Theatre Talk by Industry Professionals!

The theatre scene in Malaysia is definitely growing strong and steady. On 18^th July 2012, three distinguished guests from the Malaysian theatre scene arrived at KDU University College, Damansara Jaya campus. These guests were Dato’ Faridah Merican, Mark Beau de Silva and Christopher Ling, from KLPAC (The Kuala Lumpur Performing Arts Centre).

Dato’ Faridah Merican is the Co-founder and executive producer of The Actors Studio Malaysia and The Kuala Lumpur Performing Arts Centre (KLPAC). She is often referred to as the First Lady of Theatre in Malaysia and has been awarded the BOH Cameronian Lifetime Achievement Award for her contributions to the performing arts in Malaysia. Her talk was titled “The Business of Theatre, Now and Then”.

She mentioned how the performing arts scene developed from the 50’s to the 60’s, 70’s then 80’s till now. She told the audience how her school days and father who was an English literature student helped instill interest in her in Shakespeare, arts, literature and debates. She hailed from St. George’s Girls’ School in Penang and used to watch shows in New World Park in Penang growing up. She was an avid spectator of Chinese operas, “Bangsawan”, “Mak Yong” and “Boria when she was younger. She did performing arts out of her own interest and desire. She loves traditional arts. 

She also claimed that we can now earn a living out of performing arts and also build a career out of it. She named Harith Iskandar and Jo Kukathas as examples of the many good artists in the country who are making a living out of it.

“All these art forms will not last forever if we do not do something to make it last. We need to learn the art form and culture and preserve it. It is not easy to learn an art form. You use your lifetime to learn it, perform it and teach it to young ones. If we are not far away from doing that, then only is it preserved.” She said.

The second invited guest was Mark Beau de Silva and his workshop was called “Getting a Story Idea”. Mark is an accomplish playwright, actor and teacher. He has written plays for the Actors Studio and KLPAC such as; 8 Ways to Lighten the Schoolbag and Bottom Top and two musicals which are Kaki Blue and ADAM the Musical. He is the Co-Associate Artistic Director and Writer/Director-in-Residence at KLPAC. His play Stories for Amah was nominated for 5 awards at the BOH Cameronian Arts Awards 2002.

In his workshop, he engaged students with very interesting activities. Each activity questions the inner thoughts and feelings, as well as remembering specific scenarios in ones live. The activities carried out have a part to do with drama, interacting, socializing, sharing and building emotions. All in all, a specific reason for theatrical performance.

Christopher Ling was the third and final guest to give a workshop to the students. He is the Co-Associate Artistic Director of KLPAC. He trained in Drama and Theatre Arts at Middlesex University in London and with the National Youth Theatre of Great Britain. He received the “Anugerah Seni Negara” (National Arts Awards) Young Talent Award for Theatre Directing last year. His workshop was titled “Text Analysis and Performance with Christopher Ling”.

Christopher took charged of the class by explaining that drama is born out of conflict. By the workshop done by Mark Beau de Silva, they will realize that drama is expressed out of anger and happiness and it is easier to recall a sad or angry memory.

“The basic thing in theatre is to be seen and to be heard. As an actor on stage, we need to express ourselves in a blink of an eye. The eyes are the windows to the soul. You can hide emotions but your eyes will betray you,” explained Chris.

Theatre is about communication. If you are able to get one audience to identify with what he sees, you have done it successfully. The audience must be taken on a journey,” added Chris on an ending note.

“I have done these exercises before (prepping up before acting) on a professional level. The people in this session are different and the experience is different too. I did benefit from the talk and workshops and had lots of fun,” said Nurul Elfira Loy.

Nurul Elfira Loy aged 18 was one of the participants. She is a KDU student, pursuing her Diploma in Performing Arts. She is also a budding actress having acted in several TV shows and a Japanese production overseas. She has won the Best Supporting Actress award in “Anugerah Skrin 2011”.  *Organized by the School of Communication and Creative Arts

Source: Nuraini