Sus, Mr. Shakespeare

Sus, Mr Shakespeare

What The Fire Didn’t Destroy -  All The Perfumes.

If We Shadows Do Offend.

A woman on stage alone. Shadows. A phone call. A mysterious stranger.

A rehearsed reading of All The Perfumes, a lost play by K Das found in a box by his daughter Jo Kukathas, followed by a conversation about things lost and found.

All The Perfumes written by K Das and directed by Syed Alwi was performed  for the first and only time in 1968. It was the first play created for the Malaysian Arts Theatre Group following their coup where they wrested MATG away from its British committee campaigning on a platform of No More Shakespeare No More Shaw.

K Das and Syed Alwi met in the 1960s when they were both working at the Malayan Film Unit. Their friendship developed at RTM where they both worked writing and directing radio dramas. Das had newly returned from the University of Melbourne with a degree in English Literature after throwing in the towel on a degree in Engineering. Syed Alwi had just returned from completing a degree in Film from the University of Minnesota. They found in each other kindred spirits with a love of literature, theatre and wayang.

It was the discovery of two typewritten drafts of  his play All The Perfumes that led Jo to want to investigate What The Elders Left Us. Working with her friend Tan Cher Kian they have discovered what you can find The More We Get Together.

An investigation into friendships, art making and Shakespeare.

The Need to… what?  A reading from The Need to Be by Patrick Yeoh but not the way he wrote it.

Another early play from the MATG vaults, this play by Patrick Yeoh opens with a woman on stage ironing. She is a laundry woman working in a KL slum. 

Jo Kukathas is an actor, writer, dramaturg, director, co-founder/Artistic Director of The Instant Café Theatre Company (1989) best known for its political satire where she has played a variety of iconic comedy roles. She has run arts spaces, produced festivals, staged productions and toured/worked in Singapore, Japan, Hong Kong, Australia, Brazil, Taiwan and Indonesia. She is an API (Asian Public Intellectual) and DDS Fellow (De La Salle Democracy Discourse).

PERFORMERS

Sharifah Amani always knew she was a storyteller. Grateful for Sepet, Muallaf, and most recently La Luna, she has worked on screen and stage, from Nadirah in Tokyo, Beautiful Water in Japan and Jakarta, to playing multiple roles in Gold Rain and Hailstones 2019. Currently engrossed with her new role as Mohsein’s mum, she is also prepping to soar on stage and screen again. 

Gregory Sze has been a Malaysian thespian since 2006. He holds a BA in Drama from Deakin University, Melbourne. Major works include PARAH (2011, 2013) as well as being part of KLPac's 2009 T4YP ensemble.

Away from the stage, he has also been seen in a local TV series, GEMILANG (2011) and the UK's Channel 4's GAP YEAR (2017).

Ghafir Akbar is an actor and director who began his professional career with Instant Cafe Theatre. He currently splits his time between KL and Singapore.

MFA in Acting (FSU/Asolo Conservatory).

Vik is a London based theatre director. He is currently a PhD research student (Vice Chancellor’s Studentship 2023) at the University of the West of Scotland. Research interests include Shakespeare in practice and performance, and actor training for the 21st century.

A graduate of the Arts Council/ Birkbeck, University of London MFA in Theatre Directing, he also holds a PG Award in Teaching Shakespeare (RSC/ Warwick University) and was the Course Leader of the BA (Hons) Professional Acting at LAMDA.

Jerrica Lai is a film, television, theatre, voice-over actor and casting director with over 20 years of experience. She worked on Crazy Rich Asians, Marco Polo, The Garden of Evening Mists, Strike Back, and Blackhat, amongst other projects.

Thor Kah Hoong got interested in theatre when he enrolled in the University of Malaya in 1970. In 1971 he directed the university's entry to the 3rd Malaysian Drama Festival. The other finalist was directed by his theatre lecturer. The UM production won Best Play, Best Actor (Mustafa Noor), Best Director. A couple of months later, two performances scheduled at the University of Singapore was banned and Thor was blacklisted for harassment at Singapore immigration for almost a decade. The Singapore saga ironically ended in 1988 when the production of Thor's first script "Caught in the Middle" was the first Malaysian show to be invited to the Singapore Arts Festival. The media noted that it was one of the top 3 shows at the Fringe. Thor has also directed a Marathi play, scripts from Japan and Africa, performed a one man show on life in Malaya in the 1950s and early 60s, worked with an English group on a site-specific work staged at the then abandoned Hotel Majestic. He has acted in Malaysian films and television drama, and the only actor to appear in two productions of "Marco Polo", Hallmark and Netflix.

Ruby Ooi is a theatre graduate who made her TV acting debut shortly after graduation. Over the years, she has appeared in various television dramas and commercials. Her theatre credits include MUD: Kuala Lumpur the Musical and a rehearsed reading of Jit Murad’s playwriting competition–winning script, written by Ridzwan Othman and directed by Ghafir Akbar.

Rooted in theatre, shaped by time — Jason Lai continues to breathe life into every story he steps into.