Saturday, February 28, 2004

Teater Kasanova – Macam keropok cicah sos cili betik

(Ringan, pedas-pedas manis, sesekali lebih minyak)


KASANOVA

Karya dan Arahan: Kalam Hamidi
Lakonan : Khatijah Tan, Ibrahim Akir, Zakaria Yusof dan pelakon-pelakon teater Kelab Kilat Kuala Lumpur
Tajaan Bersama: Tenaga Nasional Berhad, Kementerian Kebudayaan, Kesenian dan Pelancongan Malaysia

Sinopsis: Mengisahkan Tok Guru, seorang guru agama yang fanatik mempunyai seorang anak bernama Zulkifli (mendapat pendidikan sekolah agama di Kelantan dan baru menjadi Ustaz sekolah menengah di Kuala Lumpur). Kerana minat dan bakat, Zulkifli telah melibatkan diri sebagai pelakon utama sebuah persembahan teater berjudul “KASANOVA”. Apabila gambar Zulkifli bersama heroin persembahan tersebut, Siti Norbaya, tersiar dalam akhbar dan majalah untuk publisiti, seluruh kampung terutama keluarganya dan keluarga tunangnya kecoh dengan kemungkinan Zulkifli bercinta dengan Siti Norbaya seperti yang dilaporkan akhbar. Bagi mengatasi masalah ini, keluarga kedua-dua pihak bersetuju untuk memanggil Zulkifli pulang serta-merta untuk dinikahkan dengan cara mengirim telegram menyatakan ayahnya meninggal dunia. Rancangan itu bagaimanapun dibocorkan oleh sahabat (juga sepupu) Zulkifli, Lebai Kidam. Namun begitu Zulkifli tetap pulang untuk mengisytiharkan beliau sebenarnya telah berkahwin dengan Siti Norbaya.



Teater Kasanova diadakan sebagai persembahan amal untuk mengisi tabung kemanusiaan gempa bumi Iran. Pada malam persembahan ada kotak derma kira-kira 2 kaki tinggi, banyak juga isinya, yang masukkan cek pun ada (tak sempat nak intai berapa RM nilainya, haha). Apabila persembahan dimulakan, kotak derma turut diangkut ke dalam, yalah nanti hilang pula duit derma tak tentu fasal. Hairan juga kenapa info tentang persembahan tersebut sebagai usaha amal tidak disertakan dalam poster promo yang diedarkan, dah sampai ke sana baru aku dapat tahu.

kasanova1

[ Zakaria Yusof & Ibrahim Akir ]

Teater Kasanova juga bertujuan memberi pendedahan dan pengalaman kepada Kumpulan Teater Kelab Kilat Kuala Lumpur untuk mengembangkan sayap mereka selain menyertai Pertandingan Pekan Teater / Festival Teater Wilayah Persekutuan setiap tahun semenjak 1997 – mereka berjaya mencapai keputusan Naib Johan Tahun 1997 dan Tempat Ketiga Tahun 2003, not bad. Kelab Kilat adalah sebuah pertubuhan berdaftar yang bergiat aktif dalam menjalankan aktiviti-aktiviti sukan, rekreasi, kebudayaan, kesenian dan sebagainya di Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB). Ahli-ahlinya terdiri dari anggota kerja TNB dan juga pelajar Universiti Tenaga Nasional yang berdaftar menjadi ahli Kelab Kilat.

Pertemuan singkat dengan Khatijah Tan pada petang hari ketiga persembahan mengundang senyuman di hati. Aku ke MTC petang tu untuk mendapatkan pas percuma bagi persembahan malam terakhir (ambil iktibar dari tiket-tiket persembahan lain yang pernah aku kempunan dulu). Malangnya hanya deretan buku cenderamata bersusun di atas meja dan poster Kasanova pada stand dengan dominan warna biru dan merah (warna korporat TNB) menyambut kehadiranku. Agh... tak ada pula dinyatakan di mana-mana bila masanya untuk ambil pas tersebut, aku pun satu, tak ada mengambil sebarang inisiatif untuk pastikan maklumat berkenaan. Padan muka. Aku berkira-kira sendiri sambil melangkah ke perkarangan Saloma Bistro - tunggu terus di MTC dan tengok persembahan malam itu juga , atau datang saja pada hari terakhir nanti seperti yang dirancang, harap-harap tak lambat dan dapat ambil pas sebelum persembahan dimulakan. Tiba-tiba ekor mataku menangkap kelibat seorang wanita berjalan dari arah tempat letak kereta, eh, macam biasa tengok. Kutuju ke arah beliau dan kusapa wanita yang diingati ramai sebagai Mak Uda, isteri kepada Pak Uda lakonan Zami Ibrahim dalam rancangan Pi Mai Pi Mai Tang Tu - sitkom tempatan yang paling lama bertahan di kaca televisyen setakat ini kalau tak silap.

“Saya ni sebenarnya nak ambil pas untuk show hari Jumaat , tapi tak ada orang la kat depan dewan.. nanti Jumaat baru nak ambik takut habis..”
“Eh... iye ke...tak ada orang ya? Macam nilah, kalau pas tu dah habis, cakap je awak kawan Khatijah Tan!”


Agak-agak kalau aku betul-betul buat macam tu, lepas ke?

kasanova2

[ Khatijah Tan ]

Aku bertanyakan sambutan malam pertama dan kedua, katanya o.k!, boleh tahan juga. Setelah meminta diri aku membuat keputusan untuk datang hari Jumaat saja seperti rancangan asal. Ternyata kerisauanku, unfounded kata orang putih. Pada malam terakhir persembahan, tak payah ambil pas pun tak apa, masuk saja! Penonton memenuhi separuh kapasiti tempat duduk yang ada. Betapa berbezanya dengan sambutan persembahan malam terakhir Dejavu di tempat yang sama beberapa minggu lalu.

Konsep bagi intro yang dipersembahkan menarik. Mula-mula nampak jalan cerita dimulakan dengan watak empat orang buta berbual-bual di atas pentas, kemudian seolah-olah seperti sesi pengenalan sahaja sebenarnya apabila kata-kata mereka ditujukan kepada penonton secara langsung (melalui pantun dalam dendangan irama lagu ‘Rasa Sayang’ yang sungguh kreatif dan menggelikan hati - ”Penonton memang bertuah, dapat tengok persembahan free!” katanya), diselitkan pula sesi bersemangat seolah-olah ceramah politik pro-kerajaan (demam pilihanraya nyata dah bermula pada waktu itu). Diikuti dengan ucapan selamat menonton dan sedikit monolog dari tuan pengarah tentang pengalaman beliau. Aku sangkakan sah cerita belum bermula lagi… panjang sungguh intronya. Ahh… rupa-rupanya sudahh!! Itu kononnya babak sesi latihan bagi persembahan teater dalam cerita tersebut – cerita dalam cerita. Hm.. bijakkk bijakk.. Ted tertipu bang!!

Satu perkara yang agak menggusarkan ialah terlalu kerap dewan digelapkan bagi pertukaran babak, kadangkala aku rasa babak tu terlalu sekejap, transition begini sedikit mengganggu tumpuanku dan juga agak merimaskan, sekejap sekejap gelap, sekejap sekejap gelap lagi. Mungkin boleh dikurangkan sedikit, contoh ketara pada satu babak Zakaria Yusof menulis telegram, tak sampai pun setengah minit dah gelap semula. Namun langkah memainkan muzik selingan pada beberapa ‘waktu gelap’ tersebut sekurang-kurangnya menyediakan mood bagi penonton dan mengurangkan kebosanan.

Lakonan Ibrahim Akir berkesan sebagai Tok Guru yang taksub pegangannya dan mempunyai minda yang agak tertutup, hinggakan semua pakaian moden padanya pakaian bercirikan orang kafir. Dibidas oleh salah seorang anak muridnya, ”Kopiah, serban, jubah yang Tok Guru pakai, semuanya orang kafir yang buat!” Yalah, besar kemungkinan buatan negara China kan. Ahh pedas. Kalau makan cili, pasti terasa.

Khatijah Tan dengan mudah membawa watak Mak Limah (satu watak yang aku kira cukup natural baginya), seorang ibu yang mementingkan anak-anak dan seorang isteri yang sudah masak dengan perangai suaminya setelah berpuluh-puluh tahun usia perkahwinan. Walaupun cuma seorang suri rumah, ternyata minda beliau lebih terbuka dari suaminya dan boleh menerima perkara-perkara baru dan moden.

kasanova3

[ "Lebai?? Muka macam komunis je..."]

Zakaria Yusof sebagai Lebai Kidam adalah watak yang paling aku gemari, dengan mimik mukanya yang bersahaja, pada mulanya bersifat macam wireless internet membawa berita dan batu api yang memburukkan keadaan, tetapi di akhir cerita dia yang membuka rahsia. Di kaca televisyen beliau kerap diberikan watak komunis dan orang jahat, hingga di kepala aku pun dah lekat imej tersebut. Baru kali ini kuketahui nama sebenarnya.

Watak-watak lain lebih bertindak sebagai penyokong untuk melengkapkan babak, seperti Lebai Muda (Elrinor Azis) sebagai watak untuk establish sikap fanatik Tok Guru, menyindir-nyindir Tok Guru yang berbangga dengan pengalaman beliau mengajar lebih 20 tahun di Mekah dan Madinah. (Lebai Muda: ”Keldai lagi lama tinggal di Tanah Arab, dah beribu-ribu tahun keturunan dia, tapi, mandi junub pun tak tahu!!”). Macam kurang ajar pun ada Lebai Muda ni. Cikgu Yunan (Nazri Aziz) dengan tali leher besarnya kata makcikku adalah stereotaip guru zaman itu, ingin membawa arus kemodenan kepada penduduk kampung secara lembut. Watak Zulkifli walaupun menjadi penyebab cerita tidak berapa menyerlah, kemunculannya hanya sebentar di awal dan akhir persembahan.

Setnya ringkas, pentas MTC yang luas (mungkin dua setengah kali ganda lebih besar dari pentas di Actors Studio Bangsar) menjadi ruang tengah rumah Tok Guru / ruang mengajar, ada set meja makan ringkas dan satu rak penuh buku-buku. Di dinding penuh pelbagai hiasan bercirikan Islamik. Dua pintu keluar masuk kiri dan kanan, berhias langsir panjang beropol-ropol (macam kat rumah lama nenek aku). Klasik.

Rumah Tok Guru tak ada televisyen, maksiat katanya. Pada beberapa babak kita dapat saksikan konflik yang timbul antara Mak Limah dan Tok Guru, tentang kaedah mereka membesarkan anak, pilihan pembelajaran untuk anak-anak. Walaupun menjadi isteri Tok Guru yang lebih 20 tahun di Mekah dan Madinah, Mak Limah tetap berpendapat anak-anak tidak semestinya pula mengikut jejak langkah ayah mereka menjadi guru agama juga, dihantar ke sekolah pondok dan mengenepikan langsung ilmu dunia. Dan televisyen! Ah… dalam menyebut betapa anak-anak mungkin “teringin menonton televisyen”, sebenarnya itu adalah suara hatinya sendiri.

kasanova7

[ Zakaria Yusof, Elrinor Azis, Ausfarani Sahak ]

Jalan cerita Kasanova seperti di atas ringkas sahaja, malah ada dinyatakan dari mula sampai habis dalam buku cenderamata. Eh, tak thrill la macam ni. Mengambil period sekitar akhir 60-an atau awal 70-an, Kasanova secara umumnya bernada komedi, membenarkan cara percakapan dan aksi-aksi yang sesekali terlebih, exaggerated, jarang dibuat dalam kehidupan sebenar seperti cara anak-anak murid menyambut ajaran guru mereka, ”Kalau cium tangan ulamaaa… samalah seperti mencium tangan? Nabi nabiiiii!!! –aku suka bahagian ni, lucu dan ohhh sinisnya.

kasanova4

[ Lebai Kasim (Mohd. Yusri Mohd. Nasir)]


kasanova5

[ Lebai Jusuh (Wan Syamsul Fadli Wan Yaacob)]


kasanova6

[ "Percayalah cakap saya ni Tok Guru.. tak tipu punya!!"]


kasanova8

[ Pre-wedding jitters. Shazura is the mak andam in blue]

Perjalanan persembahan pasti lebih lancar kalau tidak terlalu kerap digelapkan dewan untuk pertukaran babak. Intro menarik, jalan cerita yang diisi sedikit-sedikit isu tentang pembangunan dan ulama dipaparkan secara bersahaja mengelakkan mood persembahan menjadi terlalu serius (aku tak suka komedi yang terlalu ‘berusaha’ untuk menjadi serius), cuma pada penghujungnya aku berpendapat kepulangan Zulkifli mengumumkan perkahwinannya tidak begitu berkesan. Namun sebagai teater pertama dari Kelab Kilat yang aku tonton, gambarannya memberangsangkan. Aku pasti akan cuba hadiri persembahan mereka yang lain pula.

kasanova9

[ Ending scene ]

Untuk persembahan percuma ini, 3.2 bintang aku berikan. Semoga ada lagi persembahan percuma yang lebih baik di masa hadapan! Dan harapnya letaklah informasi lebih lengkap pada poster ya…

Trivia :

1) Bukan orang asing dalam bidang teater dan penulisan, nama sebenar Kalam Hamidi adalah Abdul Malik Abdul Hamid, dikenali sebagai Panglima Drama pada zaman kegemilangannya.
2) Pak Kalam pernah diserang penduduk kampung di Brunei kerana menjadi orang pertama membawa naik perempuan ke pentas teater.
3) Skrip Kasanova sudah lama dihantar kepada Persatuan Karyawan Dewan Bandaraya Kuala Lumpur (DBKL) dan hanya menerima maklum balas daripada Kementerian Kebudayaan, Kesenian dan Pelancongan selepas tiga tahun.
4) Khatijah Tan pernah diiktiraf sebagai Aktres Pembantu Terbaik di Festival Asia Pasifik ke-47 menerusi filem Embun serta dianugerahkan Pingat Bintang Seniman dalam Anugerah Perdana Seniman 2004 baru-baru ini.

Friday, February 27, 2004

Kasanova tonight

Kasanova poster


Will be going for the show tonight if the free passes are still available. Last performance of the run. Want to catch a friend, Shazura, in action. And it's free some more. Ho ho ho, thank you sponsors!

Wednesday, February 25, 2004

The great water dispenser mystery



What used to be like this....




...is now like this. Now, which one is 'Hot'? Which one is 'Cold'? What if you can't read?


One Nestum 3-in-1, please. Hot or Cold, whichever.


Monday, February 23, 2004

Election Day – The play

Go to this post for related pictures.


E L E C T I O N
D A Y


Playwright : Huzir Sulaiman
Director : Krishen Jit
Actress : Jo Kukathas
Produced by : Five Arts Centre

“A hilarious and wickedly incisive look at friendship and secrets amidst the notorious 1999 Malaysian general elections.”

Showing at The Actors Studio, Bangsar until 29 February 2004.


It was very early in the morning on November 30, the day after the Malaysian general election day of 1999 and Francis was recounting the string of events that took place during the last 24 hours between himself and his two housemates, Dedric and Fozi. It all started with fighting sounds ensuing from Fozi’s room, which the ‘beautiful and enigmatic’ Natasha (Fozi’s girlfriend) stormed out of some moments later. Francis’ snooping tactics (very near to the door but not exactly there) revealed that the fight was over Natasha’s whereabouts between midnight and 6 a.m., and she’s not saying anything about it.

Later Francis went along with Dedric (an NGO fella, BA supporter) to help out in the campaigning of their local Keadilan candidate. The three housemates were subsequently together at the polling station, doing last-minute canvassing a.k.a memancing undi. After the polling ended, naturally waiting for the announcements of the election results was next on the agenda.

Along the occasion, the clashing personalities of the three friends became apparent, each with a different set of ideologies and principles, political or otherwise. Mutual issues persisted, matters of the past resurfaced and a few secrets were revealed.

The friends were pitted against each other and towards the end we’d see how one of them was actually very much more than what he seemed to be, having played an extensive part in the past that affected the present lives of his two so-called friends slash housemates. Heck, even the fact that they were housemates was owed to his ulterior agenda in the first place!

To make the assumption (as I did initially) that ‘Election Day’ is a play purely about political issues due to its title would be a mistake. It’s not. While political concerns are certainly very strong in the backbone of the storyline in addition to serving as the background setting of the whole play, issues regarding the lines crossed over friendship, morality and the clashing of principles made a compelling presence. A part in the closing scene lines lingered in my mind longer than the rest -
Francis: This is not a political story...... To have a woman like this, I will put two thousand of you away. I do not care. I do not care.

Reading the other works of Huzir in the book ‘Eight Plays’, it is an example of his thought-provoking portrayals of the inner-side of the human nature that peppered his work with a certain truthful and (a lot of the time) surprising manner.

The play started on an intriguing tone, sometimes quickening its pace with some scenes making me literally holding my breath; while at other times it came dragging a bit that I was wondering whether it’s almost time for intermission (there was no intermission though). There was a post-play discussion afterwards with the executive producer, Marion Cruz and Jo Kukathas, where I think about 30-40 of the audience stayed behind for that night (second show of the run). Most of the creative and production team was also present during the discussion, chipping in their responses at certain questions.

Jo Kukathas in action as usual was a visual and auditory delight to witness. Even while taking my seat before the show started I was still sceptical of the fact that it would be one actress portraying three different male characters, but at the end of the performance those doubts vanished into thin air. She created different voices, mannerisms and overall impression for Francis, Dedric and Fozi down pat to distinctive body posture and facial expression for each character. Coupled with Huzir’s articulate writing there wasn’t much room for confusion in the play whether it was Francis, Dedric or Fozi at the moment.

One of the things that I like to note while watching theatre performances is the stage design, where usually there’d be more than meets the eye. The set for Election Day seemed minimalist, the main feature being ten plastic chairs placed seemingly at a random distribution on the stage, with another ten similar pieces suspended from the ceiling at a spot that corresponds to each chair below. Patterns bearing likeness to the slots in ballot papers complete with the X’s criss-crossed in lines on the floor, and light bulbs hanging above head-level with a seemingly even distribution finished the picture. Jo transformed the chairs into tables, shelter, bed, car seat and other articles as the play flowed from one scene to another. Different bulbs went on at selected times to focus on one particular spot, and also served to show the ‘moment of truth’ when all of them came alight during the final ‘revelation’ scene, before dimming back again during the announcement at the end which I’d rather read as a depiction of the uncertainty of the future.

During the post-play discussion, Marion pointed out that it is up to the audience to read into the underlying aspects of the play, and that there shouldn’t be a definite set of assumptions and opinions for it as long as one has another to make. For that reason one person may perceive a completely different impression from the other although they saw the same performance at the same time. She drew on the opinion of an audience of the day before who saw the suspended chairs as a portrayal of the country’s fate hanging-in-the-balance, and the chairs denoting the different positions that the characters take when I put in my piece of mind regarding them as the portrayal of the contrasting principles and values as well as a symbolism of the reflections in oneself.

A big issue was of course the DBKL approve / not approve debacle, where the notion “Narrowing of the creative space” was discussed, of which many voiced as a backward step in the development of the local theatre scene. Personally, apart from the swear words (which I didn’t mind being crossed out), I found some of the rephrased lines rather ridiculous (stating the name of a bank and a pharmacy also cannot ah?), and reading the full actual script (so glad we bought the book) I think a lot of the Ooomph! factor from Huzir’s sarcastic lines full of acerbic wit were lost due to the review. Thanks to the list of the objectionable words / phrases and its replacements pasted outside the venue (a couple of pictures here), the audience were I was able to grasp some of the finer points which may have been I might've missed otherwise.

(Note: I shouldn't have generalized my own understanding with the rest of the audience. I profess of being not very familiar with the individual characteristics of the people in Malaysian politics apart from those very prominent ones, so I would've missed some of the references if not for said list. Thank you SM for making me aware of this.)

A well-spent evening for me in gearing myself up for the actual coming general elections - which would be my very first (if my name is not left out of the electoral list, that is). Ha.

Overall rating: 3.7 out of 5

Sunday, February 22, 2004

A Monalisa smile? Nah, not really.

Presenting... an exclusive recent pic of the infamous Tom. See?



Well, just his smile actually. Heh heh. *sheepish grin*

And to the wise ones who predicted it won't last,
You. Are. So. Right.

(Cue for appropriate goodbye song)

Thursday, February 19, 2004

Glad to update that Cy is safely back home.

And this week, I am the assigned contributor for dailymalaysia.org, a collaborative Malaysian photoblog. *grin*

dailyMalaysia.org is an online project that is updated in journal-like fashion with a new locally shot photo each day by a contributing photographer selected for the week. The next week, a new photographer will take over the job and so on. And you don't need to be a professional (or else they won't accept me lah to contribute), practically anyone can participate as long as you have a camera, would be in Malaysia during your assigned week and have Internet access to upload the pictures daily.

Check it out!

Wednesday, February 18, 2004

Bad Medicine


My friend, hospitalized the previous Monday morning for a supposedly standard procedure to remove his appendix was admitted into the intensive care unit following the appendectomy. I was told that his vital signs destabilized after the operation and he had to be hooked on to the life-support system as he was having trouble breathing on his own.

Inexorably, dread and fear for the worst occupied my wits ever since I got the news in the evening. In my mind, the whole thing should’ve been safely over by that time. I had even sent a get-well SMS to his cellphone, cracking a silly joke about the appendicitis; expecting him to be up and about reading the message and having a laugh over the matter. I mean, people have their appendix removed every day, it’s almost like having a wisdom tooth taken out or something like that; to be over and done with in a couple of hours. You are not supposed to go to the ICU for appendicitis, right?

Cy finally regained his consciousness around 4 a.m. the next day, then was taken off the ventilator and transferred to the High Dependency Unit a few hours later as his condition stabilized. I arrived at the hospital after work still unsure on what to expect as I pass by the other patients in the Unit with all sorts of tubes and wires about their person; the hiss and beeps of the various machines like living creatures on their own were the only sounds that could be heard. After all that, it was certainly a delight to be greeted by the sight of him propped on the standard issue pillows, beaming that familiar smile of his, lighting up the sombre mood. Still got that oxygen line and several other lines strapped on him, plus he had to pause occasionally to catch his breath but otherwise he looked almost his usual self, jokes and sarcastic remarks included. He certainly was the healthiest-looking patient there, the only one able to talk I think, too able perhaps that it warranted a warning from the nurse on duty.
"Tau tak awak tu sakit, mana boleh bercakap banyak-banyak, kalau dah pindah wad biasa nanti barulah boleh nak layan kawan ramai-ramai, bukan sekarang".
("Don’t you realize you are sick? You’re not supposed to talk that much, when you’re transferred to the normal ward then you can have many visitors, but not now.")


Apparently the condition was caused by a bad reaction to the anesthetic administered during the procedure, an allergy or something that the medical team failed to foresee.
"Mana aku nak tau ada alergi ke apa ke, bukan aku pernah kena operate!"
("How was I supposed to know I have anything like that, I’ve never been in for an operation before!")


Any medically-inclined reader or two in the house? Doc? I’ve read of bad reactions like this before and I wonder whether it is a case that could have been prevented and whether it was the odd occurrence or something that happens recurrently. Do things usually turn out okay for such cases?

Cy is expected to recover in a few days, but still, it was quite a scare for all of us. It really was.