A Short And Sweet Experience To Remember
By Zahra AlHadad
Short + Sweet is at the forefront of highlighting emerging local talents in the performing arts scene.
SENTUL, 4 NOVEMBER, 2018 - The Theatre category of Short + Sweet, also known as S + S, recently concluded after two consecutive weekends in this annual event that describes itself as “the biggest little festival in the world.”
The objective of S + S is to nurture and provide support for the creation of original works, and reward the best of these talents.
For theatre, there were ten different performances, each restricted to the bite-sized duration of no more than ten minutes each.
Each piece was written, directed, and acted out by local talents, comprising a mix of established talents and newcomers in the theatre scene.
Highlights of S + S
There were some notable highlights throughout the show, among them the showcase of strong Malaysian identity.
Nearly every single performance took on Malaysia’s unique and diverse culture, and integrated it seamlessly into their acts.
“Gong Xi Fat Cai” (directed and written by Kent Tan) focused solely on the celebration of Chinese New Year while a play that utilized a lot of its own culture-specific jargon was “Arranged” (written by Arjun Thanaraju) - Tamil words were frequently used amongst the characters.
Many of the stories in Short + Sweet attempted to showcase national and cultural identity, while addressing topics such as religion, which are usually considered controversial in Malaysia.
Additionally, the S + S stories definitely did not shy away from discussing some very controversial topics.
“Doa Untuk Mak” (written and directed by Ashraf Modee Zain) had themes of religiosity in regards to keeping faith during trying times, while “Chesa” (written and directed by Sukhbir Cheema) painted a realistic picture of a foreign worker in Malaysia.
As mentioned, for some of the cast, their appearance in S + S denotes their first time under the spotlight.
However, their performances were indistinguishable from those who have significantly more experience.
Karim Abdullah delivered a captivating and powerful monologue as Rahman in “Sorang Pembunuh Sorang Menteri” (written and directed by Felix Agustus) for ten minutes straight, which is no mean feat in itself.
Meanwhile, Yuslina Yusof in “Death Is Satu Permulaan” (written and directed by Yusof Bakar) was definitely the breakout star of the night.
She displayed amazing comedic timing and an impeccable stage presence that kept the audience riveted throughout her performance.
At the end the show, the audience are asked to vote for their favourite performance, with different categories such as Best Director, Best Show, Best Actor and more to decide upon.
Drawing the Curtains
Midway through, the audience were handed ballot papers by S + S volunteers so that they could vote for their favourite acts, with the results (including those of earlier shows) announced by the end of the night.
Renowned thespians Mark Beau de Silva (the director of original plays like “Sisa-Sisa” and “Men In Heels”) and Qahar Aqilah (who starred in the acclaimed play, “Every Brilliant Thing”) were part of the judging panel for this category.
As a whole, S + S is a great way to inculcate the importance of performing arts, and allow people to share their passions as well as bring much needed exposure and opportunities for newbies in the scene.
S + S was presented at Pentas 2, The Kuala Lumpur Performing Arts Centre (klpac) from 7 September to 4 November and at PenangPAC from 7-17 November.
At klpac, the Theatre category of S + S ran from 24 October to 4 November.
SHARE:
You might also like:
