audience would know that because it is the director’s job, whether it turns out good or bad. Directors get the commendation, criticism or any negative feedbacks. I was surprised at her response as I think that it was such an invalid excuse. I then told her to complain to both Joe and Faridah on how unhappy she was with my work and she may request to pull my piece out if she wants to and she agreed to that.

I knew my rights and it was up to Joe & Faridah to pull my piece out of the festival if there was a valid reason. I wouldn’t mind to be pulled out by Joe & Faridah but I knew where I was coming from and I wouldn’t pull it out, if it was just to please her. What tickled me most was the fact that she came to chat with me in the Green Room and told me that she had decided not to pull my piece out because she thought that it would be unfair to my actors. I then silently thought, “What about me???” – I’ve spent my time, energy and most importantly – money for this piece. Plus, she doesn’t have the right to do so. It has never been her call unless I’ve made an offence by changing any words or lines to her script.

Then the talk ended with me saying, “Break a leg” to her out of courtesy to someone who’ll be performing because she’s acting in one of the pieces for week 2. Her exact reply was, “Thank you. I would say the same to you but you know…” – I was truly offended by then and I could never forgive her for this.

During all these stressful moments, there were plenty of people in KLPac who decided to be on her side and bitched hugely about me and started to have some sort of attitude towards me. It was really painful to be there in my shoes then. I still moved on and ignored all of them though as they’re not worth it and they’re simply idiotic morons.

I didn’t talk to her ever since. After the first performance, she said to Aiman that it was a good show and she thanked him for helping her by replacing my actor who bailed out on me. Did she really think that he was doing her a favour? He did me a favour. His girlfriend is a good close mate of mine. I was so bloody insecure then because of all these and even asked him why he did it. His answer was definitely something that I wanted to hear. My actors were kind enough to be behind me all along and they performed really well and dedicated it to me as well as to themselves.

She didn’t want to come out for curtain call with us on the first and second night but came out on the third and final performances. I was surprised to see her on stage with my actors when I walked onto the stage. After the last performance on the last night, she told my actors that she acknowledged them as actors of her piece and thinks that the show isn’t too bad. LOL!!!

Well, this was my experience in Short + Sweet this year. What a life! However, this won’t stop me from participating in the festival again nor would it jeopardise my feelings toward the performing arts, just because I no longer have any friends in it but it would certainly make me more cautious of people and improve myself even more. After having gone through this, I truly believe in the old saying, “What doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger.”

The Flowers Beneath My Skin

27th June was a busy day with my participation in 2 events at KLue’s Urbanscapes 2009. First was 1 hour of live film scoring in KLPac’s cool air conditioned Pentas 1 theatre, then out playing with Furniture under the blazing midday sun while being filmed by the good folks at the Weekend Sessions.

The live score for Kit Ong’s The Flowers Beneath My Skin was a collaboration between myself, singing songwriting noisenik Azmyl Yunor and avant-garde composer Yong Yandsen. We alternated on drums, guitars, saxapohone, glokenspiel, autoharp and bells as the film screened above us. Description from the Urbanscapes page:

The Flowers Beneath My Skin (2006) by Kit Ong, 70 minutes

Synopsis: This film is about a spirit that haunts an apartment, where the occupants are into foot-binding, castration, and skin peeling. The spirit observes their daily ritual. This is not a horror film, and the spirit is not frightening. But the people staying in the apartment are.

Director’s statement: “There have been many cases of group suicides in Japan. Strangers who have met earlier on the net commit suicide together in remote places. Most of them die of carbon monoxide poisoning. Carbon monoxide poisoning deprives the brain of oxygen. The person will hallucinate before dying. This film is happening in the mind of one such person. In her dying minutes, time and space have become warped, and she hallucinates about the 5 strangers she is slowly dying together with. And as her mind unravels, she reveals little things about herself. The story is sandwiched between two people who know the suicide victims.”

Ronnie, Azmyl and Yandsen have been making music and sounds on their own (and with their many solo/band projects) and occasionally together (with other friends along also) at wild humid improvisatory jam sessions at the Studio in Cheras, KL (SiCKL), also home to many Experimental Musicians and Artists Co-oprative Malaysia (EMACM) events. This will be their first time as a trio scoring a film live.”

An excerpt from the performance (recorded on the Zoom H4):

Download the entire set in 3 parts (320kbps 44.1kHz mp3) :

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Event: Urbanscapes 2009
Date: June 27, 2009 (Saturday)
Venue: KLPAC, Sentul

What better way to celebrate my 24th by heading over to KLUE’s Urbanscapes last Saturday. It was like one big party for me, and I did not even have to do the planning. Everyone you did not know would just show up anyway. Heh. I could set up a booth saying, ‘It’s my birthday today, come kiss me’, but I did not want to go too far. I bet it’s something you would find at Urbanscapes anyway, though. Heh.

But on to a more serious note, it was my first Urbanscapes experience. And I thought it was quite a nice festival to spend a Saturday at. There was so much going on that I did not know where to start and what to do, that I ended up not really checking out everything at all. Which kind of sucked. Meh.

For those who does not know what an Urbanscapes is, it is a creative arts festival with a very indie theme hanging in the air. There is a marketplace selling very indie fashion clothes. There are performance stages where indie kind of groups go up and do their thing. There is an exhibition hall where all the indie and artsy fartsy, uh, arts are displayed. So, it is quite a niche festival, which is pretty much to my liking.

This year, Urbanscapes had a total of 10 segments going on.

There was a Street Performances area, out in the open under a big tree. Which I thought was a very busking kind of surrounding. It catered to skits and stand up comedies from performing arts institutions, like T4YP, AIIA, EMP, RPT, The ComeBackKings and The Oral Stage.

We checked out some of the stand up comedians, which were just alright. Not like ROTFLMAOwtfbbq kind of funny, but just a ha-ha kind of funny. Which was OK. I was not looking to be blown away anyway.

But the one skit that impressed me was probably AIIA (Artifically Intelligent: Improvholics Anonymous), I think. They had a few people dressed up in costumes – The Joker, Little Red Riding Hood, a mechanic, a sexy secretary, Chun Li, a Japanese dude and a photographer, and they had the crowd shout out scenes of any kind so the actors can improvise freeze motions in 3, 2, 1. The actions they came up with at such a short time were priceless. I liked it.

It was also a showground for busking buskers like KL Stompers and Tugu Drum Circle.

I last saw the Tugu Drum Circle people at Sunburst and once again, there they were, rounding up passers by to provide a tim to the tom, and a bang to the drum.

They drew a much bigger crowd compared to Sunburst. People were voluntarily going up to grab their desired instrument and joining in the improv performance. And I liked that spirit going around in that circle. A pretty good chance for someone to bang their frustrations out.

A crowd grabber was The X Marketplace. As the name suggested, a bunch of indie designer brands came together and brought the crowd wardrobe full of clothes one could go on a spree at.

There were brands by Badgers, Pop! Collective, JouJou & Shugi Toy Art Mart (with designer toys imported from the US), Lah’ Lah’ Land, the Threads Zoo and many many more.

I thought these were cute. Pixelated accessories.

No creative arts festival would be right without a spot for the Lomo lovers.

In fact, you could spot people with lomo cameras and DSLRs walking around and positioning themselves in weird angles, just to take that one creative shot. Makes me feel all demotivated with my “sample” camera. So, forgive me if my shots here are a little out of angle. I was not myself.

There was also a Barsonic booth, blasting the most LapSap music. I thought they were a little out of place, but yet at the same time not so much because when the indie people want to party, Barsonic is where they go to. So, I guess it was alright. But just do not break into a dance in the middle of the day. Or do. Heh.

There were more shopping tents up at the TiC Zone, by the fashion spawn child of Freeform, Tongue in Chic.

Look at the ladies going at it!

At least there were not catfights over a bracelet. Heh.

I did not have the urge to go through the racks and look for something I like. Mainly because I should not. God knows I am not going to stop if I start. Also, I do not like street markets under the hot sun. First half of Urbanscapes was sweltering like a pig.

There was also the Makan Boulevard, because no one in their right mind would organise a 12 hour festival without food. Or maybe there is, but I do not want to name names.

Plenty of food to go around. Hotdogs from Palate Palette, kebabs, rice sets, ice blended bubble teas (which was always trailed with a long queue), loklok and much more.

For music lovers, there was The X Lawn. The line up was not bad as well, with usual suspects like 40 Winks, Yuna, Pesawat, Gerhanda Ska Cinta, Pure Vibracion and Killeur Calculateur.

I only managed to catch 40 Winks and they were quite alright. Very reggae and big band-ish with their brass going on. I liked it that at the front of the stage the fans were not moshing, but dancing – reggae style thingamajig – along to the music. Ah, where is the love, you ask? Here it is. Heh. (Corny, I know – it comes with the age, unfortunately).

Exhibition is where the artsy farts would go.

You can even tapau-a-monster there. It was so darn cute! I almost wanna tapau one home. But I had to restrain myself from the doggypack. I havebought enough of these self-sewn soft toys in weird fabrics and designs that now they are all sitting in a box neatly stacked in the upside cupboard in Penang. So, I should NOT tapau another monster home. Heh.

But still, it would be nice to get myself a little souvenir to commemorate Urbanscapes. What can I say, I am a sap. I would have bought an official Urbanscapes T-shirt but they ran out of my size. Boo. So, I guess it is OK to buy myself a little handmade badge by Oh & Ah. Cuties, aren’t they?

KARYA stuck a few colourful blocks in between wires, and voila, a metaphoric metropolis.

There were even little fish ponds made out of newspaper and basins.

Other segments at Urbanscapes were Indicine, the Cinescape Stage, The Box and the Sunset Disco.

However, it was a shame I did not take enough time to check out everything. So much was happening at the same time, I forgot my to-do list. I did wanted to go see Sepet at The Cinescape Stage, but of course that escaped my mind. Also, I had to leave early too because I needed a ride back. So, I had to miss out on Twilight ActionGirl at the Sunset Disco, and some fire twirling action going on after sundown.

But all in all, it was a fun day out with friends. Bumped into some people I know and met a few new friends on the way – hi, Reta. Even the staffs were generally nice folks. There were no shoving or pushing around; a very nice place to chill out indeed. Maybe next year I will stay on the full 12-hour. Well done, KLUE. It was an awesome birthday party festival. Heh.

ETA: Words have been going around on Twitter that someone who was infected with H1N1 was at Urbanscapes that day. Read KLUE’s official announcement regarding the incident here. If you are feeling unwell, or you are worried you might be infected, do go for a checkup. Be safe, kids.

LET’S GO MAMAK…AGAIN!

Let’s go mamak, a theme presented by the Inner Voices Production made their appearance last year and they have won a few awards for their stunning performance. And now they are back again with the Let’s Go Mamak Again. Catch them at KLPAC this week.

Date : 3 – 5th July 2009

Ticket : Normal – RM47 / RM57 (3 – 4 July); Gala Night – RM72 / RM82

http://www.innervoices.asia

This year, I’m sitting in the chair of a director again for the Short + Sweet Festival. This is probably my third time sitting in an audition room, auditioning people. There’s quite a number of new faces this year, equally amount to last year’s. The directors are mostly populated by people from the theatre scene and a few newcomers. I would say that it’s not that simple to pass through the test as a director this year because Jo Hasham and Faridah Merican has taken over from the Nicole Stinton, who was and still is the Festival Director, who interviewed us. I’m not surprised to see regular faces as directors this year but the newcomers must have had good plans laid-out for Joe to have them seated as directors. Well done!

We had age segregation this year, where one day’s session was for above twenty-five years old and another session below twenty-five years of age. The first sessionwas held on Sunday 21st June 2009 and the final one was on Thursday 25th June 2009.

We’ve seen many regular faces alike, which happens to be our friends and that just spiced things up but we had also seen many new faces with good, if not, better talents and we’ve had our share of ‘funny’ moments / acts by those who auditioned. They’ve certainly left an impression.

If I were to talk about it, there were a couple of them who made me feel as if I was auditioning them for a TV drama Melayu and there were some that I thought of mime, not counting those who left an impression that we were staging a stand-up comedy. Ha! Ha! Ha!

It’s not exactly an easy task to cast people, even when you’ve found the right one, you would still need to find the remainder of the cast. Physicality is one main factor. It certainly isn’t a main factor in theatre but for Short + Sweet audience, where they lack knowledge on performing arts and see this festival as a live entertainment platform, physicality plays an important role. Hence the reason as to why the cast members need blend in with one another.

Another major factor is their ability to work with one another. Directors usually need to see how close their personal characteristics are with the roles intended. Well trained actors are supposedly versatile enough to carry any roles but not many are able to do that and I certainly haven’t reached that point as an actor.

When the auditions are done, then there’s the communication stage, where we start to call those who we think has the ability to play out the role. I need four people and I find it easy to fill two roles but most difficult to fill the other two. As of today, I am in search of one role, which I’ve always found difficulties in casting someone. It’s not about the lack of actors but it’s the lack of someone who can fit in. There’s this one role where I have the advantage to choose out of three actors and I reckon that all three will do a good job but I cannot decide until I fill that one role to see which of the three fits with that one particular person. It’s all about choices, just like life itself.

Next is to cast them. I’m totally uncertain about some of them but I’m sure that it’ll work out fine as I’ve always been and this is no different. Till then…

Short + Sweet is a festival held every year that consists of a ten minute plays staged by over twenty directors and copious amount of actors. This is the second year that the festival has set its foot here in Malaysia. There’s an addition of Short + Sweet Dance as part of the festival to add more colours to its existing vibe.

My participation this year is very minimal as I’m involved in a few other productions. I acted in two plays, one stage reading and directed a piece. However, I’ve decided to only direct for this year’s festival. As compared to last year, this year’s script are equally interesting but it seems to be more challenging as there are more directors and writers who are well competent, qualified and authentically known. They’re all part of the performing arts industry.

There are many differences of the processes between 2008 and this year’s. One of it is the registration process for everyone. The website for Short + Sweet is linked up KLPac’s website and is handled by the the latter; Production Managers and their colleagues in the level 1. Scripts are submitted directly to KLPac for the festival itself instead of through the International webpage of the organiser. Last year, the Directors were interviewed by Nicole Stinton, the Festival Director, in order for us to direct one or two pieces but we were interviewed by KLPac’s Artistic Director, Jo Hasham for this year’s event, which makes it much better as he knows who and what one’s capabilities.

I didn’t get my preferred choice of script and I’ve been assigned with a script, which Jo thinks suit me best. I haven’t put much thought into it but I think it’ll work just fine. It’s written by a dear friend, Davina Goh and it’s entitled, Shelter. The story is rather provoking and quite abstract in certain ways, which leaves the audience with plenty of imagination. It’s parts and parcels of our daily life, which the audience can certainly relate to, in one way or another. The language and the flow is a tiny obscene, compared to usual scripts. It touches the morality of life. I’m getting quite fond of it as I’m going through it, repetitively. There are four actors needed for this piece and it will certainly be another challenging task to cast the correct ones and to schedule five people. I’ve been told by Jo that there are over one hundred people who have registered to audition and I do hope that they turn up. I believe that the theatre scene as well as Short + Sweet needs new faces who CAN act. It’s pointless to have new faces with no talents but I do hope to get them cast by this Sunday and that would make my job complete. If not, I would have to outsource between my friends but that is also a problem. Most of the people I know are occupied with other productions or are not keen to do Short + Sweet again. This year’s Directors are familiar faces and some of them have previously acted with me but I doubt if they would want to act for Short + Sweet and rather concentrate on their pieces. It’ll be yet another challenging production.

All in good faith though. So make sure you get your tickets soon enough as it was sold out for every show last year. With the name of Directors listed, a simple story would be made interesting and entertained enough under their palms.

For more information on Short + Sweet Malaysia 2009, please click here.

For information on The Kuala Lumpur Performing Arts Centre (KLPac), please click here.

To view the list of Directors, please click here.

Whats On KLPAC this week …..

ROSENCRANTZ & GUILDENSTERN ARE DEAD (Drama)
Rosencrantz & Guildenstern are Dead centres on two bewildered minor characters from Shakespeare’s tragic tale of Hamlet.
Starting from 18 Jun till 21st Jun 2009
Ticket price RM25 / RM15 (students, sr. citizens & disabled)
All Show starts at 8.30pm except for Sat 20th Jun and Sun 21st Jun starts at 3pm.

For Bookings and more infor , kindly contact KLPAC
General Enquiries (03) 4047 9010
General Facsimile (03) 4047 9011
Box Office (Sentul Park) (03) 4047 9000 tickets@klpac.org
Theatre Bookings / Rental (03) 4047 9014 lawrence@klpac.org / ian@klpac.org
Academy / Studio Rental (03) 4047 9060 academy@klpac.org
Marketing & PR (03) 4047 9012 / 9017 yuemay@klpac.org / shalu@klpac.org

Office hours: 10.00am-6.30pm, Monday-Friday
10.00am-2.00pm, Saturday
Box office hours: 10.30am-6.30pm (no show days)
10.30am-8.30pm (show days)

The Kuala Lumpur Performing Arts Centre (KLPAC)
Sentul Park
Jalan Strachan
51100 Kuala Lumpur

Sabtu, 6 Jun 09.

Masa sampai KLPac persembahan dah nak bermula. nasib baik!

Aku x pasan free seating rupanya. mmg ramai orang dlm Pentas 2 malam tu. Kebetulan Along dengan member dia pon ade tgk gak show Mak Yong malam tu.

Dapat la seat plg atas but the view still ok sebab Pentas 2 built for intimate between audiens and the stage.

Persembahan unik Mak Yong kali ini menggabungkan karya sasterawan England, Shakespeare; A Midsummer Night’s Dream dipersembahkan dalam bentuk Mak Yong. menarik bukan? itu yang membuatkan aku ingin menonton dan memang tak rugi la Rm18 (student price) aku beli nk tgk malam tu.

.

Hasil adaptasi ditulis oleh Norzizi Zulkifli dan Nan Megat dan diarahkan oleh Norzizi sendiri. Malam itu, parents Norzizi pun ada datang menonton. Terserempak juga kelibat Dato’ Zahim Albakri, pengarah PGL.

Teater Mak Yong dari The Actors Studio Teater Rakyat dengan kerjasama JKKN, agensi kerajaan dan klpac sendiri memang wajar dipuji kerana mengembalikan semula tradisi Mak Yong yang sudah hampir pupus ini dipersembahkan kepada khalayak terutama kepada mereka yang tak pernah berpeluang utk melihat mak Yong sendiri.

Malam tu, pelbagai lapisan kaum hadir; Cina, India, Melayu, bahkan orang putih pun ada..

sokongan terhadap budaya seni masih mekar..

nukilan di Oldtown Cyberjaya, 1:51AM, 12 Jun.

Music Powered by Junk @ KLue Urbanscapes 2009: 27 June, KLPac

Visit junkonline.net or www.klue.com.my

I had the opportunity to watch Mak Yong Titis Sakti, a production of The Actors Studio Theatre Rakyat on Sunday Matinee show in Pentas 2, KLPac. The reason as to why I use the word, “opportunity” is due to my busy schedule in June. Anyhow, I have much to say about the performance as well as the production as a whole.

I was seated in the very front row at the center. One of the performers even made a remark, “couldn’t you sit any closer to the stage!” with an exclamation mark, mind you. Ha! Ha! I simply wanted a good view and I was guided to sit there as the second and third row were already filled. I met up with some friends to watch the show, as usual because it’s KLPac and one would always bound to see one another, without the need to plan. 

There was I seated in the middle of the first row, together with Sani Zainal Abidin on my left, Jean Chan on his left and Mikey Tai on her left. There was another friend in the house, which is Aiman Asmawar (Siti Farrah’s darling) but he was seated with his parents and brother somewhere. 

It began with the musicians taking their places where their instruments were placed and two gentlemen started the show with a ‘bomoh’ (Hocus-pocus) ritual of smoking up the centre-stage. That was a rather a good start, I must say as I had expected it. Tisha Zarina Zainal who played the “King” or “Mak Yong,” if I’m not mistaken came out solo and with ‘his’ fiancee later and sang. I must certainly commend both of them for a beautiful dance performance for the very beginning of the show. The rest of the dance troupe came out and they formed a circle and performed what they were supposed to exhibit, very much according to the original ‘Mak Yong.’ 

Then the show began with such unexpected script. There was improvisation throughout the entire play. Mak Yong: Titis Sakti is adapting Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream but I had trouble understanding the dialogues as it was spoken with a Kelantanese dialect and accent. I salute to those who performed as I have never been able to imitate them but then again, I’ve always found it funny as it has a rhythm  and a tone. The downside of the play is that I could not relate it to A Midsummer Night’s Dream. I tried hard enough to picture every scene as it would be in a normal form but I didn’t see it until the courtroom scene at the end. Having said that, I enjoyed tremendously as I was very much entertained. The two gentlemen managed to make the entire audience laughed and I believe that we didn’t even get tired. The last show ran for almost 3 hours, which includes the 15 minutes intermission. 

The Director, Norzizi Zulkifli must be applauded for a job well done. The cast members, dancers, musicians as well as its Stage Manager, Nurul Ain Jamlus and her crew should be given a huge pat on the back as it was not an easy task to call out, play the instruments and perform on queues with what I had seen on Sunday. Sandee Chew, the lighting designer as well as the set designer should be commended as it was simply beautiful. 

I can clearly see their true nature of the performers such as Tisha, Siti and Safia as words of their own were blurted out in such spontaneous act and yet, perform in their top form, even for a last show. Usually, performers would take it for granted and not do so well for a last show, especially for a matinee. Certainly, I am one of those people who has this negative habit but it inspires me to do well for a last show in the future.

Thank you to The Actors Studio and those involved in every bit of the production, regardless big or small roles for staging such a wonderful and brilliant act! Well done!

The Kuala Lumpur Performing Arts Centre’s Theatre For Young People (KLPac’s T4YP), under the governance of Christopher Ling, the Director-In-Residence of the institution, is riding smoothly in its second season. In my understanding, this program is the brainchild of its Head Honcho, Christopher. 

The first season began last year in 2008. It has managed to gather 15 talented people as an ensemble  and staged two major and two minor productions in Pentas 2 and Indicine, respectively. The two major productions were  Ten: Theatrical Lightning Strikes Human Relationships & Love and Beauty, which were both staged in Pentas 2 last year and I had the opportunity to learn the ropes of stage management with the position of an Assistant Stage Manager (ASM) in the first one. In between the major productions, there were the minor ones that made its way to Indicine, which Christopher had given his trust to Abdul Qahar Aqilah, who had directed What Does It Mean To Be Malaysian? and Jalan Mati, which was adapted from Jean-Paul Satre’s No Exit. 

2008’s ensemble consisted of (in alphabetical order): Alfred Loh, Ani Juliana Ibrahim, Arthur Chia, Farah Rani, Gadiy Lim, Gowri Paary, Hana Nadira Mazlan, Ivan Chan, Johann Oh, Kimberly Mehta, Marvin Wong, Oliver Johanan Chelliah Peters, Sharon Lam Hui Ling, Tengku Iedil Putra Tengku Alaudin and Ujval Singh Sidhu-Brar.

With the success of its first production, The 100 Words Project, which was staged in Indicine this year, the 2009 ensemble will be hitting Pentas 2 on the 18h to the 21st June 2009 for their first major production entitled, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, which is what the above mentioned title is all about. 

The story is about two minor characters in Shakespeare’s Hamlet, which has been expanded and focused upon by Sir Tom Stoppard. It is something like Mark Winegardner’s, The Godfather Returns or the many sequels and adaptations of Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol. I believe that these kind of stories are very intriguing as they play an important role of the bigger story and yet, at such minor capacity. It truly is an art as it is abstract enough for the audience to interpret it in their own way and much time afterwards, someone would come up with an idea to expand or a sub-category of the bigger story and create a story of its own. In a modern marketing point of view, the general members of the public are able to relate to it, even if they do not posses a clue of what it’s about but it is related to something of a general knowledge. The end result is branding. It certainly is an interesting fact and how the Arts scene can be manipulated to a marketing campaign. 

Having said all that, I believe that the show will be just brilliant and something that I look forward to. This year’s ensemble which consists of Ayunni Ayub, Belinda Hon, Dinesh Kumar Maganathan, Gregory Sze, Isabell Zubinsha, Izmir Hadi Hussein, Michael Tan, Nabihan Yaacob, Nick Dorian, Nur Zakuan, Priyadashini Maganathan, Rachel Darshini Henry, Sally Ann Chan, Tung Jit Yang and Yap Shao Chi will be hitting the stage next week in the above mentioned title. 

For more information, please log on to KLPac, their Facebook’s-Event-Page, T4YP’s Facebook Fan Page. Tickets are priced at RM25 and RM15 (Students, Senior Citizens & Disabled.) To purchase tickets, one may call +603 4047 9000 or head to the Box Office at KLPac, Jalan Strachan in Sentul Park.

Toilet
Co-presented by Pentas Project and KLPac
20-24 May 2009
Pentas 2, KLPac

On the way to see director Loh Kok Man’s new version of his work now entitled Toilet, I was expecting, or perhaps hoping for, lots of grit and grime, blood and guts all over the walls, grotesquerie and grimness. What I found was altogether different: light polished vignettes, all scrubbed and disinfected. And while I enjoyed the production in the end, I couldn’t help feeling that something was missing.

Toilet began with an ensemble dance section, or at least, the dancers were dancing, and Gan Hui Yee, the only non-dancer in the cast, was providing a heavy posed counterpoint to the dancers’ romantic repeated phrase of little movements – feet padding rapidly on wooden benches, lips administering quick kisses to their own forearms, bodies hopping lightly on and off the benches.

Tin Tan Chai Chen and Gan Hui Yee.

Although a late addition to the cast to replace actor Berg Lee, Hui Yee quickly established herself as the grounded earthiness of the production, the only one to whom my original concept of the work could still apply. Soulful-eyed Louise Yow, veteran of Kwang Tung Dance Troupe who has worked with Charlie Tan Dance Theatre, Low Shee Hoe, and Musical on Stage, was by contrast the most ethereal of the group – her extremely slender form and easy extensions always controlled by her technique, but threatening at any moment to go drifting into the stratosphere.

But Louise and Hui Yee never got to face off in Toilet. Hui Yee was paired most often with Tin Tan Chai Chen, a doll-faced dancer with a committed and confident theatrical presence in scenes which require considerable physical stamina, such as the slow-motion sequence in which a banana-gobbling Hui Yee pops Tin Tan’s yellow balloon, or Tin Tan gets her own back by bullying Hui Yee with domineering singing.

Louise Yow.

Louise meanwhile shared several scenes with Leng Poh Gee, who started his dance career with Dua Space Dance Theatre and is currently a tutor and choreographer in the University of Malaya’s dance programme. In their first scene together, Louise and Poh Gee dance by themselves on their own wooden benches, a yearning phrase of balances and suspensions. I found it particularly difficult not to be mesmerised by Louise’s long lines and the elegant grace of her transitions. Poh Gee and Louise’s second scene together is a duet, full of clinging drags, close body work and lots of variations on the basic baby carry. Physically the sequence is interesting and it was well performed but it lacked convincing passion, as did the scene that preceded it, in which all the dancers kiss, then trade partners. Only Hui Yee’s character, rejected by the kissers, watching but uninvolved, strikes a chord.

Amy Len battling her solo.

And then there’s Amy Len. One of Kuala Lumpur’s most powerful dancers, Amy made her mark quietly in other scenes, but came to her own in an increasingly frantic solo against a backdrop of repetitive self-conscious narrative voiced by the other performers. The text, drawn from Peter Handke’s play Self-Accusation, documents the growing self-awareness of the narrator, and his subsequent descent into social anomie and existential crisis. Against this relentless wall of noise, Amy slices and twists, twitches, contracts, in battle with herself, dancing to and against a rising crescendo of music and sound and flashing lights, falling to the floor and dragging herself up again, to eventual collapse. It was a performance that had Best Featured Dancer stamped all over it.

But for me the best performer in this often baffling production was the Ng Chor Guan’s two-faced music. A melodious tinkle of pianos and birdsong dominated many of the scenes. [I was impressed that the birdsong was locally recorded rather than pulled from the usual catalog of sound fx – the call of the black-naped oriole was unmistakeabl.] The transitions between scenes interrupted the lightness with raucuous brass, the sound of the backwash of water, whistle-blowing, the crash of construction noises and the feeling of being under a train, all more commonplace and toilet-like.

The most memorable and magical moment of the production was entirely due to the combination of music with stage and lighting design, rather than with the intrusion of any human performers. Scores of different-sized disco balls descended from the ceiling, and to a brilliant tinkling score, they revolved at their own speed and heights, now all lit, now only some, showering the audience with shifting polka dots of light. The scene strained the barriers of belief, at certain moments it came dangerously close to the twee soulless spectacle of the sound, light and fountain show down the road at Taman Tasik Titiwangsa. But those gorgeous musical disco balls, they could not help but enchant.

The conclusion of 'Toilet'.

The risks of that scene were repeated across all of Toilet. At times the production bordered on kitsch and predictability, then it seemed to rescue itself. The performers were all individually skilled but they occasionally failed to convince. The production was enjoyable, and yet it somehow missed its mark. In its polished performances and sterile set I could not sense the ugliest gestures of the excretion of body waste. Perhaps the work should have been named something closer to ‘Hidden Desires’. Perhaps it was better left untitled.

But with such a strong cast and direction, I would go and see Toilet over and over again. And not just for the musical disco balls.

Date : 21st May – 30th May 2009

Price : RM42 / RM53 / RM64 / RM75 (excl. ticketing fees)

Date : 27 – 31st May 2009

Price : RM25 / RM15 (students, sr. citizens & disabled)

As you know, Stoodle will be making it’s inaugural public appearance at KLUE Urbanscapes 2009 at KLPAC on 27th June! We will be part of the Portable Art exhbition as well as opening our own stall at the Marketplace, where you can pick up our range of StoodleShop items (including new items not sold before!) and an extra exclamation mark from us too!!!

In conjunction with Urbanscapes 2009, we are holding a contest where ten single entry passes (worth RM35 – that’s ten megi goreng doubles at least!) will be given away! We would like to really just throw it at the masses and watch a mudfight ensue, but our lawyers have told us this may not meet health and safety requirements. So we have to do it the hard way.

There is slightly more effort that is needed this time round – but we think you’ll do fine. The rules are:

a) Join Urbanscapes facebook page – which means you have to have a Facebook account! What do you mean you don’t have a facebook account? Get one already – or else we will never be able to stoodle your status!

b) Screen cap or send a link to us to prove you’ve joined the Urbanscapes facebook page via email to stoodleteam@gmail.com with the subject “I want Urbanscapes 2009 tickets” and answer the following simple question:

There are two Stoodle offices – where are they? (Town / city name)

Answers to be in by Thursday 4 June 2009 0800 hours and ten people with correct answers picked out by the PROC RAND machine gets them tickets!

Simples..

Whats on KL Pac…..

20 – 24 May 2009 (starts at 8.30pm)

19 May 2009 – 31 May 2009

Graphic Mass – an Art Film-  If you are an art lover, do visit this exhibition, Its free. A photo exhibition by Are Andreassen.

For more infor , kindly contact KLPAC

What was once presented as a mainly theatre work is being revised in a more dancerly genre, featuring some of the more established contemporary dancers from the Chinese-speaking community: Amy Len from Kwang Tung Dance Troupe, Leng Poh Gee, lecturer at University Malaya, and Louise Yow. In Mandarin with English surtitles, this performance is likely to combine multimedia with grotesquery, illustrative of continuing trends within the urban Chinese-speaking avant-garde.

20-24 May, Pentas 2 KLPac
www.pentasproject.com

Whats On KLPAC this week …..

15^th May 2009

Switch on Concert

Free Admission

(A showcase of Electronic Music)

 LES BALLETS GRANDIVA’S MEN IN TUTUS

 Office hours: 10.00am-6.30pm, Monday-Friday

                        10.00am-2.00pm, Saturday

Box office hours: 10.30am-6.30pm (no show days)

                                    10.30am-8.30pm (show days)

 www.klpac.com

amazing performance! Well done! *two thumbs up*!

See and download the full gallery on posterous