Malaysian Theatre's Database

I am recently trying to help one of my friends to dig out the information on how many performances being shown in Malaysia throughout the years; how many tickets have been sold (so the figure of how many people do come to the theatre to enjoy a show); and also the average cost people spending on performing arts.

It is not suprise that this is kind of a Mission Impossible to me, as I am not familiar with the database kind of thing, also got no one who can answer my questions when I am trying to ask around.

I tried google it out, but no precise result found; I tried to send an email to the ticketing company, who handle most of the shows (including concert and theatre performances which selling tickets to public) in Malaysia, but they did not reply. The only resource that helpful was from kakiseni.com, the performing arts portal in Malaysia. Although they do not provide us with figure, but they have all the shows which listed with them in their archive, so at least we can do some search from there and make our own compilation on how many shows had been shown.

Come to the costing part, I told my friend, unless you are wealthy enough to pay to the research company like AC Nelson, then they will do the research and get the accurate report done for you! Does anyone in Malaysia, a theatre organization or practitioner did do the research to find out the figure? I don't think so. Even government might not have the figure.

Now think about the Chinese Theatre in Malaysia, the whole situation is not friendly though, as we can't even get the accurate performing arts information in our national language, as well as the International language, what else can we get for Chinese Theatre in Malaysia? We really need someone who is so dedicated to works something out for it.

An incident

An incident happen this morning. I was in the office at 10am sharp or even half an hour earlier as usual, I go to the ladies after checking on my inbox. Everything seems normal and okay, only until my boss call me when I came back from the ladies 10 minutes later.

She was so angry where my supervisor and I were while I was still blur on what happen! She was asking me where are all the stuffs that we suppose to bring her? she is waiting on the road side under the sun, and she can't get anyone to answer her call!

Only until my supervisor was back and she tells us the whole story, it was all mis-communication.

Ok, the story end.

I am in an embarrassing situation in this office.

Obviously my boss trusted me a lot and she wanted me to be the person-in-charge as a supervisor, but due to my current employment status (She agreed that I work as a part-timer at the beginning stage, once things are okay with me then we will negotiate further to turn my position into a permanent staff basic), those who are working here are not paying the necessary attention on me, and even only treated me as a helper! My supervisor is not letting me know what happening in the office all the time, even when I ask her, she will act busy and said: wait ya! then my times up for the day, with no answer from her! That's why most of the time when boss come to me for certain thing, I am normally unable to answer! That's really terrible for me to work in such a situation, even though boss asked me to be in-charge since she got the resignation letter from my supervisor!

It will sure put me into more trouble in future since I already told my boss that I'm unable to take the role to work as a supervisor once my current supervisor leave the company, instead I prefer to stay in the same position as for now, so that I can have sufficient amount of time to take care of my kids..

I will leave the company but no choice if the situation keep getting worst until the end of the year. It's not worth my time and effort to travel to the office every day, paying the toll fees and petrol and parking fees, with no fulfillment, no satisfaction and appreciation in the office, I'd rather spend more time stay with my kids and write more articles.

Re-thinking of Today's Predicaments from the Holistic of Literature of Malaysian Chinese Theatre

Due to the special multi-racial community in Malaysia, the Malaysian theatre is divided into Bahasa Malaysia, English, Chinese and Indian. When we talk about Malaysian Chinese Theatre (MCT), it means that the production and the performance itself consists of only the Chinese language, and the target audiences are Chinese as well.

MCT started in 1919, and the earliest theatre practitioners mostly came from China. Thus the performances presented are closely related to the current situations in China.

From Malaysia's independence in 1957, to the formation of Malaysia in 1963, the multi-racial society structure started to alter itself, and the MCT came to foster its uniqueness in different facets. Unfortunately, due to the lack of man power and financial support, there were only minimal activities happening in the MCT. This was not sufficient enough to evolve a bigger trend in the 1980s. It was not until the late 1980s, with the establishment of the Malaysian Institute of Art, that the Drama Department successfully cultivated a new generation of theatre practitioners, which lead to a new trend in MCT. What was different from the works of earlier theatre practitioners, was that the sources and influences were mainly from Taiwan in the past. In the 1980s, they had a chance to learn and connect with the western theatre, and thus started to involve themselves in different countries and different districts.

The only setback after 87 years of Chinese Theatre performances in Malaysia, is that it lacks the exposition of the thinking framework. The early stage expositions in the theatre mostly emphasized social effectiveness, and explained the drama performances from the social functionality point of view. Some of it looks into the theatre organization, but without acknowledging the interactions of other influences, it is impossible to provide a comprehensive observation to solve and confront the challenges and the problems that are faced by MCT.

Thus, I am trying to write a thesis which starts with the foundation and research done by our ancestors, in order to to analyze MCT thoroughly. First, to briefly depict the overall evolution of the theatre through the discrepancies between the organization's structure within different periods, it could be divided into two stages: 1) The outline of MCT over 70 years (1919 - 1989); and 2) from the 1990s to the current MCT (1990 - present). Then, I would examine the influential factors of politics, culture, society, and the use of language and so on, probing the predicaments of today's MCT under the current situations, such as the unequal distribution of cultural resources, the discrepancy between the acknowledgement of cultural art and so forth. This would be followed by the re-thinking of how and where the MCT could balance these influences. Also, I would like to focus on its future direction and position, and establish its main subject in such an immature circumstances. At the same time, the theatre should acknowledge its own position within the international and the current era, and to exhibit it own temperament and culture, while finally walking a path that highlights the uniqueness of the Malaysian Chinese Theatre.

By Mr.Koh Choon Eiow
Translated by Joanne Tai

It's Another Month!

It's another month! I really feel bored almost all of the time here, even though I only work for 4 hours a day!

Since day one, I have been doing the same thing. I come to work on time every day. Most of the time, I am only a helper for my supervisor. She will ask me to go to the bank to deposit money or go to our mailbox to collect letters or follow up on some payment stuff. I do not think this is what an assistant supervisor's job is!

I did ask the box office (BO) supervisor to teach me on how to handle the BO, but I sense that he is unwilling to teach and never allows me to touch anything relating to the BO. Even when I am trying to help when they are busy, he will say, "I don't know what you are doing, let me handle this". Up until today, he was not felling well and did not show up to work. While he was gone, I had the chance to learn how to handle calls, sell tickets and complete online transactions.

Unfortunately, even until today, I still did not have any chance to handle any production on my own.

What can I do to improve or change my situation here? I do not want to wait until one day when my boss comes to me and says they do not need me anymore since I can't help them much. I need to find a way to improve it.

A Bored Job

by Thomas Bollay

Time flies, as it's been some time since I started working here. What I should say is that I really feel bored working here.

Since my first day, they have placed me in front of this computer, asking me to familiarize myself with all the documents, and telling me that I have to assist the supervisor because she is just too busy to handle things on her own. Okay I think, it is great to work with a theatre company since I am a theatre lover, and used to be an actor and director myself. With her busy schedule, I can sure occupy myself with a lot of work and show my talents to the person who decided to hire me for this position.

Sadly, though, I have to ask her all the time, "Is there anything I can do to help?" Then she will give me some little things to do, like write an invoice or voucher to someone, or go to the government department to get a licence. Okay, I think this is part of the learning process to become familiar with the job. However, most of the time, she says, "Wait now. Give me a moment." Then the day has gone, and I have done nothing but sit in front of my computer, browsing on the Internet, writing emails to friends, or writing my daily blog. Oh yes, I did write some sponsorship request letters.

I feel guilty about not doing much work but still getting paid at the end of every month. I am working four hours a day, and I think this may be the main reason why they have not assigned any consistent assignments to me. I am not sure.

I really hope I am not here to just show my face and leave after 4 hours without really doing my job. I will give myself a time frame until the end of the year to decide whether to stick with the company, or look for a permanent job with better employment benefits.

Tokyo Notes

The universe is not using a telescope to see us.....

What's the time now? Did you say you like to have tea with us at the cafe? Is the cafe you mentioned the restaurant? So is that a restaurant or a cafe totally depends on what's the time now?

Who are you? What's the time now?

We need to use our heart to see things, but you can't use your heart to see things because your heart is not there!

We will still seeing things differently because everyone has a different heart!

I'm a snail ........

Slow .....

"Hurry up, hurry up!" this is the sentence that I use most for these recent years. Every morning, I need to wake my children up and get them ready to school and get myself ready for my day; every night I need to prepare them to go to the bed on time so that they can have enough energy for the next day ..... day after day, I gradually become a very impatient parent; I always chasing out with time .....

But today, I think I should slow down my pace from now on, as while I'm chasing my children to do things fast, I miss out so many great things around us .....

We learnt how to move our body slowly ..... we learnt how to pace and trust with your partner ..... and I saw the suspense and the energy that flowing out when you really concentrate and do the moving slowly.....

Yes, slow doesn't mean left out; slow doesn't mean less power; instead, when you do it with concentration, you can transmit out a great impact!

First day on The Bectkett Residency Workshop

Wow, it's great! Finally, I'm participating in again.....

This is a 2-week workshop, all together 18 of us, from different places join in the same workshop, to me, it's really a great experience after so many years! The kind of feeling finally coming back .....

I felt great to move my body again .....

I felt great to listen to the lecture again .....

I felt great to sit in the studio again .....

I felt great to be part of the theater participants again .....

It's so great ......

Choreography for Non-Choreographers

It was a real great experience to watch a group of non-choreographers on stage to present the piece that choreograph by them!

Even though you know from their performance that they are not a dancer, but they do did a good job by putting their thought thru the piece, and they are really putting in with their efforts, you can feel it while you watch them perform on stage.

I personally like the "Unrequited" choreograph by Vernon Adrian Emuang, it's touched my heart, especially the end part when all the performers line up in two lines, and one of the performer lay down on their hands.

The song is beautiful, Hallelujah; and the performer Mark Teh, you are great!

Hope to see more work from you guys, and maybe, I'll come and join you too :)

Make a way out

Do I need to sit at home every day without any social life? Or I'll just need to make a way out for myself?

The answer is obvious.

Last Saturday evening when I suggested we go out for dinner then he said he need to go out for a dance show, so he can't dinner with us, or we might want to order our food and have it at our home so that he can has enough time to rush for the show.

I was so upset then because I'm always the one who need to sit at home to take care of our two little one while he can go out to enjoy his life without inform us before hand.

And when will I have a chance to sit in the theatre to enjoy a show again?

There are plenty of shows and workshops out there every night, but I have no chance to participate, and I'm out-of-the-scene as a theatre lover for too long.

I'll find a way out for myself to get involve in what I enjoy most, from now.

Yes, I promise.

It's another month....

It's seem like I still have no chance to watch any drama show recently :( beside a movie with my kids together on last Saturday names Ice Age 2.

It's a very entertaining movie, lot of fun and laugh, but I do not have a desire to write something on it..... Like what I said, just sharing my own thought here....

Until next time again....

I am back!

Yes, I'm back! It's been a long, long while, living without theatre, that's used to my life and my every day routine.

Time flies back to year 1992, when I first enroll myself into a local college, the only college that has a 'Drama Department' in Malaysia at that time.

I'm now a mother of two, not step into theatre for more than twice in a year, I'd say I was like I never learned and never knew theater ever! That's not good :(

Did read some of the reviews on the current show written by some theatre lovers or participants, but honestly speaking, not much critical review or any kind of real comments out there, what I read was just another synopsis written in a different way! And if I'm not wrong, there are only maybe one or two people are writing it.

For me, the chances to really participate into theatre work again is very slim, I'd rather be an audience, and maybe, write some review, or to be precise, a feeling or a thought towards the show, a very personal emotions towards it.....

I wish I could have more chance to go and watch a show; I wish I could have write something after I watched a show.

Until next time.....