A missing opportunity... Part II

Last time, they used to have both dinner and the play in the same location i.e. the Whitworth Hall. But I was informed by Dini, the Malaysian Student Society (MSS) has been banned from using the hall for future actitivities, except for dinner because there was one time, the organiser (read: MSS) left the hall without cleaning up. Aiyo... bikin malu saja! [Note: Please read comment by miketitus, which according him I got my fact wrong with regard to MSS banning issue. Thanks, miketitus for your comment.]

Lets get down to business, my review on Full Circle, which was staged at the DanceHouse, opposite the BBC Manchester.

From the picture above, you can see how excited I was to watch the buah tangan of Bash and Jannah. The script was written by Joyce Ju and the played was produced by Adrian.

The show started with a dikir barat. It was an uninspiring performance because of two reasons, namely, monotonous Tukang Karut and corny lyrics. Nevertheless, I like the idea of awok-awok changing places to make some kind of formation. That was the first time I saw it and I liked it very much.



Full Circle is a love story of two generations. Coincidentally, a mother and daughter (for the other side is a father and son) shared a similar fate in their love relationships. The mother who is a Chinese, fell in love with a Malay guy from a Bangsawan family. However, war and circumstances had separated them apart. Fast forward to the next generation, the daughter, again coincidentally, fell in love with a Malay boy, who later we know is the son of the Malay guy who was in love with the girl's mother. And due to circumstances, they were denied the typical fairy tale - live-happily-ever-after kind of ending. These two cinta terhalang were connected by a diary belonged to the mother and a pair of necklaces.

I have no issue with the storyline, in fact I like the premise very much. In case you don't know, I'm a big fan of cerekarama kind of storyline. And to give you some light about this "genre", such dramas include typical Opera Klasik telemovies with Fauziah Nawi, Wan Maimunah and Rosyam Nor in it and my all time favourite, Tiga Duri Di Hati Bonda.

Even though I think Full Circle hasn't got solid plots, Joyce Ju managed to create a clear continuity in this play. And the flashback technique, although being safely used in this play, was smooth and effective. However, there were some points where a couple of scenes feel a bit dragging and pointless. For instance, the scene when Ashraff brought Isabel home.

Acting-wise, I prefer two characters in this play. The first one is the guy who played the messenger for Tuan Imran. Although he briefly appeared in three scenes, his presence brought out the sense of enigma and suspense. And he cleverly (read: effortless) ended his appearance with humour. Another character is the Japanese army chief. He showed that he has a rare talent which is to quickly digest the audience responses in order to decide whether or not to give more or less of his character. In the case of the four main characters, they all have potential but what was lacking is the ability to continuosly remain in characters and to control their energy. That's why there were a few instances where Isabel or her mother "exploded" without properly develop the intensity. In other words, the characters ejaculated without reaching the climax. As for Ashraff and Tuan Imran, their conviction were weak and most of the time their voice projection were out and unconvincing.

If this is the first work of Bash and Jannah, I guess both have lots of potential. I like their art direction, because it was simple and linear. However, their main weakness is the inability to control the momentum of this play. That is why some scenes were very stimulating and some were flat and dull. If they were careful enough, some scenes which have one or two actors could have the same weight as the scenes with more actors. And there were instances whereby Isabel and her mother were left unchecked, which ended up like under-acting.

Having said of all the above, the major disappointment of Full Circle is the fact that it lacks of Malaysian characteristics. It was two hours of nothing but a play with a couple of Malay words. It could take place in anyway, in Singapore or Brunei and not necessarily in Malaysia.

The most glaring question is where is the Malaysian costumes or props with Malaysian elements? Malaysians don't dress like those in the dance acts (be it Malay dance or Chinese or Indian).

With such a good premise, Full Circle has the opportunity to highlight our perspective of Islam, beauty, culture, inter-racial marriage and so on. Bash and Jannah missed the opportunity to showcase the richness of Malaysian culture and adabs to at least 40 to 50 white people in the DanceHouse. Sayang sangat!

This will differentiate between a play by university students and a sketsa by murid-murid sekolah menengah. Unfortunately, a play (Adat Usang Pusaka Zaman by Usman Awang) which I directed when I was at the MARA College Banting has more tersirat messages than Full Circle. Even the play by my friends from Budiman House (from Sekolah Menengah Sains Muar) contained more Malaysian substance than the one that I watched last weekend.

Technically, Full Circle is a not-too-bad production. However, it lacks the Malaysian flavour. It didn't "dress" like Malaysians, it didn't "talk" (need not to speak Bahasa Melayu in order to sound Malaysians) like Malaysians, it didn't "think" like Malaysians and it didn't live like Malaysians. Once again, sayang sangat!