A Night With Theatres

Theatre is one of the many things that I personally like. I could not missed an oppurtunity to attend a play perform by the Footstools Player on Saturday at SIB KL entitled "Let Go and Let God". I had previously seen this Christian theatrical group when they came to CF two years ago to perform a play entitled," ". They are reknown to perform a colletion of skectches that sends a message about God.

I made by way to KL leaving Seremban at around 2.45pm although the play was scheduled to start at 5.30pm. It would be wise to always give yourself ample of time for a headstart due to the unpredictable traffic in KL. Our prediction were soon to be comfirmed when we were stuck in a traffic jam on the way to South City Serdang to pick up Don who was coming from Kajang. My initial route would be to pass through UPM and MiloShake. However, traffic seems to be at a standstill after the roundabout heading towards Serdang. I decided to make a turn around and headed to the expressway but was met by a similar fate on the way to Mines. I called up Don and was relieved to find him in the same jam very much in front of me. WE finally met up and headed towards KL City where I had stop by at my uncle's office to drop off some stuff and then headed down to Bangsar to get the tickets from Actors Studio that we had book in the morning for "Life....Sdn Bhd Part 2.

I was pretty much excited to find out that there would be a sequel to this show and wanted to go for it. The time was right as I would be down in KL for Footstool Players in the evening and would be able to make it for the show at night as both the places were quite near to one another. Seizing this oppurtunity, I decided to rope in my two sisters who were kinda hesistant to it as they thought it would be a waste of money to see a similar theatre presentation, Don who immediately agreed to my inviatation when I called him up the day before as he had thought of going for it and Shen Shee who was quite adamant at first due to the hectic schedule of CGvCG and Footstool in the day. I did not really publicise my trip to Actors Studio this time and decided to go in a small group instead. My first visit to Actors Studio was organised by my sister under the Creative Arts Ministry in March and we had almost 30 people going for it. It was indeed a nice experience to see a theatre production with such a big group. However, it would be pretty hard to get people to comfirm or even commit to such an outing like this. My previous experience and also experience of others who have organise outings for fellow CFers were met by various problems such as late pullouts, uncomfirm participation and late payments from them. Many times the organisers are taken for granted for their efforts in organising such events. I did not want to put myself in a situation and decided to contain it to a few people.

After the collection of tickets, I headed down to CP Tower near Eastin Hotel and began to fnd out way to SIBKL. This is my very first time visiting SIB although I had heard of this place before. We followed a group of people who we took to be going to the same place as us and made our way to the fourth floor. The church was spread out the entire floor and we seem to be the earlierst group of people from uni to arrived. Their arrival was delayed because of the recently concluded CGvCG. We entered the sanctuary and was seated at the back of the church. The church was spreadout in a longitude arrangement in which the stage was very long giving it a lot of space. There were all together 3 projectors for the audience and there was a TV that was facing the worship leader and backups to see the lyrics. It was interesting to see the music team comprising of both old and young. This seems to be rare from the church I come from where youth and young adult seem to makeup a huge portion of the team.

The ushers that brought us to our seats were very smart in red blazers. There were alot of teenagers in our midst as well. After the collection of the offering, it was quite interesting to see the head ushers bringing the offering bags in front and the entire congregration strechthing their hands out towards the bag and praying for it. My initial though of coming here would be a presentation but I found out that I was in the first Service of the week and it was quite interesting to observe other churches perform their services. Other than that, I was quite surprised to see the amount of CGs they had that were spread out every day of the week. Church and CF would allocate a day for CG and it seems a good idea to spread it out to allow people to attend the different CGs depending on which day they would be free to join.

Footstool Players comprise of a small group of people that includes 4 actors, a sound person and light coordinator. I was quite surprised to find Benjamin playing a part in this production as the light coordinator. It was interesting to see a small group of people putting up a presentation like this. The play was divided into 6 skecthes where two of each of the sketch stated a point. The play was very interesting as it seem to bring about modern life situation and stories from the Bible.

I personally took a liking to the stories from the Bible as this was an different interpretation to what could have happened as some were not explain or told in detailed. My favourite scene would be the one where Abraham brought Isaac to be sacrificed on Moriah. The other would be Peter and John trying to steer the boat to harbour during a storm as Jesus slept in. The soundtrack that were played during the intermission between skectches was very nice. However, there were instances when this intermission were too long that were meant for props arrangements and had caused some to loose focus. I personally though that I had seen 4 sketches but it turns out that I did not realise there was another two.

The Front Scene : Actors and Actresses (From Left : Colin, Sean, Jon & Geri)

Behind the Scenes : Lights & Sound (Ben & Dorothy)


After the show, I was asked for my details from one of the ushers. Don and I were given a booklet and tape for being first timers. Both my sisters seem to be left out as they did not realise them. We made a few hellos and bid our fellow MMU people a fast farewell as we needed to rush down to Bangsar Shopping Mall for our show at 8.30pm

As time was passing by so very quickly, we made our way towards the nearest foodcourt and grab ourselves a quick meal of McDonald which seem to be the most affordable meal there. With a minute to go, we made our way to the theatre and make a quick trip to the bathroom. The girls were as usual slower than guys. Don and myself stood ourselves and I was surveying the area for any familiar faces or celebrities whom I might recognise.

It was always a common sight to catch local celebrities or familiar faces I see on TV or magazines on such events. What I was about to see was simply eye catching when I saw Carmen Soo walked out from the bathroom. Boy, was she stunning in real life. She was accompanied by two of her friends, one look a little bit Eurasion and the other was former Miss Malaysia/Universe Wong Sze Yen. They strut their way to the theatre like scenes from "Legally Blonde". Their makeup was extremely thick. My eyes could not stop looking at Carmen Soo. Her complexion was flawless and her hair was long and beautiful. She was quite short and she seem strike an hour glass shaped body. As I await to tell my sisters and Shen Shee about it, they were made aware about their presence as they were in the toilet together and even got a smile from the gorgeous celebrity.

We made our way thereafter into the hall and soon after the play was to begin. The overall show was like a continuation to the first part as the styles were quite similar to the first as one by one they took the stage from the comfort of their stools and chair and began to tell their life story of a Malaysian. The cast this time brought about some new faces to the Life community. They were namly Jit Murad, Ramli Ibrahim and others whom I could not remember their names. The likes of Patrick Teoh, Ari Ratos, Gavin Yap. Susan Lankaster, Joanne Kam and Ben Tan graced the stage as well. What was interesting was a guy called Dino who was a mute person. It was his first performance and he did an exceptional presentation in both mime and sign language. The list of topics ranges from report card, acid experience, an april joke over national radio that got Patrick Teoh in hot soup, circumcision, gays, a single middle aged woman pressured by society to get married, AIDS/HIV, dance and experiences of a mute person.

It was hilarious at times with interesting jokes that comprise of both vulgar and clean. There were also instances of seriouness that caused the atmosphere to quietened down a little. All in all in was a good show and one of the reason why I like it so much because of its authenticity. I personally took a liking for a few presenters namely Patrick Teoh, Ari Ratos, Gavin Yap and Dino. I was amazed by the usage of the English language, the projection of the voice and the body language that goes with telling a story that capture the heart of the audience. However, I personally did not take a liking to vulgar swears that seem to accompany the story as I believe that a story can be told efficient without the need of profanity.

A Better Preview to the Show.....

Theatre seems to be an avenue that allows one to deliver a message without having any barriers to contain or interrupt one to express their thoughts on a certain matter. This would be taking into consideration expects that is concerned with religious belief and social stigma. I had learned in theatre class to incorporate such freedom in order to express oneself freely. At times, I questioned such considerations. I believe in balance. We should be aware as to what we express less we not cross boundaries and borders which may take a toll on someone and caused that person to feel uncomfortable over one delivery of the message. I feel that many times we incorporate our feelings instead, without thinking before we speak. I was pretty concern when one the presentater began labelling Mat Sallehs as being rude considering that there were Mat Sallehs in the audience. However, such frank opinions would depend on the maturity of one to take such comments from another.

I began to see that those who attend theatre or are in theatre themselves seem to be a different level of maturity. They seem to see things at the a different angle compared to common Malaysian citizen. Such response towards a strong point like this would inevidently result in a big hoo haa. I believe that theatre can be used as a tool to deliver an important message to society that would help create awareness to the certain issues that befall our country. I sometimes likened theatre groups as NGOs who are there to maintain balance within the government stating areas that the government could pay more attention towards or change their purpose to bring the country to another higher level.

Pictures Courtesy from Footstool Players ("Let Go, Let God") & UK Alumni Network (Life Sdn Bhd Part 2)