Theatre play

A RECORDED performance of a play performed by the Shetland Youth Theater (SYT) will be screened in the Mareel Auditorium this Saturday (May 22) when the venue reopens.

Mareel is expected to reopen to the public on Friday after being closed since Christmas due to Covid restrictions.

On Saturdays at 1:30 p.m., a pre-recorded play by the Shetland Youth Theater Tuesday, by Alison Carr, will be shown.

Shetland Arts said it was a “light, playful, and slightly sci-fi production, focused on confusing when a tear in the multiverse sucks in school staff and students, while raining new ones. people”.

There will also be a live introduction from the play’s director, Stephenie Pagulayan.

Usually taking place in front of a live audience, things were a bit different this year for the Shetland Youth Theater, due to the distancing requirements for performances. Working throughout the lockdown with Stephenie, development sessions and workshops took place online through Zoom, with the young actors balancing rehearsals and home studies.

The production was performed in an empty auditorium and recorded live in a multi-camera shoot. He will join other productions filmed by youth companies in June for National Theater Connections.

Pagulayan said, “I am incredibly proud of this wonderful group of theater makers. Since January, they have been absolutely committed to this project, working under constantly evolving covid guidelines and addressing the challenges of theater rehearsal through Zoom.

“With just a week of physical rehearsal, they created something really special with ‘Tuesday’. We are very grateful to the Shetland Arts team for all their support in creating this production and giving us this opportunity to share it with the Shetland community. “

The event marks the return of in-person events to Mareel and the first in a new series of Live at Lunch events.

Social distancing tickets for the screening of Tuesday are now for sale online.

Shetland Arts said that due to Covid restrictions, “we cannot run a standard Q&A session – if you have any questions you would like Stephenie to answer, please send them in advance to esther.renwick @ shetlandarts.org, or drop us a line. on one of Shetland Arts’ social media channels.

In addition to the cinema program, free screenings for children – Storytime for children under 5 (with Shetland Library) and Playtime at Mareel (with the Bruce Family Center) – are also resuming at Mareel. Tickets for these sessions can be booked through shetlandarts.org.

Mary Beth Fisher (Bella) and John Drea (Christopher) in “The Sound Inside” by Adam Rapp, directed by Robert Falls at the Goodman Theater (May 13 – 16, 2021) (credit Cody Nieset)

Besides taking a really deep breath, the first thing I did after watching Adam Rapp’s play, “The Sound Inside,” one of three productions that aired live in the new Goodman Theater LIVE series, was to revert to the following iconic quote from “Howards End”, by English novelist EM Forster:

“Just log in!” It was his whole sermon. Just connect prose and passion, and both will be exalted, and human love will be seen at its peak. No longer live in fragments. Just connect, and the beast and the monk, deprived of the isolation that is their life, will die.

Although it is a bristling discussion of Russian writer Fyodor Dostoyevsky and his novel “Crime and Punishment” that sets Rapp’s play in motion, it is Forster’s words that encapsulate the essence of the story. ‘playwright’s story about the brief but heartbreaking relationship between Bella (Mary Beth Fisher), a lonely middle-aged Yale teacher and author who teaches a creative writing class, and her intense, gifted and deeply alienated freshman , Christopher (John Drea).

Performed on stage Goodman’s Owen, directed by Robert Falls, and featuring excellent work by Christiana Tye (video director) and Gabe Hatfield (director of photography), the 90-minute play (which made its debut in 2018 and arrived on Broadway the following year under the direction of David Cromer), was born about a year before the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic. But with his painful sense of isolation and disconnection (and Rapp is a mind-boggling writer, by turns scorching, sardonic, and feverishly emotional), he conjures up what seems like a perfect metaphor for this moment. And Fisher, the still impeccable veteran of the Chicago scene, and Drea, a young and extremely talented actor raised in Chicago, are an ideal match: intelligent, intensely focused, and endowed with a keen sense of language which is exactly what is. necessary for Rapp’s cutting but often poetic language, and for the self-deprecating riffs he created for his two characters.

As Bella and Christopher first forge a tense but provocative bond during a teacher-student encounter in which they joke about Dostoevsky and his tormented character, Raskolnikov, they also feel a certain instantaneous mutual understanding. Both are strangers, alienated from others (and in a certain sense from themselves). Bella, 57, is single and childless, extremely self-aware and has never found the perfect man. Christopher is bright, sensitive, and more or less friendless. Both are self-denigrating loners, but not without a sense of their own fragile exceptionalism. And both are writers who in their own way walk a thin line between life and death, hope and despair, thirst for literary success and, above all, hungry for a powerful connection. with another human being. Over the course of several months, and despite their teacher / student status, they bond in unexpected and powerful ways.

Without giving too much away, suffice it to say that Bella is suddenly diagnosed with advanced stomach cancer, rejects chemotherapy, and recruits Christopher to administer the end-of-life procedures. I won’t go further except to say that “The Sound Inside” will echo loudly in your consciousness for a long time to come. And perhaps it is better to end here with a quote from Dostoyevsky: “Pain and suffering are always inevitable for a great intelligence and a deep heart.

Rapp’s play will run until May 16 only. The next episodes of the series will be “Ohio State Murders” by Adrienne Kennedy (June 17-20) and “I Hate It Here” by Ike Holter (July 15-18). For tickets, visit: GoodmanTheatre.org/Live.

Follow Hedy Weiss on Twitter: @HedyWeissCritic

It was a haunting photograph, which would leave a lasting impression on the mind of director Christopher Ling.

Swedish photographer Magnus Wennman’s image showed two teenage Kosovar refugees lying in bed, motionless.

Their coma-like state was due to a little-known condition called ‘resignation syndrome’ (believed to exist only in refugees in Sweden) which makes patients immobile, dumb and unable to eat and drink.

“I was really stumped when I first looked at it. My initial thought was how it was possible – in our time – that a person could easily fall into a coma when their ideal life circumstances no longer match, ”recalls Ling, 46, co-founder and artistic director of Theatrethreesixty.

To maintain this theatrical idea, Ling approached Penang playwright Yusof Bakar in 2018 to write a science fiction play, using photography as a writing prompt.

“I was also intrigued by the possibility for us as playmakers to immerse an audience in a strange and unfamiliar world – on a limited production budget.

“Could a sci-fi themed play work without the external attributes of set and costume? Asks Ling, who directed the pre-pandemic drama 24 Jam Dalam 37 Tahun Last year.

The script for this new project was finally completed in January this year, rehearsals started in March and this week theatergoers can catch this new show titled Orang Bulan.

Orang Bulan opens April 29 at the Nero event space of the Petaling Jaya Performing Arts Center (PJPac), 1 Utama shopping center.

The play will be the first production to be staged at the new venue for the arts as part of its soft launch program. PJPac will officially open its doors on May 25.Orang Bulan also marks Theatrethreesixty’s return to directing productions for a live audience from Motion Control First Order (MCO) last year.

The hour-long two-handed game, which will be presented in Bahasa Malay with English surtitles, stars Dzeelfa Zainal and Anwar Hadi. Kirthana Kuhendran composed the original music and soundscape for the show.

“Coming back to a real theater space is like feeling the warm embrace of an old friend.

“I would dare say that even just having the opportunity to physically conduct a rehearsal in person had the same rejuvenating effect on me,” Ling says.

Orang Bulan talks about Luna (Dzeelfa) who lives on a lunar colony with her son Nila (Anwar), a rare earth mineral miner.

Their seemingly peaceful lunar life is shaken when they are both forcibly repatriated to Earth with the imminent replacement of the existing lunar workforce with robots.

Unable to cope with the sudden change, the long-suffering mother plunges into a fit of resignation syndrome. In the process, more secrets are dredged to the surface.

“At a glance, it’s the story of a mother struggling with her past. In another look, it’s a story about resignation syndrome.

“But if you look deeper, this is also the story of a catastrophe that will almost certainly happen to Earth in the future due to climate change.

“So it’s a multi-level play, waiting for the audience to dive in and enjoy it,” says Yusof, whose writing credits include Resiprokal, Dusta Pada Skala 1 Hingga 10 and Münchausen Melalui Proksi.

Ling mentions that he was introduced to Yusof through a KL staging of Resiprokal (a compilation of his short pieces) in 2017.

“I admired his deceptively simple writing style that places seemingly mainstream everyday characters in rather unconventional, sometimes even fantastic, situations.

“While debating high-profile issues as if these were the kinds of things you would happily discuss with your husband or friend. It was then that I decided that I would like to direct some of his. work, ”Ling says.Orang Bulan, Ling says, features a very human story that focuses on a dysfunctional mother-son relationship while tackling something bigger and dangerous in the background.

“If we, as a post-pandemic public, are so scared and stressed about the pandemic, we should be more concerned about what will happen to Earth as a result of climate change.

“Orang Bulan gives some ideas on what will happen in a few hundred years if we ignore these early signs of Earth suffering. If the Earth changes, humans will change with it too, for better or for worse, ”Yusof explains.

Despite the themes surrounding isolation and anxiety, Ling says that Orang Bulan does not directly reflect the pandemic situation.

“Basically, I believe that Orang Bulan invites us to take a look at the decisions we are forced to make when faced with situations of unbearable stress and increasing uncertainty.

“At the end of the day, audiences go to the theater to see themselves on stage, to make sure they’re not the only ones feeling what they feel as a human being,” Ling concludes.

Orang Bulan performs at the Petaling Jaya Performing Arts Center (PJPac), 1 Utama Shopping Center from April 29 to May 2. Show time: 9 p.m. Ticket price: 30 RM. The capacity of the theater space has been reduced to 50 people per performance and public health SOPs must be observed. More details here.

Franz Kafka in Hindi is no less powerful than in German or English because of the universality of darkness. The Trial of the Conjurer of Dark Illusions and Interpreter of Official Illnesses is now a stage performance by director Rama Pandey as an arrest in disguise as freedom, an alienated protagonist trapped in a complex political climate of smoke and mirrors and tormented by hidden guilt. .

His execution, which Kafka describes “like a dog” is the logical result of an innocent man caught in the maelstrom of faceless tyranny. Adapted to the Indian context, Giraftari will be staged at Ravindra Manch, Jaipur, on May 5 after a successful tour at the Shri Ram Center for Performing Arts in Delhi. Directed by theater, television and film personality Rama Pandey, the story takes place in contemporary Delhi, told through a folk combination of Indian oral tradition and Rajasthani ‘Keerat’ art forms in “Tasha Dhol” and “Nafiri” from Purani Delhi.

Pandey spent days and nights perusing Kafka’s many works, both from the famous writer and others trying to decipher him before recreating the Hindi version of The Trial. This is his first experience in docudrama. The plot revolves around the fate of Shyam Kumar (played by Akhilesh Divedi), a 31-year-old middle-class bank employee from Delhi who suffers the same fate as Joseph K, the bank employee protagonist of Kafka’s book – he is placed under house arrest for an unspecified crime.

Abused and pushed around in his quest for justice, Kumar is exposed at different levels in a corrupt system involving the police, the military and the judiciary. As he prepares to be executed by the authorities, Kumar calls on the public to save the soul of the company. The play’s scope and scale are memorable – its cast numbers are around 30. Notable characters include Abhivyakti, the play’s narrator played by Pandey herself, as well as Bhav (portraying Kafka’s voice) played by Laxmi Shanker Bajpai.

It spans a year, starting and ending with Kumar’s birthday. The isolation, suffocation and the new rules are revealing in the context of the pandemic. “Covid has taught us how redundant a person can be even when surrounded by people. Through the voluntary form of house arrest, we can understand the feeling of being under arrest, ”says Pandey.

Originally titled Der Procez in German, The Trial was written in 1914-15. Not given his due during Kafka’s lifetime, he was a touchstone of 20th century critical interpretation holding a mirror for society and administration. True to her inspiration, Pandey kept the dialogue daring. At the same time, there is black satire.

The playwright-director completes the adaptation of Metropolis Vienna by Peter Rosei, famous Austrian author. Thereafter, she will begin her own play Lallan Ms based on the struggles of the transgender community. In addition, in October, she plans to organize the Rama theater festival including four of her plays. The whole world is a stage but Pandey is more than an actor and the theater is her world.

The Court Theater’s final play will soon be adapted into a premium TV show with Nicole Kidman.

Australian playwright Andrew Bovell’s award-winning play The things that I know to be true was purchased by Amazon Studios in October.

Kidman said she wanted to star in the adaptation after seeing the play in Sydney.

“Andrew’s play is exquisite,” she told an entertainment news site. Deadline.

READ MORE:
* Court Theater rejects idea of ​​Covid shutdown for one year, launches new season
* Review: The Court Theater performance of The Ugly Duckling
* Theater critic: Robin des Bois

“I will never forget the experience I had watching Andrew’s play in Sydney, having one of those transcendent theater experiences.”

The play, which premieres at the Court Theater in Christchurch on March 20, takes place in the courtyard of a family home and explores what happens when the grown children of a long-time married couple come back into their lives.

Court Theater artistic director Daniel Pengelly said he picked the play for the new season because it was one of the best screenplays he’s ever read.

“I cried twice while reading it, which is a rare thing,” he said.

“I read it last year on lockdown and it was the best play I’ve read in the past two years.

“I think it’s a great game and I think it might be the best thing we’ve been doing this year.”

He said a dozen court staff unanimously supported the choice of the piece for their new season.

“It was the only script that got unanimous support across the company.

“It hardly ever happens. Everyone’s tastes are so different.

He believed the play resonated with audiences because it dealt with universal themes of family.

“The play is mainly about families. On the challenges and the love of family.

“This room will speak to people because it connects to all of us.”

Pengelly was surprised the piece was still available for theaters after it was purchased by Amazon.

He said that a planned production of the play Chip bag had to be canceled after being picked up by the BBC for a TV show that became critically and popular.

He was thinking The things that I know to be true would become a word of mouth success.

“Our job is to bring people in for the first two weeks and then they’ll tell people about it.

“The last two weeks are going to fill up. The stars seem to align. I think it could be something very special.

Everyone faced challenges during the pandemic, but two readings of plays presented last weekend by Common Ground Theater showed just how cultural traditions have made it especially difficult for many members of the black community. .

Playwright AD Brown, whose semi-autobiographical play “Pruning Ivy” premiered at the Zoom event on January 30, said members of the black community often look down on therapy and counseling because they see it. a sign of weakness.

“We are proud people,” said Brown. “We don’t want our family’s belongings on the streets. We stuff our stuff. We push it down and just move on without worrying about certain things. ”

The event was the second in Common Ground’s “Uplifting Black Voices” series, which features new plays by black American playwrights. Both scripts were produced by the company’s executive artistic director, Yolanda Franklin, who said in post-show comments that this event was meant to encourage members of the public to seek help if they needed it. .

The show began with “This Is a Low,” a short play by 22-year-old playwright Cris Eli Blak, whose work was also featured in the inaugural show “Uplifting” in December. Blak’s two-character play was inspired by his own experience in 2019, where he was placed in a care center on a 72-hour psychiatric hold.

In the play, a young man named Jude denies, challenges and then gradually approaches Mister, a kind but pragmatic mental health counselor from the locked-down mental health unit. Jude struggles with thoughts of suicide, but repeatedly says he doesn’t belong in a clinic. “This Is a Low” sometimes sounds more like a skit than a full play, but it shows Blak’s promise to create authentic situations and characters. Ahmed Dents played Mister and Dwaine Collier played Jude.

In post-show comments, Blak said he hopes his play inspires young black people like him to find the strength to face their problems.

“The strongest people are the ones who can stand up and admit ‘this is what’s going on with me’ and stand up for your truth and speak your truth,” Blak said. “I am now able to admit it and say that everyday is not a good day.”

“Pruning Ivy” was also inspired by Brown’s life, during a time when she was struggling with grief in senior school. Carla BaNu DeJesus gave a stunning performance as Ivy, a high performing PhD student. candidate who secretly contemplates suicide as she struggles with anxiety, depression, grief and loneliness after her mother’s death.

Ivy is pulled from the brink by her three devoted aunts, Lily, Rose and Violet, who can tell she is struggling but have no idea how serious it is. The language of the play is raw and honest, and the four characters are well drawn and diverse, with Ivy’s wacky aunt Rose providing much-needed comedic relief. Cassandra Crawford, Denise Baitey and Diane Carroll played the roles of the aunts.

Several more Uplifting Black Voices readings are planned in the coming months. For more details, visit commongroundtheatre.com.

—- Pam Kragen is a reporter for The San Diego Union-Tribune

In the words of Torrie Allen, President and CEO of Arts Midwest, “As the pandemic continues to wreak havoc across the country, small arts and culture organizations are suffering deeply. Because of deep inequalities and a historic lack of resources, some suffer more than others.

And several are being helped by COVID-19 relief grants from the United States Regional Arts Resilience Fund. Launched earlier this year with a $ 10 million emergency grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, headed by poet Elizabeth Alexander, the fund is administered by six regional arts organizations in the United States, including Arts Midwest. The states supported by Arts Midwest are Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, and Wisconsin.

In July, Arts Midwest distributed its $ 1.5 million in Mellon funds among 30 arts organizations, each providing unrivaled grants of $ 50,000 to $ 55,000. The 30 included 22 BIPOC organizations (led by and serving people of color and / or indigenous communities) and 11 rural organizations (located in and / or serving communities of 50,000 people or less). All were organizations with annual pre-COVID budgets of between $ 250,000 and $ 10 million.

In Minnesota, grants of $ 50,000 were awarded to Art of the Rural (Winona), Hmong Cultural Center (St. Paul), New York Mills Regional Cultural Center (New York Mills), Southeast Asian Diaspora Project (Minneapolis) and Mu Theater (St. Paul).

In August, Arts Midwest announced it had received a historic donation of an additional $ 1.5 million from an anonymous donor. He turned to smaller organizations with annual pre-COVID budgets between $ 50,000 and $ 249.00. Yesterday (Wednesday, December 2), he announced 61 recipients of grants ranging from $ 10,000 to $ 50,000, including 30 BIPOCs and 32 rural organizations.

Recipients from Minnesota are Manidoo Ogitigaan (Bemidji), Minnesota Prison Writing Workshop (Minneapolis), Rosy Simas Danse (Minneapolis), Threads Dance Project (Minneapolis), Center for Hmong Arts and Talent (CHAT; St. Paul), Indigenous Roots Cultural Art Center (St. Paul) and Brownbody (Vadnais Heights).

All recipients can use their Resilience Fund grants for their most urgent needs and opportunities. All nominees – the 91 recipients were chosen from more than 800 Midwestern organizations nominated by community members – will have access to free capacity building resources and Midwest Arts webinars over the coming months.

Choices

V is for virtual, L is for live and in person.

V Starts Today (Thursday, December 3): New Indigenous Theater: Fourth Annual Play Festival: Good Medicine. Ten days of drama, live music, dance, poetry, storytelling, monologues, talkbacks and live conversations featuring Native American, First Nations, Maori and Sami performers from around the world. Participants include the Olbijerri Theater Company (Melbourne), the TūRongo Collective (New Zealand) and Giron Sámi Teáhter (Sweden). The lineup includes three plays produced by the New Native Theater: “Don’t Put Your Moccsins Under Your Pillow” by Lini Wilkins (Diné), “Iceman: The Frozen Protector” by Zane Smith (Red Lake Ojibwe) and “The Great Return By Lara Gerhardson (descendant of the White Earth, Red Lake and Leech Lake tribe). The theme, Good Medicine, was inspired by Yvette Nolan’s book “Medicine Shows”. Emphasis is also placed on Indigenous Futurism. IMF including schedule and tickets ($ 60 Festival Pass or pay what you can per show, $ 20 suggested). Until December 13.

V Today (Thursday, December 3): The Loft: From the start: Jim Moore, Michael Dennis Browne and Margaret Hasse. These three poets have been part of The Loft and its writing communities since its beginnings in 1974. Browne and Hasse have new books this year; Moore’s next one will be published by Graywolf in 2021. Moore and Browne are among the original founders; Hasse teaches poetry there. Browne’s last book came out in 2018; all three will read. Bring your questions for a short Q&A at the end. 7 p.m. IMF and tickets ($ 10, free as a thank you to Loft members).

V Starts today (Thursday, December 3): Northrop and the Walker Art Center: Kinetic Light: “DESCENT. ” This first in line, a collaboration between Northrop and the Walker, also signals the return of the Walker’s performing arts season, usually announced in June but hampered, like everything else, by COVID. It’s sad that we can’t see it in person, like everything else, but when the dance is filmed well it can be thrilling – most recently, “GALLIM” by Andrea Miller and Helix Films, presented by Northrop in December to launch its dance season. . In “DESCENT,” a meditative ride through a queer interracial love story, disability activists Alice Sheppard and Laurel Lawson perform on an elaborate structure of slopes, peaks and curves. Almost everything you see and hear will be the work of artists with disabilities. The performance will be followed by a conversation with the artist. 8 p.m. IMF and tickets ($ 18.50, Walker members $ 13.50). Available until Saturday December 5th.

V starts Friday (December 4): History Theater: “The Betty Crocker Musical”. It makes perfect sense that there will someday be a musical about Betty Crocker – and the changing roles of women as seen through the lens of the makeup character of General Mills. Ordered in March 2020, it was not expected until January 2021, but Cristina Luzarraga (book and lyrics) and Denise Prosek (music) agreed to “cook something up” a little earlier. Austene Van is the director; the impressive cast includes Michelle Barber, Aimee K. Bryant, Rajana Katarah, Kim Kivens, Ann Michels, Sara Ochs, Britta Ollman, Lara Trujillo and Regina Williams. The last Raw Stages Zoom workshop of 2020 will feature a first act of approximately 30 to 40 minutes. IMF and banknotes ($ 15-50 per person). Until December 10.

V starts Saturday (December 5): Jungle Theater: “Is Edward Snowden single?” The world premiere of a new comedy by Kate Cortesi is also the first full-length virtual production of The Jungle. With Becca Hart (“Les loups”, “Ride the Cyclone”, “Small Mouth Sounds”), Isabella Star LaBlanc (“Little Women”, “The Wolves”, “Autonomy”) and some of the animations of Hart, directed by Christina Jungle Interim Artistic Director Baldwin, it will be a whole new experience. IMF and banknotes ($ 35). Until December 20.

Actor Giles Terera has retired from the National Theater production of Death of England: Delroy after undergoing emergency surgery.

his play, scheduled to open on October 21, will launch a season of performances in the round in a renovated and socially distanced Olivier theater.

Michael Balogun, Terera’s understudy, will instead play Delroy in the one-person play about a black, working-class man searching for the truth and confronting his relationship with Britain.

Terera is recovering well after the operation and the problem was unrelated to Covid-19, but he will need to rest for six weeks, according to the theater.

Balogun, who appeared in Macbeth’s NT productions and Barber Shop Chronicles, under-researched Delroy’s role throughout rehearsals.

A National Theater statement said: “We are sorry to announce that Giles Terera will no longer appear in the production of Death of England: Delroy following emergency surgery.

“Giles is recovering well, and the problem was not related to Covid-19, but having been informed that he will need a six week recovery period, very unfortunately that means he will not be able to play as previously announced in this series of the production, we send him our best wishes for a speedy recovery.

“We are pleased to announce that Michael Balogun will now play the role of Delroy in the new play by Clint Dyer and Roy Williams which premieres October 21 at the Olivier Theater.

“Michael under-researched the role of Delroy and worked with the crew throughout rehearsals. Michael’s previous work for the National Theater includes Macbeth and the UK tours of Barber Shop Chronicles and People, Places & Things.

The Olivier, the largest of the National’s three permanent theaters, usually seats 1,150 people in its fan-shaped auditorium, but will now be able to accommodate nearly 500 people with social distancing.

Writers Dyer and Williams wrote the play, directed by Dyer, over five months.

It follows on from Death Of England, their previous production, which starred Rafe Spall and closed at the National weeks before the lockdown.

The new story focuses on the character of Delroy, the protagonist’s best friend from the first play.

After many theaters across the UK cancel or postpone their pantomimes, a Dick Whittington Christmas production will perform at The Olivier.

The Jude Christian and Cariad Lloyd version of the story, directed by Ned Bennett, was first staged at Lyric Hammersmith in 2018 and has been updated for 2020.

It will open in December.

The Instant Cafe Theater (ICT) brings back one of its most influential plays, Singaporean writer / playwright Alfian Sa’at’s Parah, for a virtual restoration.

Directed by ICT co-founder Jo Kukathas, the play, now renamed Zoom Parah, will be broadcast live via the new digital theater platform Cloud Theaters on July 25 (8 p.m.) and July 26 (3 p.m.).

This is a paid event, on a pay as you please basis, with RM5 as the starting point. There will be a post-show discussion on both days with the playwright, director, producer and cast.

The nearly two-hour play, which will be presented in Bahasa Malay without subtitles, will feature the original cast of Parah, namely Farah Rani, 32, Gregory Sze, 29, Iedil Dzuhrie Alaudin, 36, and Branavan Aruljothi, 32.

Parah was first staged at the Drama Center Theater in Singapore in 2011 before its KL debut the same year at the Annex Gallery, Central Market.

The play was replayed five more times, including two staged in Brisbane, Australia in 2013, and finally at the Damansara Performing Arts Center the same year.

“Nine years since our first staging Parah, issues of race and privilege are even more hotly debated in Malaysia. The death of George Floyd and the global resurgence of the Black Lives Matter movement have led many young Malaysians to question the painful racial politics they have inherited, ”says Kukathas, 57.

“Seeing those old wounds resurface so deeply and so quickly is sobering,” she adds.

Alfian wrote Parah in 2011, while doing a residency with ICT, in response to a controversy besieging the country at the time.

The controversy focused on the novel Interlok by Abdullah Hussain who told the interwoven story of a Malay, Chinese and Indian family in the years leading up to independence.

The gang is back: (top to bottom) Sze, Farah, Branavan and Iedil reprise their roles in a virtual production of ‘Parah’. Photo: Instant café-theater

Interlok was reintroduced into the Malaysian school curriculum and made headlines when a Hindu rights group opposed it on the grounds that the portrayal of Indians was humiliating and insulting.

Alfian, whose other writing credits include Malaysian tiger (2018), Hotel (2015) and Nadira (2009), was struck by race struggles in Malaysia.

As a writer, he could not condone the censorship of books, but he was also aware of the wounds caused by these books and words. Parah was then written to examine how racial politics can divide even the strongest friendships.

“In 2020, with Covid-19 leading to a worldwide increase in racist and xenophobic sentiments, we felt it was important to re-stage the play. It was time to re-question our continuing struggle with race relations.

“The language used to intimidate those with different histories has become uglier. Online bullying even led to an Indian girl taking her own life, ”Kukathas explains.

Parah revolves around school friends Melur (Farah), Kahoe (Sze), Mahesh (Branavan) and Hafiz (Iedil).

As best friends, these Form 5 students always hang out in Melur’s house, hanging out, making monkeys, and sometimes studying.

However, their lives are turned upside down when Mahesh sides with the Indian boys in his class by refusing to study their literature textbook, Interlok, on the grounds that he is racist.

Mahesh tries to explain his position to his friends, but it divides them even more. Suddenly everything is now seen through a racial lens.

And without the proper vocabulary to question the wounds of the story, their friendship is threatened.

“In 2020, with Covid-19 leading to a worldwide increase in racist and xenophobic feelings, we felt it was important to re-stage the play. It was time to question again our ongoing struggle with race relations, ”says Jo Kukathas. Photo: Filepic

Kukathas and his cast agree that revisiting this script after the last staging was a bittersweet experience.

While they are thrilled to be playing these characters again, the cast are troubled by the relevance Parah is in 2020.

“With everything that is going on in the country and in the world, the distance between ‘us’ and ‘the other’ seems to be growing. Parah are felt more deeply in the present, whenever that present is, ”shares Farah, whose stage credits include Golden rain and hailstones (2019) and Nadira (2012).

Sze, a school teacher at the moment, sees how necessary this piece is to keep the conversation about the “race” open.

“The thought that my students are going through something similar and being exposed to issues like these is depressing to say the least,” he says.

Kukathas hopes that with the greater reach of a show online, more Malaysians will participate in the race relations discourse and have honest conversations with family and friends.

“After your computers are off, we hope you will discuss and debate what happened to these four young friends. What could have been done differently? What are you hoping for? We hope that everyone watching us will ask the tough questions that need to be answered, ”Kukathas said.

“The story, these characters and the parts of the play that put the race at the helm; all serve as reminders that until we can see beyond our own prejudices, we will never go anywhere but the other way around, ”Branavan concludes.

‘Parah’ will air on Cloud Theaters (www.cloudtheatres.com). Show dates: July 25 (8 p.m.) and July 26 (3 p.m.). Ticket prices: RM5, RM10, RM30, RM50 and RM100.