I was exposed to theaters at my very young age when I still didn't know what it is all about. It was back in 1993, where Malaysian economy is still at the peak of prosperity before the 1998 economic crisis that my father ran a company offering creative works and consultation. Among his awarded jobs are design sets for theaters produced by National Art's Academy or Akademi Seni Kebangsaan (ASK) (Currently ASWARA..offering academic program until Diploma level) apart from numbers of TV programs sets, Shopping mall's festive decorations and tourism promotions. During that time, Istana Budaya haven't been build and theaters were performed at Panggung DBKL, MATIC and ASK itself. I couldn't remember all the titles but mostly it was directed by old skool like Uda & Dara by Ahmad Yatim and Kena Main by Khalid Salleh. Practically, we could watch all the theaters for free but at that age, I am still fond towards collecting Marvel cards more than this artistic performances.
In college, theaters were performed annually for Merdeka and sometimes on Teacher's Day, mostly organized by MC Production House (abbreviated as MC Prod..hehe..always fought with lebai-lebai among us when organizing concerts). It was really busy to be part of the production team (reasons to escape prep classes and stay up late over light's off time) but also full of joy. I have involved in few of them, if not all and have enjoyed every second of pre- and post works of it (although I do always get a role as a Japanese kenpetai or kenpei, maybe because my eyes...sepet).
Unfortunately, I have missed to watch both of our latest and greatest (by testimony from critics and theater fans) theater production which were the Puteri Gunung Ledang: The Musical and P.Ramlee The Musical. Craving to watch it from Japan, I only could read or view it partly from the inform
ations available online (online newspaper, blogs and YouTube). However, I am very happy that during the Panasonic summer seminar, we have been given an opportunity to watch a musical theater performance by Shiki, an illustrious theatrical group in Japan. This 'Lion King' musical based on the original Disney Pixar animation Lion King were presented in a splendid 2 hour performance. Looking forward to watch more performances by Shiki!!
Last 23-25 November, Kyoto University held its November Festival (大学園祭 Daigakuensai). Luckily, I have been invited by a friend (who is also an actor in this theater) to come to a play entitled 'Red Demon' (Aka-Oni..please refer to the Kanji in red) specially performed for this festival. I was very 'lucky' because my new friend doesn't even know that I love theaters but instead just invited me to come. This play is a masterpiece by Hideki Noda, a famous playwright of modern Japan. The original version is entirely in Japanese language but this play have also been staged in English, Thai and Korean languages too. For this Kyodai version, it is performed in bilingual mode, English and Japanese to suit a bigger audience.
Red Demon is a story of humanity. It starts with a man who was washed up to an iso
lated island with no means to communicate and explain where he is from. The islanders then mistakenly thought him as a red demon, who possibly eat human flesh for food and related to some monster. However, he has been taken care well by That Woman (Ano Onna), a girl who lives with her brother and sister. That Woman is the only person who could communicate with the Red Demon. The villagers however misunderstood the good deed of this Red Demon in an incident where he saved a baby from being kidnapped. The Red Demon together with That Onna were then executed by the villagers but That Onna's siblings managed to save both of them and left together in a rowboat. Their tiring journey begins and the play ends when all of them came to a place with beautiful rainbow, far away over the seas.
In my opinio
n, the Red Demon play actually symbolizes the beginning of the modern period of Japan (late 19th century-present) where Japanese ended their seclusion from the world and rushed to catch up with the industrialized West (Meiji government policy). During that period, foreigners start to dwell into the society and as typical as everywhere in the world, differences in culture, language and characters start to form a slight spark of doubts between the locals and the outsiders. However, Hideki Noda through Red Demon wish to deliver to all of his audiences (especially his fellow Japanese) that the new world (represent by the analogy 'the land beyond the sea') needed all of us to tolerate between each other peacefully, learn to accept dissimilarities and changes.
Recent unhealthy issues represents by street demonstrations, peace walks and outraged by minorities back in Malaysia reminded me that we Malaysians should also learn something from this Red Demon play. Malaysia has been famously renowned for its delicate ethno-political balance, and this could only be maintained if we keep opening up our minds to accept differences and learn to live in it by tolerating among us. Malaysia has always been open to the world even since Malacca glorious years where languages, religions and cultures of the world had passed through here. So there is no reason why we can't survive another centennial of peace, respect and mutual prosperity.
(I purposely wrote this just an escapism out of my busy laboratory works and experiments..Afterall, what is the value of science without humanity....)
Unfortunately, I have missed to watch both of our latest and greatest (by testimony from critics and theater fans) theater production which were the Puteri Gunung Ledang: The Musical and P.Ramlee The Musical. Craving to watch it from Japan, I only could read or view it partly from the inform
ations available online (online newspaper, blogs and YouTube). However, I am very happy that during the Panasonic summer seminar, we have been given an opportunity to watch a musical theater performance by Shiki, an illustrious theatrical group in Japan. This 'Lion King' musical based on the original Disney Pixar animation Lion King were presented in a splendid 2 hour performance. Looking forward to watch more performances by Shiki!!Last 23-25 November, Kyoto University held its November Festival (大学園祭 Daigakuensai). Luckily, I have been invited by a friend (who is also an actor in this theater) to come to a play entitled 'Red Demon' (Aka-Oni..please refer to the Kanji in red) specially performed for this festival. I was very 'lucky' because my new friend doesn't even know that I love theaters but instead just invited me to come. This play is a masterpiece by Hideki Noda, a famous playwright of modern Japan. The original version is entirely in Japanese language but this play have also been staged in English, Thai and Korean languages too. For this Kyodai version, it is performed in bilingual mode, English and Japanese to suit a bigger audience.
Red Demon is a story of humanity. It starts with a man who was washed up to an iso
lated island with no means to communicate and explain where he is from. The islanders then mistakenly thought him as a red demon, who possibly eat human flesh for food and related to some monster. However, he has been taken care well by That Woman (Ano Onna), a girl who lives with her brother and sister. That Woman is the only person who could communicate with the Red Demon. The villagers however misunderstood the good deed of this Red Demon in an incident where he saved a baby from being kidnapped. The Red Demon together with That Onna were then executed by the villagers but That Onna's siblings managed to save both of them and left together in a rowboat. Their tiring journey begins and the play ends when all of them came to a place with beautiful rainbow, far away over the seas.In my opinio
n, the Red Demon play actually symbolizes the beginning of the modern period of Japan (late 19th century-present) where Japanese ended their seclusion from the world and rushed to catch up with the industrialized West (Meiji government policy). During that period, foreigners start to dwell into the society and as typical as everywhere in the world, differences in culture, language and characters start to form a slight spark of doubts between the locals and the outsiders. However, Hideki Noda through Red Demon wish to deliver to all of his audiences (especially his fellow Japanese) that the new world (represent by the analogy 'the land beyond the sea') needed all of us to tolerate between each other peacefully, learn to accept dissimilarities and changes.Recent unhealthy issues represents by street demonstrations, peace walks and outraged by minorities back in Malaysia reminded me that we Malaysians should also learn something from this Red Demon play. Malaysia has been famously renowned for its delicate ethno-political balance, and this could only be maintained if we keep opening up our minds to accept differences and learn to live in it by tolerating among us. Malaysia has always been open to the world even since Malacca glorious years where languages, religions and cultures of the world had passed through here. So there is no reason why we can't survive another centennial of peace, respect and mutual prosperity.
(I purposely wrote this just an escapism out of my busy laboratory works and experiments..Afterall, what is the value of science without humanity....)
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