Broken Bridges

Ipoh. A town many have come to appreciate not only as a place famous for its "nga choi kai" and "pak kopi" but also as a place where many local movies and theatre are based. I asked the question, "Why Ipoh?. Why not Seremban?"

Probably because of its colonial building which reflects the olden time of Malaya, considering its history for being the biggest deposit of tin in the world and that it was one of the few early settlements by the East India Company.

It was pretty interesting to watch a play that were penned by two 20+ year old scriptwriters from Ipoh. The oppurtunity to have their script picked by Joe Hasham and have him direct it must be a dream come true for this young amateurs. In hearing the hype that were publicise for this show and also recommendation from friends, I decided to head on down to KLPac with my sisters, Terry and Peaky to catch it. It was a first time theatre experience for Peaky and its always good to introduce friends to the world of theatre. I could still remember my first theatre experience at Kallang theatre in Singapore watching "Miss Saigon". The experience totally blew me away, thanks to my uncle which left me wanting for more.

The play was well directed with various emotions brought into play. There was laughter fuse together with some Ipon Cantonese, emotional moments that was quite "kam tong" and comical moments that simply got me in stitches (totally enjoyed the nerdy girl character who tried to dance with the other girls.) Douglas Lim (from the acclaimed Kopitiam) was a great actor to watch as you could his character from his facial expression. His body language seem to remind me of Samuel from Malacca, which most of us pretty agreed. I was estounded by the voice of the beggar on the street who started the play with a chorus that blew away. I heard that she was apart of the KL Singers. "Siew Yee" was also great to watch as I was in awe by her voice control. Most of the actors and actresses had great voices that never seem to shiver. The stage was well done. I was totally impress by the opening scene as to how the board that blocks the main stage suddenly broke away nicely. I can't seem to describe it. One of my curiosity was how they manage to allign the movable probs exactly at a specific spot that allowed the lights on top to create an interesting reflection. I was also quite intrique by the stage crew as one of them turn the movable stage which getting into play and guiding "Siew Yee" off from it and disappearing from the crowd. You notice him yet not feel it was out of place. Music was simple yet witty in lyrics. The arrangement of the song was good whereby I especially like the four part chorus where each sang different lyrics with common melody that didnt seem to clash at all.

I guess one of the comments that I have regarding about the show was the characters. Most of the characters on stage were quite good. However, I was curious to know where did "Siew Yee" and Douglas's cousin went. It was like there were in a scene, sang a song and did not know where they were after that. It didnt seem that they were needed to be on the stage. Douglas new found love, the chee cheong fan girl died a peculiar death as she supposedly committed suicide. The scene showed her getting a clothes hanger and jabbing beneath her abdomen as an act of abortion. I was shocked to hear she died in which it didnt really look like a suicide.

Overall, it was quite a good play. I guess I understand why Joe Hasham mentioned that it had a lot of potential that could be explored which I believe Joe did a good job in directing it. The idea of trying to be yourself, to search for your dreams and accomplish it not knowing that such decision may affect others in the process especially people that are close to you like your family and friends. The irony is getting to do what you want and ending up in the same place is what interest me. Sometimes its better to stay where you are and achieve what your parents already accomplished like running a family business and carrying on the heritage. At times, the desire to be someone can be really tempting. However, this can be done if it does not affect someone else. Its a hard decision to make as any decision make will affect things around you. That is why it is never easy to make a decision especially a decision that involved others.

For reviews, please check the following links.

Kakiseni, Malay Mail, The Star, YTL Community

Note: 2 September was the official opening of KLPac.