(Theater) Castaways: The Pitiful Existence of the Incomprehensibles

What would you do if you have a play starring no one? What would you say to a mime? Would you play dead?

 Experience theater like never before. Strange things will happen very soon.

Date: 23rd & 24th April 2013 
Venue: Main Auditorium, 
             International Islamic University Malaysia, Gombak 
Ticket: RM 5 (Student) RM 8 (Public) 
Facebook Page - STAGE: Castaways

For booking of tickets, do contact: 
012 - 205 5118 (Najihah) 
013 - 267 0297 (Sahidatul)

If you're bored and in need of entertainment, do check out this student performance. It's meta theater people! Its theater with a difference.

Peace out!
 

The Staging of Luigi Pirandello's "Six Characters in Search of an Author"

Come one! Come all! Watch IIUM's latest theater offering. In an attempt to show a more serious but humourous side of the theater scene they bring to you Luigi Pirandello's "Six Characters in Search of an Author"

The most popular of Pirandello's comedies, "Six Characters in Search of an Author" tells the tale of six characters whose author has failed to complete their story. Driven to play out the life that is rightfully theirs, these characters interrupt the rehearsal of another Pirandello play and request that they be allowed to live out their lives there, on the stage. Thinking it an interesting theatrical experiment, the manager consents. She soon regrets her decision, however, as the characters refuse to stay within the arbitrary boundaries that she has set for them. Their rebellion against their creator leads them to attack the foundation of the play, ignoring all stage directions and the pleas of the manager until, in the end, tragedy strikes.

Shows: 3 night (7th, 8th and 9th June)

Showtime: 8.30pm

Venue: Main Auditorioum, International Islamic University Malaysia

Tickets: RM 5

For more info contact Aisyah at 013 2171 595

So come watch fictional characters actually come to life and start harassing living breathing pople on the stage. Hope to see you all there!! Peace out!

IIUM Theater Week

I should've done this earlier but I forgot. But since I love my students that much... COME ONE, COME ALL TO IIUM's THEATER WEEK.

You guys better greet me at the door with a kompang, and smoke machine now.

MAP Arts Festival.

No plans for the day? Want something to do? Head on down to the MAP Arts Festival.

MAP is opening its doors TODAY, 27th of March 2010 with a 2-day arts festival. Activities include music, art, sculpture, performances, installations, talks, workshops and art markets alongside social and individual empowerment activities. The festival will introduce MAP’s two spaces: a 6,000 sq ft gallery and a 200-seater experimental theatre named the White Box and Black Box respectively.

In the works is an exciting program of community oriented activities that encompasses the widest possible diversity of creative content. MAP will provide opportunities for arts and cultural producers from multidisciplinary backgrounds. As a meeting point between artists, curators, critics and the public, it will serve as a catalyst for the exchange and exploration of contemporary ideas.

MAP is located in Solaris Dutamas. Details can be obtained via their website, www.mapkl.org or call Alex Yong at 019-3222932, Erna Dyanty at 012-2310961 or Sze at 013-3330852.

Free Admission to ALL Events. Check out their schedule on their Facebook page or just refer to the image below for activities that'll interest you.

Hope to see you there :)

Eww, so the "hentai" wan?

Hentai is Japanese for pervert. And pervert is a great description of most Malay minds. Male & female alike. No exceptions. Mad at that statement? Why would you be? Unless you are one. A hentai, that is ;)

Today, I witnessed another display of Malay hentai-ism during a Mak Yong theater. Yes, you heard right. Hentai-ism during a Mak Yong theater at Istana Budaya. Throughout the entire show, the biggest response came only after corny, porno jokes were told. Not after a beautiful display of Mak yong dancing nor during an intense fight scene nor even after a touching, reunion scene between a long-lost mother and son. During these times the audience were either yawning away or anticipating when the actor will say 'pele' (Penis in Kelantanese dialect) again.

And of course to add insult to injury they just had to throw in a cross-dressing pondan dayang into the mix. These kind of things really makes one wonder if Malay theater can actually survive if they omitted sexual jokes and softy mak nyah from the plots. Seriously, I even heard some guys reviewing the play based on the porno jokes and the pondan element alone. Forget the fact that it was a play to promote Mak Yong. Apparently porno jokes were more important. I'm guessing that these were the same guys who wolf-whistled and hooted when an actor had to embrace an actress. It wasn't even a proper hug. And yet they made such a ruckus. It was bloody humiliating. And it seems like I was not the only ones who felt this way. Several Mat Sallehs came for the show as well and they were actually looking around and shaking their heads when these "moments" happened.

Will there ever be a time when Malays can actually show 'depth' through their mindset. Or is it just wishful thinking on my part since we Malaysians are conditioned to act and think this way. I don't know. What do you think?

Major Word Vomit ALERT!!

To make up for my being absent from this blog for the last couple of weeks, I shall now indulge myself with a really looooooooooooong post. Told you there was gonna be a word vomit. You were forewarned!!

(o_O)V

However, since I myself am not that much of a typist I shall make things short by putting in pictures. Plus, it 3.59 am. Why am I still awake? I'm blaming the BBQ Curry Twisties.

Yuni & Osaka

About a month back, my dear lil sis flew all the way back from Tokyo just to surprise our dear mum. After weeks and weeks of planning we managed to pull the whole thing off without dear mum ever suspecting. Now although we tried to keep it just between the siblings but a major operation like that required external helping hands like our dear cousin Ika, and of course my Aunty Mama. Oh and I also had to rope in Nurul's help due to the strange fact that even though we're living in the digital age where everything can be bought/ arranged online nowadays, this one particular bus company does not sell their Ipoh-Singapore bus tickets at their HQ in Kuala Lumpur. So zaman batu.

Anyways, Yuni stayed for over 2 weeks and then she had to fly back. The pic above shows us having fun in TGIF, the night before her flight back. Our farewell gift to her was a huge steak meal. I wonder how long she'll go without meat again. Poor little carnivore, forced to go on a fish & vegetable diet. LoL.

Yuni will be moving from Tokyo Uni to Osaka Uni as soon as she gets back but Osaka seems to be extremely keen on having her over and have been bugging her with phone calls throughout the entire 2 weeks. I guess the Japanese Embassy scholarship really pay these unis extremely well.

Now there's a reason why so much planning had to be done when Yuni came back. She wasn't alone. I mean she had STUFF!! Lots of it!! Aah, the perks of having a sibling living abroad. I didn't manage to take pictures of all the stuff she brought back for all of us but suffice to say there were a lot of Green Tea boxes being passed around. I myself got some really cool stuff like Japanese makeup, cups with Japanese kanji, Japanese perfume and little knick knacks. But my favourites are these two. A delicate Japanese fan made 100% from bamboo and A clutch made from Kimono silk with a matching hand emroidered purse. The fan was extremely handy during those fan-less days at my apartment.

So now Yuni is in Osaka. She's already started class and seems to be enjoying herself. We do miss her terribly but its not like we live during zaman batu where there was no internet. I see her online every night and we do chat regularly. So since she made the effort to fly back to Malaysia I guess I have to return the favour. Hmm... I wonder how much it'll set me back to go to Osaka?

24hr Theater Project

One word... FUN!! That's all I need to describe the 24hr theater project. Wait! One more word... TIRING!! But still... it was loads of fun!! I met loads of cool new people and had gained so many new experiences that there's no way I'm missing next year's project. Although maybe next year I'm gonna try out as a writer. Try to tackle script writing for a change. I'll probably suck but what the heck. If I suck bad enough I may even win the group one of those "fun" awards they give out. This year my group went home empty-handed but Sheena's group won the 'Most Pretentious Play' award. LoL. Even Syd's group won something. Was it the 'Worst Play' award? Haha... but it was all in fun. It definitely made the night interesting. For those who wants to try out something new next year then this is something you should definitely try out. Imagine some of the participants actually slept in Istana Budaya. Talk about dedication.

IIUM Poetry Night

I'll probably wear out the word FUN after I'm done with this post. But yeah... Poetry Night was super duper fun!! I must say, after all that trepidation about being a Poetry lecturer at the beginning of the semester seems a little funny (see there's the word 'fun' again) now. And I think the students had a lot of fun as well. Sheena and I organised poetry night as a way for students to realise that poetry is not at all boring and can only be found on a page. Plus, it's also a fun way to evaluate the students without turning it into dull and dreary presentations. Plus, we also did a good deed and raised money for the Gaza Relief Fund. It wasn't much but I'm sure every bit counts.

There was a little scerfuffle at first with some so-called "trademark" on Poetry Slam. What's with the deal of an organisation claiming trademark on a genre? According to the trademark we weren't allowed to have a poetry slam unless we gained permission from the organisation first. Whaat?? Total bull if you ask me. Thank goodness Sheena and I were not the only ones who feel that way. So after discussing it with Hazlan, who is totally our hero by the way, we decided to go ahead with the poetry slam. And thank goodness we did because some of the slammers chosen to slam were actually pretty good. We may have found some slammers to actually start competing in actual poetry Slams.

So can you spot the lecturer among the students? Coz I cant.

One of the more creative submissions for visual poetry from my class. There were more but because I'm a poor, poor part-time lecturer who can't afford a camera just yet so I really had to rely on other people's pics. But trust me the other submissions were just as good and just as creative. I'm reall proud of those kids.

Responses to the Poetry Night was extremely positive so here's to hoping that Poetry Night will be a semesterly-thing. Or at least... an annual thing. *fingers crossed*

BENL Reunion Charity Dinner

BENL Alumni organised its second reunion dinner in conjunction with the charity drive to raise funds for the Gaza Relief Fund. It was mostly an effort made by the seniors from Pyan's batch but I ended up helping them out since I know that it'll be fun (hmm, I wonder how many times I've actually used this word in this post) to actually get dressed up and catch up with old friends. Unfortunately the first part of the night was not that fun for me as I was the MC. Being MC is okay but damn these people and their demands and last-minute changes. Don't you get it that MCs also get nervous. Gawd... I was so friggin nervous that I totally flubbed Prof. Q's name during the introduction. My own supervisor's name!! Sheesh! Buat malu mak bapak je.

But as the evening progresses I relaxed and so there were less mistakes. Whew! Surprisingly the turnout this year was better. Last reunion about a quarter of the hall was empty but this time it was definitely a full house. To top it off we managed to raise about RM2000 in donations. So Abang Husni and Pyan definitely deserve a pat on the back for a job well done.

They even brought in some great entertainment that night like the traditional Malay percussion group, Dewangga Sakti and the Al-Aqsa Dabka Dancers. One of the Palestinians was particularly good-looking although you can't see him in the pic. Such a shame that he's so young :P.

This is the group photo of most of the alumnus that came. Don't you feel that somehow this doesn't show BENL folks in their true spirit?

Now that's more like it!!

Again, here's to hoping that there'll be more of this kind of reunion dinner thingies in the future.

I've gone Grey

No... I haven't grown old. Yes I'm in denial about that. Yes I got myself grey contacts. I used to wear the same colour years ago and I kinda missed having them so since they're cheap, what the heck. I got them online for only RM38. And they're wearable up to 6 months to a year at a time. Deal or what?! I've already made my second order. Brown this time. Check out the blog:

Geolens2U

But on another note, I seriously need to do something about my online shopping addiction.

I'm err... more Mature.

Coincidentally my birthday this year fell on class day so I decided what the heck, I'll celebrate it with my class. Plus it'll be a way for me to commemorate my first ever teaching job in IIUM. So I threw a small party. Again... it was FUN. I'm simply amazed at how a certain amount of food could disappear in just a matter of minutes and at how fond I can be towards a bunch of youngsters whom I've known for only a few months. But hey, if they say you'll always remember your first love I guess a teacher of any kind will always remember the first class that they've ever tought.

The gals of ENGL 1515:Section 4. Cute aren't they?

My class. I shall miss teaching these kids.


I'm err... more Mature (part II)

The very next day, IIMU threw a birthday soiree for me as well. Shucks!! I really love those folks. I couldn't manage to get a picture of the cake from the previous party (since it was kinda smushed due to a minor mishap plus the fact that it was gone within 10 minutes) so this time I snapped a picture before anything happened. That my dear readers is a picture of a blueberry chocolate sponge cake bought from a small but very good bakery in Sri Gombak, called Hidayah Bakery. Sangat sedap!! Next time you can just forget about Secret Recipe and hunt down that bakery. A 1kg cake will only cost you RM25 at the most.

The picture below pretty much summarises what I ate at my two birthday parties. The only diference was that the food at IIMU disappeared at a much slower rate. I actually got to taste all of the food before it was gone. But still... both party was fun in their own unique way.

Thanks a mundo to Kak Aini for organising the whole shebang. It's people like her that makes me stay at a job that pays me a measly RM15 an hour.

I'm err... more Mature (part III)

I know the pic is blurry but I just love this pic.

The third installment for my birthday took me way out of IIUM and all the way to Look Out Point in Ampang. It was a really sweet gesture made by Nurul, J- her BF, and Shazna (Nurul's sis) but unfortunately I was not told that we were headed to Look Out Point so there I was that night, wearing 2 1/2 inch heels trudging all the way up to the peak. Definitely a workout I tell you. But still... it was fun (^^).

I'm thanking god everyday for giving me great friends and I must say that there's not that many friends of mine who is greater than Nurul. That night was totally a night that I'll cherish. Good company, free food and more cake. LoL. Plus it was a bonus as well that she chose a gorgeous location that I have never been to before. So being there for the first time ever with great friends was the cherry on top of perfectly great night.

I'm not sure where Nurul got this cake from but it was totally amazing. Again, you can never go wrong with chocolate cakes. But I'm guessing that the cake was the cause of all the blurry pictures taken that night. All of us were probably sugar high. Who wouldn't be, we scoffed down half the cake. But here's to Nurul, J and Shazna. Thanka for making that night perfect.

ENGL 1515 Finals

As all good things must come to an end, the ENGL 1515final exams marks the ending of my teaching the section 4 kids. It was both exciting and sad for me since it was my first time ever being the invigilator for an exam rather than siting for one but I'm kinda sad because its the last time I'll see them as my students. Unless! Unless... I ace the interview this 23rd and get the permanent lecturer status!! Woohoo!! Then I'll probably be teaching more subjects!! But I don't want to get my hopes up so I'll leave that story for another day *sigh*.

But the invigilating experince was loads of fun. I'm sure it'll wear off by the time I invigilate more and more exams but I'm just gonna cherish it for now. As for marking the papers... well, I'm having fun procrastinating on that as well. But I'll get to it soon. I will. I will. Maybe tomorrow :D

So this marks the end of my word vomit. For now. I'll probably continue tomorrow. Somehow the word vomit doesn't seem to want to stop but my body is failing my brain. Need to catch some Zzz. A sign of maturity? Hmm... nah!! In denial? Yes, I am.

Masakini Theater's 'The 24 hour Project'

Masakini Theatre Company is producing the 24 Hour Theatre Project for the second year running. This Project expressly organized to encourage youths to develop their talents and understand albeit under duress, all aspect of theatre-making, will once again be held at Istana Budaya. While the young are encouraged to join in it is hoped that experienced theatre personalities will compete, not only to sharpen their talents but also assist the young ones with their wealth of knowledge. It is also an opportunity to bring the young and the experienced closer together.

The Project is a perfect vehicle for local actors, directors and playwrights to showcase their capacity for theatre-making in a unique format. The purpose is not to create something perfect but to experience the pressure-cooker intensity of writing and producing a 10 minute play in such a short time.

Last year about 52 people took part and some excellent scripts and performance were produced.

This year our Director-in-Residence will be Christopher Jacobs who has vast experience in directing. Mr. Jacobs has been living in Malaysia for the past 18 years and has been directing plays in Kuala Lumpur and Singapore.


Dear All Me,

Please be notified that you are registered for the 24 Hour Theatre Project under the Director category. Please acknowledge and we will see you on 14th March 2009, 7.00pm sharp at Istana Budaya, Bilik Sri Nilam. Actors do come with your one-minute audition for writers and directors to note your capabilities.

All participants, please ask your family and friends to come support this project by buying tickets for the show which are RM20.00 each. Tickets available at the gate.

Many thanks and see you there.

Sabera Shaik


*Woohoo!! Can't wait!! I miss theater like mad. And this time I'll be doing something in Istana Budaya!!!

Oh friends, families, readers, and anybody who just feels like laughing at amatuers trying their hands at theater, feel free to come by to Lambang Sari Istana Budaya on March 15th (performance night). The show will start at 8.30pm.

Flower bouquets are highly encouraged :D

Bangsawan "Musang Berjanggut"

I made it to the 'Musang Berjanggut' premiere all on my own! Woot! Woot! Ok, maybe a small feat to most people but to someone who has lousy sense of direction this is truly a deed worth celebrating. I didn't even get lost. Not even once. Am so proud! *pats self on the back*

'Musang Berjanggut' was definitely entertaining but definitely not as grand or as well rehearsed as 'Batu Belah Batu Bertangkup' which is a terrible shame really. That show truly had potential. It was kinda draggy and the in between performances were really bleargh! But again... I marvel at these people's eye for props and details. The makeup = superb. Props = amazing. If only I had that kind of budget back in my theater days. The things I would do... the things I would do *sigh*

I took the liberty of taking some pictures to help with what I'm writing but seeing how crappy the pics turned out I don't know if it'll help at all. So I stopped halfway through the show. But do enjoy whatever pictures I took (if you can, that is).

The King's Palace. A truly magnificient scene. The costumes... the props... SUPERB!!

1st Interval: Siti Nurhaliza song. Forgot the title but this gal did it justice. But the dancers... eeuurrgghhh... lose the costumes. T-A-C-K-Y!

The prince's quest for the gal with marriage material. But instead he found this "betina". Demeaning to ladies everywhere? Totally. Does anybody care? Not a one.

Junior performers doing the 'zapin'. They weren't the best dancers in the world but you just can't help but go aww at their cuteness. I just love the girl's costumes.

This fella is Haziq from one of the AF seasons. I know he doesn't look it in the picture but if you squint your left eye and tilt your head 2 inches to the right you can totally see that its him.


This is when the prince finally meets his non-betina girlfriend, Dang Sri Arif Laksana.

So yeah... after this guy I just gave up. 1.) The show was getting kinda boring. 2.) I was hungry as hell. 3.) My battery was dangerouly close to giving up on me. But nothing much was missed. The play ends with the infamous scene of the king and ministers being fooled by the beautiful Dang Sri Arif Laksana and eventually leading up to the scene where the "musang berjanggut" was revealed.

One thing I must say is that malaysian theater has totally lifted its censorship bar since sexual entendres were blatant throughout the entire show despite the presence of kids under the age of 12. Awkward much?

But I think I'm totally hooked on bangsawan. I'm looking forward to Panggung Bandaraya's lineup for bangsawan shows next year. New year's resolution no. 212: Be a regular at bangsawan shows. Kak Ani, IIU's current drama teacher, will be proud.

7 "Deadly" Scenes... maybe not so deadly.

How would you feel watching a sex scene, LIVE, with your teenage sister by your side?

AWKWARD!!

But kudos to the cast and crew of the "Seven Deadly Scenes" play, recently staged in KLPac. Certainly helped set my expectations and mood way up there when audiences were bombarded with full-on tongue action, moans and groans and kamasutra pose number 361 (I think) right in the very first scene. Thank God the Malaysian censory board has not reached the theatre scene just yet.

So was the play good? Oh-kay laa...

Was it worth paying rm25 just to see it? Oh-kay laa...

Would I go see it again? No.

So the "Seven Deadly Scenes" was a good show. Entertaining even. But to tell you the truth, it was kinda old. Most of the scenes were pretty predictable and I ended up picking on stupid mundane details of the play instead of focusing on the storyline. As the show's director/ producer/ script writer, you certainly do not want your audience thinking about the actress not shaving her legs rather than the plot of the show. *Seriously, actors wearing skirts should always shave their legs!*

And I totally didn't get the scene depicting sloth. The actors certainly portrayed sloth but what the scene was about? No clue. Seriously, 3 literature majors couldn't figure out that scene at all. If anybody can explain to me what's the significance of the frantic thundering on the door, the rope pulling and the eerie, erratic laughter and sobs were all about I'd greatly appreciate it.

And what's with the overly emphasized Manglish? Totally annoying if you ask me. But then again, drama and theater is all about over-exxageration. But if you see a Chinese girl wincing at the over-usage of "ya lor" and "maa" at the end of EVERY sentence, then you wonder if those extra syllables are actually worth it.

But don't get me wrong. I don't hate the show. On the contrary I enjoyed certain scenes especially greed and pride. And NO I'm not saying this because I'm biased towards Shamir, who's a close personal friend of mine who happens to be acting acting in both scenes. It was a coincidence. I totally didn't know he was in it. Okay... Fine!! I knew he was in it. And yes, I maybe a little biased. But he's the best actor in that show and you know it.

So would I recommend the show to you? Yeah... but only if you manage to get your hands on a student card and get an rm10 discount on the tickets. I'm evil, I know. I'm the eighth deadly sin :P

Macbeth at ASWARA

Aah... Macbeth. Probably one of the more renowned plays of Shakespeare's works. All that talk about power, ambition and murder is enough to make anyone's hair stand on end. If it doesn't, then the blast of air-conditioning in the theater hall would ensure that for you. I don't know why but theater halls tend to always be extremely cold.

Anyways, no literature student can go through life and not know about the notorious uncle-killing nephew with his beautiful & ambitious yet cold-hearted wife. So when ASWARA students decided to stage this particular play I was like "Cool!". I havent seen a staging of Shakespeare's work in ages so to actually see one staged in Bahasa Melayu would definitely be interesting. To make things even more interesting, my cousin Nazzim is playing the part of McDuff, the guy who ends up beheading Macbeth.

I must admit that I was a little skeptical about the idea of the play being Bahasa Melayu. I mean the whole play is complicated enough being in English, but to translate it into Malay and do it justice? Hmm... that was definitely the question going through my head. But I've definitely learnt to never underestimate the power of the Malay language. The translation was amazingly done. Kudos to Ahmad Yatim for succesfully capturing the essence of the entire play and at the same time showcasing the beauty of the Malay language. I was enthralled from beginning to end. There were words that I heard that night which I never thought existed. Two thumbs up to the writer.

As for the play itself, the ASWARA students were definitely in their element. Macbeth and Lady Macbeth were cast perfectly and they were totally believable and the rest of the cast were simply icing on the cake. Nazzim (McDuff) beheaded Macbeth beautifully at the end but the goriness of the scene was so intense people just can't help but laugh. Not saying that the scene was funny, but you know, once in an uncomfortable situation laughter always diffuses the mood.

The only thing that I didn't get was why their costumes were smudged up and dirtied. It just doesn't make sense to me. But if the ASWARA folks interpreted these people living in a state of dishevellement and shabbyness even as royalty, then so be it.

All in all it was an enjoyable play. Although I managed to get in for free the rm5 ticket would definitely have been money well spent.

Muzikal "Batu Belah Batu Bertangkup", Panggung Bandaraya KL

For a theater enthusiast, I am ashamed to admit that I have never attended a single bangsawan theater (a popular urban theater mixing music, acting and dancing). So when a friend invited me to attend this show I was like YEAY!! Finally, I get to see what a bangsawan show is actually like.

To my suprise, I think nearly everybody else in KL was thinking the same thing. My friends and I showed up at Panggung Bandaraya to a waiting area jam-packed with people. And as soon as the doors were open people made a bee-line to find seats. We were lucky. We managed to grab the last 4 seats that were left. I had to reserve a seat for a friend who was unfortunately late due to traffic, and during all that time people were hungrily eyeing the empty seat next to me and I could practically see the thoughts that were in their heads "It's not fair! I was here first. That bee-yotch should not reserve seats for latecomers!!"

Back to the play, the show was about the infamous suicidal mother who killed herself just because her hungry kids ate the last bits of fish eggs that she secretly kept for herself. So the play continued off after the suicidal mom threw herself into the gaping rock mouth. Fortunately she managed to regain her senses when she died and vowed to eternally be their guardian and will come to their aid if ever her kids were in a pickle.

So after being abandoned by their mother, Pekan and Melur grew up under the care of Nenek Kebayan, who coincidentally was the Princessof Kerayong's nurse. While Pekan and the Princess Mayang Mengurai secretly knotted their love affair, the King of Kerayong decided to hold a cock fight competition to search for prince for the Princess. The winner of the competition will have the princess's hand in marriage. The Princess, however asks Pekan to disguise himself as a prince, enter the competition and is assured victory by using poison on the cock's talons. Then tragedy begins, when Raja Jayeng Indera Sakti, the loser in the competition, takes revenge.

When tragedy struck, Melur remembering her mom's last dying words took her brother and his bride to the rock and managed to save their lives. And true to fairy-tale style endings, everybody then lived happily ever after.

All in all, the show was amazing. Me being the "bling-bling" sort of person just couldn't take my eyes off the costumes, props and makeup. They were superb!! The stage was amazingly done. Kudos to the stage manager and crew. And as for the costumes... WOW!! It was perfect to the very last detail. The whole performance was Istana Budaya worthy. And oh yeah the acting was really good too ;P

What made the show interesting was the mini shows in between scene changes. I think I was entertained by all sort of old-skool entertainment they could think of; the cha-cha, little kids dancing the twist, zapin anak ayam etc. It was so cool. Certainly beats having to wait in the dark while waiting for the crew to move stuff around.

I must say that my first bangsawan experience was an extremely enjoyable and memorable one. Made even more so by my bunch of friends who managed to over-analyse the whole cock fight competition - He who has the biggest and strongest "cock" gets the girl (get it?) So throughout the entire cock fight scene all 4 of us couldn't stop giggling. Trust literature grads to see things that aren't really there.

So yeah, I think bangsawan is definitely for me. Panggung Bandaraya will be having another bangsawan teater next month, titled "Musang Berjanggut". I for one wont miss it for the world.