panggung
Arts' rip-roaring musical comedy Ma'Ma Yong -
About Nothing Much To Do reminded me of Theatre Practice's
recent production The Soldier and His Virtuous Wife: both plays
employed traditional art forms not only for their own sake but also
to be affectionately played around with for comic effect. A couple of
scenes from the play were presented in the form of wayang kulit, for
example, but while one of the puppets was designed in the traditional
fashion, the other was a western cartoon-styled caricature - and I certainly
did not expect them to jump on each other and start simulating sex!
The best comedy is that nvolving the unanticipated and so in a play
where everyone is dressed in clothing with strong ethnic influences
and are speaking in Malay, laughter is also the only possible response
when, in a dramatic scene, one of the actors who is a non-Malay speaking
Chinese suddenly breaks out of character and complains that she needs
cue cards to remember how to say her lines phonetically.
Such playful irreverence created a wonderful feeling of inclusion for
those off-stage as well as on it. It felt like everyone was in on the
joke, everyone was being invited to join in the fun and have a good
time.
Unfortunately, the story, supposedly about how a production of Shakespeare's
Much Ado About Nothing is being staged by patients in a psychiatric
ward under the direction of Fatimah, a former English Literature teacher,
then became almost irrelevant as the audience was always just waiting
for the next punch-line. To be honest, I was quite lost about who was
who and doing what to whom: all the names of the characters had been
changed to unfamiliar local ones so I couldn't remember which
Ma'ma Yong character was supposed to be the equivalent
of which Much Ado character, and actors not only played multiple
parts but sometimes broke the fourth wall to interact with the audience
as actors rather than characters as well. The script of Ma'ma
Yong also wove in and out of the staging of Much Ado,
incorporating as it did scenes of Fatimah as a teacher in a classroom
or being examined by a doctor as well as a segment where the actors
enacted advertisements as a break in the play. Further adding to this
whirlwind of activity was the rousing live music from the band GeRentak
which was often accompanied by the actors suddenly launching into lively
Malay dance sequences. The frenetic pace of the production made my head
spin but it also meant I was seldom bored: there was always something
to entertain me and if something wasn't entertaining (the pointless
opening monologue by Fatimah's doctor, for example, which was
confusing rather than comic), it would soon segue into something that
was.
Credit goes to director Muhd Najib Soiman for pulling all these disparate
elements together. Things were still a little messy but less so than
if in less capable hands. His own unwieldy script was generally kept
light on its feet by confident direction and a strong creative vision.
The clever use of theatre space, for example, to move the sprawling
cast around a very tight space showed that a lot of care had gone into
the production. At times, the otherwise witty play did feel a little
desperate for cheap laughs, as such comedies sometimes do, but, by and
large, I felt that Najib had things under control so that the actors
did not go too far in pandering to the audience, especially when engaging
in slapstick or ad libbing.
I really liked the exuberance of the cast which was so genuine as to
be truly infectious but want to praise them in particular for their
strong sense of team spirit which was palpable throughout the performance.
There was a real sense of family between the actors and even with the
musicians: no one was trying to overshadow anyone else and you could
see that everyone was really working together. Also, while there was
no individual performance that truly stood out as show-stopping (although
the bubbly Junainah Yusoff did have arguably the funniest moments),
you didn't feel like there was a weak link either. Special mention
should also go to the creative costume designer Molizah Mohd Moter.
It wasn't Fatimah's elaborate costume that impressed me
so much as the mischievous spirit that went into the simpler costumes
for the ensemble. What seemed like a limited budget did not stop Molizah
from creating colourful patchwork clothing for the ladies and makeshift
warrior outfits for the men, that were both appropriate and tongue-in-cheek
at the same time: it looked to me as if rattan mats had been cut up
to form bracelets and shin guards, for example.
According to the programme, panggung ARTs' mission is apparently
to create "original, issue-based theatre performances" and
by that criterion, I'm afraid the silly spectacle that is Ma'ma
Yong is far from a success: I was looking out for messages about
art and life, reality and illusion or even about education and the teaching
of Literature but found none. As simply an out-and-out comedy though,
this fun and fizzy play certainly has a lot more going for it. It will
be interesting to see which path panggung Arts now decides to pursue
after this maiden production.
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"The frenetic pace of the production made my head spin but it also
meant I was seldom bored: there was always something to entertain me
and if something wasn't entertaining, it would soon segue into
something that was."
Credits
Director and Playwright: Muhd Najib Soiman
Translator: Mohd Zulfadli Mohd Rashid
Choreographer: Sudirman Mohamed
Lighting Designer: Helmi Fita
Set Designer: Junainah Yusoff
Costume Designer: Molizah Mohd Moter
Puppet Creator: Liu Yu-Jane
Technical Manager: Helmi Fita
Production Stage Manager: Elnie S Mashari
Production Coordinator: Molizah Mohd Moter
Production Assistant: Saffiah Sulaiman
Lighting Operator: Nureen Raidah Mohd Sarib
Surtitlist: Farahliza Farouk Ong
Make-Up Artist: Molizah Mohd Moter
Assistant Make-up Artist: Shamsul Saring
Stage Assistants: Saffiah Sulaiman, Shaun Teo
Musicians: GeRentak
Cast: Aidli 'Alin' Mosbit, Helmi Fita, Mohd Zulfadli Mohd
Rashid, Junainah Yusoff, Norisman Mustafa, Shida Mahadi, Rei Poh, Serena
Pang, Stanley Ng, Liu Yu-Jane, Muhd Hafiz Hamzah, Muhd Fadhli Ramli
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