Another Country, Another Review

Top (Left to Right): Lim Yu-Beng, Siti Khalijah Zainal, Ghafir Akbar, Anne James, Gani Karim
Bottom (Left to Right): Sharifah Amani, Iedil Putra, Sharda Harrison, Alfred Loh, Janice Koh

Another Country is a play curated by Leow Puay Tin and Alfian Sa'at, it is directed by Malaysia's Jo Kukathas and Singapore's Ivan Heng. It tells the history of Malaysia and Singapore from the late 19th century until recent years via a collection of short stories, poems, pantuns, interviews and songs.

Now before I begin the review, I felt obligated to inform you that, when it comes to things like stage performances, being the newbie that I am, I know as much as Jon Snow.

 The fact is, those names I listed above means nothing to me and I don't even know where DPAC is until a few days ago. Yes, I am not just fish out of water, I am fish in a desert somewhere, dying a slow and painful death. I guess the only good thing out of this is that I can look at things with a fresh perspective, so here goes. 

There are two parts to this play: Sayang Singapura and Tikam-Tikam: Malaysia@Random 2 with a 15-minute intermission in between. A relationship not unlike Singapore, Malaysia and the Causeway in between.

The former part consisted of five Malaysian performers - Ghafir Akbar, Sharifah Amani (of Sepet and Gubra fame), Anne James, Alfred Loh and Iedil Putra, bringing to the life a series of sketches about Singaporean lives in chronological order. Among all the sketches in this one and a half hour show, the most memorable one for me had to be aptly named Talaq (means divorce in Islamic text) where Ghafir Akbar plays an abusive husband to Sharifah Amani's Indian Muslim woman character. Every body in the audience was visibly startled at the sudden turn toward violence as Ghafir raised his voice, and it further escalate as he continues to rain insult at Amani's character. The sketch ended at the climax of the conflict when he tries to hurl his chair toward Amani's character.

Another memorable sketch is 2 mothers in a hdb playground, the passive aggressive banter between Sharifah Amani and Anne James as they boost about their respective character's family wealth and children's intelligence all the while throwing tissue papers in a make believe dustbin. Even though this sketch depicted the stereotypical kiasu-ness among Singaporeans as well as the draconian law they had to live under in an exaggerated fashion, it definite make us think about our freedom that we enjoy in Malaysia and most importantly, what are we doing with it?

If there is one weakness to the show at all, it would be the runtime. In my opinion, one and a half hour is way too long for the first half of a show, any show. Maybe there are a few sketch that can be cut to trim the show to one hour, much like the second part of the show.

The latter part consisted of five Singaporean performers - Sharda Harrison, Gani Karim, Janice Koh, Lim Yu-Beng and Siti Khalijah Zainal. It shows various snippet of Malaysian lives through a series of sketches whose order is determined by the audience members through a game of tikam-tikam.

Although it lacks the chronological coherence of the first part, it does make up for it with one full hour of jam packed performance. From singing to dancing to reciting prayers, there is never a dull moment. Perhaps it was because of the countdown timer, the show seem to over much too quickly. One of my favourite sketch in the second half of the show is Who's Bad? and 120 Malay Movies. Who's Bad? is a recreation of an interview session with Gani Karim playing the role of actor Adlin Aman Ramlie whereas 120 Malay Movies is quoted from Malaysian filmmaker, Amir Muhammad's book. Both of these sketches raises some very good question regarding our willingness to accept our heritage, definitely something worth pondering about.

However, as the show comes to an end, it is the final sketch Dance (inspired by Fadzilah Amin's poem) that brings home the point. Both our nation are eternally trapped in a dance of ronggeng, getting nearer and nearer to each other, and withdraw as soon as we'd almost meet. It really makes you think, what would have happen if Singapore remains in Malaysia?

More than 50 years ago, arguments between two parties on what Malaysia should be drove us apart and this experiment ended in a painful separation. Would things be different now? Will we finally get a happy ending this time around? Or maybe our relationship with Singapore should remain where it is, a casual fling whenever we feel like we need a vacation? Who knows? Share your opinion in the comment section below.