Theatre: Tale of Two Women (Sunday People)

First published in New Sunday Times

27 September 2008

THEATRE: Tale of Two Women

Kisah Gadis explores the lives of several women as they reflect on the road travelled and the journey ahead. Director Megat Shahrizal speaks to MAX KOH about the double bill featuring Mangli and Gadis Jalan Burmah

FOR two plays that examine the lives of two women, it seems ironic that they should be written and directed by men.

But actor-director Megat Shahrizal is unfazed by this. Instead, he looks at it as a challenge; not only directing a woman’s perspective, but also working on two relatively new plays by emerging playwrights.

It is also Shahrizal’s second attempt at directing after a long hiatus since his award-winning Tat Nenas in 2004.

However, the time to direct his second play could not have come at a more opportune time.

Director Megat Shahrizal

“I was really fortunate to have won the Best Director Award (for Tat Nenas) for the Theatre Festival Malaysia in 2004.

“However, after that, I decided to focus on my acting as that is my first love,” says the 30-year-old who has acted in plays such as Puteri Gunung Ledang The Musical, P.Ramlee, and films such as 1957 Hati Malaya and Jarum Halus. He played former Prime Minister Tun Dr Ismail in 1957 Hati Malaya.

“After four years, the time is ripe for me to direct again or I might lose the touch. It’s really good timing because I’m not too busy, my friends are not too busy and the right scripts came along,” says Shahrizal who is pursuing his masters in performing arts at Universiti Malaya.

Kisah Gadis is a double bill production that explores the lives of two women as they reflect on the road travelled and the journeys ahead.

The first play, Mangli, tells the story of two longlost friends whose paths cross again at a bus stop after many years.

Their meeting forces them to rediscover each other and soon the conversation veers from pleasant to hostile, and the revelation of an attempted psychological suicide.

The second play, Gadis Jalan Burmah, features the monologue of a 42-year-old unmarried woman filled with anger, wit and humour.

Written with the local Malaysian context in mind, the protagonist Kartini Shuib contemplates about her past loves, her imminent future, and whether to go out with that prospective insurance salesman Kassim Rahman.

But what drew Shahrizal to these two plays?

“I chose these two plays because I want to see new writers getting attention in the theatre circuit,” explains Shahrizal.

“Having watched these plays before, I felt that they deserve a bigger audience.”

Mangli is the maiden effort by Adiwijaya and has only been performed thrice to a small audience.

“Adiwijaya is a friend of mine. After all, the theatre circle is so small that everyone knows each other. For years, we have been pushing him to write a play as he is an accomplished short story writer. After so long, he finally wrote a play and I decided that I must direct it... and get as many people as possible to watch it,” adds Shahrizal.

On the other hand, Gadis Jalan Burmah, is the fifth script penned by Shahredza Minhat (Redza), also an accomplished actor, having appeared in Otak Tak Centre, Romeo & Juliet and TOAST!

“These two scripts are really strong and I hope that I can bring it to a bigger audience,” said Shahrizal who studied Business Management but quit after getting bored in the industry.

On how the script is going to be interpreted by men, Shahrizal is totally taken aback that no women have given any input in the practice sessions yet.

“It’s seems really interesting that after so many practices, no one including the production crew said anything like ‘Wait, this is not how a woman thinks’. I supposed the script is really strong enough,” muses Shahrizal.

“In fact when I presented the script to Faridah Merican, she really liked it and agreed to be the executive producer.”

Shahrizal deems the two plays as a light production with a twist at the end of Mangli. The cast includes Ashraf Zain, Tuan Faisal and Sherry Abdullah.

This double bill marks the second instalment of The Actor Studios’s Teater Rakyat programme. The first was Anak Bulan Di Kampong Wa’ Hassan by Gene Sha Rudyn.

Being billed under the Teater Rakyat banner, Shahrizal is quick to offer his definition of the term.

“When people hear the term Teater Rakyat, they immediately think about traditional theatre. But that perception does not restrict me.

“To me, it simply means a play that is written by a Malaysian that is accessible to the Malaysian audience regardless of language or race. As long as it can connect to the audience, it is Teater Rakyat.”

Kisah Gadis will be staged at KLpac’s Pentas 2 from Oct 22-26, 2008. Tickets: RM25 (adults)/RM10 (students). Special preview night on Oct 22 and Saturday matinee on Oct 25 at RM10. Call 03-40479000 (KLpac) or 03-20949400 (The Actors Studio @ BSC) or visit www.klpac.com.