So You Think You Can Write?

With shows like American Idol and So You Think You Can Dance? becoming such big cultural phenomena, it only makes sense to adapt their formats to other art forms that could use similar constructive ... criticism.

Sharmilla Ganesan in Starmag today writes about the So You Can Think You Can Write? event organised by The British Council.  Ten stories were chosen, my own among them, and performed by members of Instant Cafe Theatre at the PJ Live Arts Centre.

It was an excellent idea - I found it fascinating to hear how an actress (in this case Joanne Bessey) read my work, and the comments afterward from the panel of judges (author Ardashir Vakil, playwright Ben Payne,   British Council Malaysia education and programmes director Peter Clack, and ZI Publications publisher Ezra Mohd Zaid) were encouraging. So ... the setting needs work but I had "great control" and there was pleasing symmetry. I was happy with that, and know what to work on.

(I did record my story for those of you who asked me to ... but apologise for the poor quality.)


We didn't know which story had been written by whom, and we voted for the one we liked best.  :

Writes Sharmilla :

What was impressive about the stories presented was the sheer diversity of themes and ideas – and yet, they retained a uniquely Malaysian identity.

Some revolved around simple, everyday experiences that told a much deeper story. For example, It’s Alright, Auntie explored, through a child’s eyes, his parents’ hollow marriage, while Martha Falling is filled with vivid imagery centred on a woman dealing with the loss of her unborn child.

Others looked at the greyer areas of life, such as Intermission, which speaks honestly about a woman’s broken marriage and her subsequent attraction to a much younger man. There were others that took on darker, even spooky, undertones, such as A String of Pearls and A Walk in the Dark.

Ezra found this very encouraging. “What’s amazing is how these writers presented such a huge variety of stories and viewpoints. Each reading had something different from the one before!” he said.

Datuk Dr M. Shanmughalingam won for most popular story for his Rani Taxis Away :

... a simple but touching tale of an Indian girl in post-Independence Malaysia who finds her own freedom in small ways.

and will receive a Professional Development Planning Programme mentored by Spread the Word which will help him devise a route forward in creative writing. I'm very pleased for Shan and I hope that this award encourages him to - finally - get a book out.

It was unfortunate that the timing went awry and most of the audience had drifted away before the end, but I hope that we do have more events of this kind.  Many thanks to the British Council and to Instant Cafe for putting this together.

Imagining The Nation

This from Jo Kukathas who urges you to sign up quickly if you are interested as places are very limited :

Imagining the Nation: A Play-writing Workshop with Sakate Yoji

Epitaph For The Whales/ Breathless/The Attic - the plays of Sakate Yoji

THE PLAYS OF SAKATE YOJI

Most of Mr. Sakate's works are based on real political history and events and social issues in Japan - the rise of garbage, the rise of Japanese cults, and the phenomenon of "hikikomori," or the "withdrawal" of people into their homes - young people who refuse to come out and engage with society. He focuses on how myths - national, traditional and social - lead people to believe in false realities. He writes plays that lay bare a more bizarre reality. He has created and directed several masterpieces in theatre by introducing his own particular method of documentary writing, myth-making.

At the same time, his plays are inspired by the dramaturgy of traditional Japanese Noh theatre, established by Zeeami. He structures social issues as well as mythological visions of Japanese people - these two strands run parallel in his plays and are based on his unique dramaturgy inspired by Noh.

THE WORKSHOP

This two day workshop will focus on Mr Sakate's play-writing technique and style. Participants are required to attend his talk on Jan 8 where Sakate will introduce his work and Matsui Kentaro will give a talk about Japanese theatre.

INTRODUCTION and TALK

Jan 8 830pm

IMAGINING THE NATION: A history of Japanese theatre - Continuity and Discontinuity

A talk by MATSUI KENTARO producer and dramaturg and Director of The Asia Centre for Creation and Research, Tokyo on the history of Japanese theatre from noh to the present day.

"Imagining the Nation is based on the idea that language is a means for the making the notion of the “nation state”. From the perspective of theatre as the art of language, the theatre has to have its own particular function to be able to develop the notion of “nation” and “nation state” through making and presenting plays. It doesn't only mean using languages for writing plays - rather theatre has its own theatrical language with spaces, acting, directing, musical elements and so on. These theatrical languages have been influential to people to get the images of 'nation'."

NARRATING THE NATION: The Plays of Sakate Yoji - Epitaph For The Whales/ Breathless/The Attic

A presentation by Sakate Yoji playwright/ director of theatre company RIN KO GUN and President of the Playwrights Association of Japan who shares his body of work and talks about the contemporary theatre movement in Japan.


PLAYWRIGHTS WORKSHOP PART 1 with SAKATE YOJI

Jan 9 1030am - 3pm

An introduction to the work of Sakate Yoji - political realism, documentary and mythology in a single play. The parallel worlds of Sakate Yoji's plays.


PLAYWRIGHTS WORKSHOP PART 1 with SAKATE YOJI

Jan 10 1030am - 3pm

A more in-depth look at the marriage of style, technique and content.


(Closed event. Participants must register first. Please e mail jokukathas@gmail.com to register)

WORKSHOP FEE:: RM80 inclusive of lunch


THIS EVENT HAS A SISTER EVENT: X CHANGE!

A MALAYSIAN JAPANESE THEATRE EXCHANGE

Is the NATION a FICTION or a REALITY? And who creates the NATION?

Who creates the fiction of a nation? Who dreams these things up? Who dreams up a One Malaysia or a Rising Sun? Of a Vision 2020 or A Malaysia Truly Asia?

Theatre is one place where alternative realities of a country are imagined and therefore created. It is a country of Gold Rain and Hailstones. A Country which dreams of Atomic Jaya. A Country where the Death of a Patriot is not the death of a Patriot and where you cannot **** Mr Birch. It is Brickfields, The Sandpit and Bolehwood, a place where Pak Dogol, Tok Perak, Athan and Ang Tau Mui live out their lives in the margins of the main narrative.

In this Exchange between Malaysian and Japanese speakers we ask how theatre can and should create strong alternative fictions to any fiction of One-ness.

CHECK OUT OUR EVENT PAGE ON THIS - COMING SOON.

PROFILES

SAKATE YOJI

Was born in 1962, in Okayama. He grew up in the region before went to Tokyo to study Japanese literature at Keio University. In 1981, he became a member of Transposition 21 Theatre Company while he was still a university student.

Transposition 21 was led by YAMAZAKI Tetsu, who was born in 1947, a playwright and director. YAMAZAKI is one of the leading figures of the second generation of the little theatre movement (shogekijo undo) or post-shingeki movement which began in 1960s. This is the theatre which SAKATE first came across and which influenced him.

In 1983, SAKATE formed a new theatre group, the Theatre Company RINKOGUN with himself as leader, playwright and director. He is politically active and his plays, like YAMAZAKI’s, have strong views on contemporary political and social issue in Japan. RINKOGUN’s productions are the result of an innovative collaboration among its residential artists including the stage and lighting designers.

SAKATE has achieved his first major breakthrough with two plays, The Tokyo Trial and A Dangerous Story, which he wrote in 1988. Both plays are about the injustices of the legal system. He wrote a play about lesbians, Come Out in 1989, and Breathless in 1991. Breathless, which discusses the problem of the garbage in Tokyo and the religious cult, Aum Shinrikyo (threatened the Japanese nation with their poison gas murder of Tokyo subway commuters in 1995), had received the Thirty-fifth Kishida Drama Award.

SAKATE wrote Epitaph of the Whales and The Capital of the Kingdom of the Gods in 1993. He continues his experiments in the use of noh in Capital of the Kingdom of the Gods. The play is about Lafcadio Hearn, a writer who came to Japan at the end of 19th century. The production toured in Europe and U.S.A in 1994, 1995 and 1998 to great acclaim. The Boiling Point of the Sea (Umi no futten) in 1997 discusses the situation of the land and the people of Okinawa, Japan’s most southern and newest prefecture.

In 2001, the group traveled to Berlin, Leipzig, Krakow, and Warsaw with their production of Breathless. The company has also created work in collaboration with theatre artists from abroad. Whalers in the South Seas, a work produced in 2000 is created with actors from Indonesia, Philippines and U.S.A.. The company's acclaimed production of The Attic was appeared in Pittsburgh, Miami, Los Angeles and New York in February 2005.

AWARDS
2000:
- Winner, 7th Yomiuri Theater Award for Best Direction - The Emperor and The Kiss (Tenno to Seppun)

- Nominee, 7th Yomiuri Theater Award for Best Production, RINKOGUN - The Emperor and The Kiss

2003:
- Winner, 10th Yomiuri Theater Award for Best Direction, Yoji Sakate - The Attic (Yaneura), Until the Last Person Standing (Saigo no Hitori Made ga Zentai de Aru), Charlie Victor Romeo, Abe Sada and Mutsuo (Abe Sada to Mutsuo)

- Winner, 54th Yomiuri Literature Prize (Drama), Yoji Sakate - The Attic (Yaneura) http://www.curtainup.com/attic.html

- Winner, 37th Kinokuniya Theater Award for Individual Achievement, Yoji Sakate - The Attic (Yaneura), Until the Last Person Standing and Blind Touch (produced by Theatre group EN)

- Nominee, 10th Yomiuri Theater Award for Best Production, RINKOGUN - Until the Last Person Standing (Saigo no Hitori Made ga Zentai de Aru)

MATSUI KENTARO

Mr Matsui set up the Asia Centre For Creation and Research to help develop Exchanges between Asian countries. His long-term goal is to facilitate intellectual and creative exchange between Asian producers, researchers and artists. He has worked extensively with Asian theatre people often in collaboration with the Japan Foundation. He was the producer of the Malaysian Japanese collaboration The Island In Between/Pulau Antara written by Jo Kukathas and Kam Raslan. He created and facilitated a 3 year Asian collaboration project with participants from Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Japan, Thailand and the Philippines. The Malaysian participants, Jo Kukathas (Instant Café), Loh Kok Man (Pentas Projects) and Nam Ron (Rumah Anak Theatre RAT) continue to collaborate in Malaysia. Mr Matsui wants to build on the strong connections made in previous collaborations and deepen the exchanges on a intellectual and research level.

--
Jo Kukathas
Director
The Instant
CAFE HOUSE of ART and IDEAS
[CHAI]

No 6 Jalan 6/3
Petaling Jaya 46000
Selangor
Malaysia
(+6) 03- 77848792
(+6) 0163582035

A Sense of HOME

Instant Cafe Theatre present HOME, new works by Jit Murad, Jo Kukathas, Ridzwan Othman and Zedeck Siew around the theme of HOME and family on September 5, 2009, 5.30-7.30 at their new home - CHAI House, 6 Jalan 6/3, Petaling Jaya.

The exhibition HOME is still on till 16 Sept so be sure to turn up early to have a look at the show or stay on to talk about the work over a nice cup of chai.

Admission is free but donations are welcomed.

More details here. Or call 0377848792, or Email: chai@instantcafetheatre.com

Do Malaysians Really Get Satire?

Satire ... [1] is a literary genre, chiefly literary and dramatic, in which human or individual vices, follies, abuses, or shortcomings are held up to censure by means of ridicule, derision, burlesque, irony, or other methods, sometimes with an intent to bring about improvement. [2] It is used in graphic arts and performing arts as well. ... Although satire is usually meant to be humorous, the purpose of satire is not primarily humour but criticism of an event, an individual or a group in a clever manner.

from Wikipedia.

Does satire flourish in Asia?

One of the most entertaining panel discussions of the Ubud Writer's and Readers' festival debated the question. Besides our own Kam Raslan, we met Sri Lankan author Manuka Wijesinghe who writes beautifully about the absurd in her novel Monsoons and Potholes, and Indonesian Isman Hidayat Suryaman who talked about how he hides his criticism of authority in humour since he cannot do it openly. He added a nice detail for us, Indonesia doesn't have a "censorship board" it has an "enlightenment board!" which does the same job! The session was moderated by Nury (who gets everywhere!).

Kam talked about how satire has become increasingly popular in Malaysia, and he read from Amir Muhammad's book to illustrate the fact that in Malaysia actually satirists are not needed because politicians do the job beautifully for them!:

Our job is to mock authority and our politicians make it too easy ...

he said, talking about how the politicians provide most of the material for KL's Instant Cafe Theatre for which Kam also writes skits.

When it came to question time I asked the panelists if they felt that their audiences really get their satire? As Instant Cafe founder Jo Kukathas (who was in the audience*) pointed out, of course Malaysian audiences understand satire ... otherwise why would their own company have been so successful?

I was actually thinking about satire on the page, particularly when it doesn't have a box around it saying "This is meant to be funny". And I was thinking specifically about this post on Amir Muhammad's blog on a spoof column he wrote as Ambi Mohan for the New Straits Times - the reactions from angry readers who didn't understand that their leg was being pulled actually makes funnier reading than the articles themselves!

Jo actually took me to task about the question I'd asked a couple of nights later, at the party at Blanco's house, and gave me plenty of examples of her own to support her argument. Somehow (might have been on my part the wine) we managed to entangle the question of "Do Malaysians get satire?" with "Do Malaysians get irony?" (which is a somewhat separate one, but nevertheless worth considering ... and I would say much of Kam's humour is gently ironic.)

On satire, with censorship so tight, and self-censorship added to it, there really is little tradition of making fun of authority figures here by means of the written word ... although happily the blogosphere is becoming increasingly good at using satire, much to the discomfort of politicians.

(It's worth noting too is that Kam's deliciously satirical sense of humour was shaped by TV programmes like Monty Python, as he grew up in the UK.)

My question then, is there a tradition of satire here, particularly on the printed page?

The issue is still knocking round in my own head. Would love your views.

(Incidentally, Isman has a very amusing blog calld The Fool Has Landed and wrote this session up very well himself. And Deepika writes a lovely piece on Manuka.)

*Now can you guess who the obnoxious politician was?

Playwrights Exchange

Here's something exciting coming up soon which I would urge you to support: A Playwrights Exchange - Malaysia, Indonesia and Iran: Women, Writers and Activists. You can check out the full programme on the Instant Cafe Website.

Alias Grace

Went to see the Malthouse Theatre production of Alias Grace last night at KLPac and thoroughly enjoyed it despite being in an advanced state of exhaustion after my up and down trip to Kota Bharu yesterday.

It's remarkable how a whole novel can be adapted to stage and performed by just one actress ... and come over as strongly as the original. Caroline Lee who played Grace Marks throughly deserved her standing ovation. (A one hour forty minute solo show without a break is no joke!)

Was Grace Marks a murderer? I love the way that we're kept guessing ... in the play as in the book ...

Will be doing a play adaptation workshop with Instant Cafe Theatre's FIRSTWoRKS this weekend and am very much looking forward to it.

Atwood Acted

Margaret Atwood is one of my favourite novelists, so I am really looking forward to seeing the adaptation of one of her best known novels, Alias Grace for the stage.

Here's the lowdown:

ALIAS GRACE

CAST & CREW
Presenter : The Instant Cafe Theatre Company & Malthouse Theatre with the support of the Australian High Commission

SYNOPSIS:

"Murderess. Murderess. The word rustles like a tafetta skirt across the floor."

In 1844 sixteen-year-old Grace Marks is convicted of the brutal murder of her employer and his pregnant mistress. Eight years later she is offered the chance to redeem herself, but telling a story is never an innocent act.

In her brilliant portrayal of the celebrated murderess in the play alias Grace, award-winning Australian actress Caroline Lee transforms into Marks in a performance as intimate as it is dangerous. The character is based on the real-life Grace Marks, one of the most notorious Canadian women of the 1840s.

Alias Grace, Margaret Atwood's multi-award winning novel, has been adapted for the stage by Laurence Strangio. The KL production is supported by the Australian Government, through the Australia International Cultural Council in commemoration of the 50th Anniversary of Relations between Malaysia and Australia.

Venue : Pentas 2 Duration : 4 - 8 July 2007
Category : Drama Price : RM37 and RM22

Newbie Playwrights Take on the World

Interview with my friend Animah Kosai in Starmag today about the writing of her play Melaka 2007 for Instant Cafe Theatre's First Works programme, which I blogged about the other day.

Animah talks about how she managed to fit writing into her life, when she says she has:

... a consuming job and a consuming child. ...

To do something unrelated is enjoyable. ... However, switching from legal writing to creative writing is a challenge ... Lawyers are trained to be very clear in their meaning. As a writer, it’s very boring being crystal clear. A lot of my characters will just put across a point of view and then there will be a counterview. It’s almost like watching a court battle in progress because that’s the way I think, that’s the way I talk.

The paper also features first time playwright Shanon Shah (who is also a journalist and singer/songwriter). He says:

Firstworks wants new works that confront serious issues, intelligently. Therefore, all participants have to dig into themes that really “burn” within them and ask: What are the demons I need to confront, within me and in my plays?

Shanon says that he is very angry about about how religion is being used to oppress people and has written Air Cond, a play about violence in a boy’s school to address the theme.

I’m continuously baffled by how little writing we have here. We have so many stories. If there’s so much to tell, Malaysians should say something.

- says Animah. To learn how you can participate in the programme and tell your own story through drama check back to my previous post.