It’s the same, but not identical…

Wong Phui Nam’s Anike is parallel to the story of Antigone and to a large extents, it stand on its own as Phui Nam does set this story to a different background with difference choice of words and some differences in terms of the characters. Basically, out of the five assigned plays, Anike would be my less-preferred play based on its same conflict that emerges in Antigone. Anyhow, it is quite interesting to see the creativity of Phui Nam, writing Anike in the setting of the ancient Malay royal culture. The conflict between subject and king is told in Malay history by Phui Nam based on the famous writing of “Hikayat Hang Tuah” where Jebat has done usurpation in Melaka Sultan’s palace which drags him to injustice as the Sultan order Tuah to kill Jebat on mere suspicion that has an affair with a lady in the palace. Anike is invented as Jebat’s sister who upholds the right to bury her brother. So, basically, the storyline is the same. What make it not identical to Antigone is that the Malay words is used in Anike such as “taugeh, nenek-moyang, raja” etc. The other different is that Sirat and Wira(which resemble Polyneices and Eteocles) are not biological brothers. They are depicted as having ‘almost-brother’ relationship. This play is set up before the arrival of Islam as the element of suicide is in the play goes against the Islamic law. However, it is great to have such creative writer that can create same things in different view and contexts which brings out its own identity.

First film viewing—the entertaining comedy of Pygmalion.

I love watching movies, especially movies with some sense of humours. The viewing of Pygmalion’s movie (an adaptation of Shaw’s Pygmalion), assist me to have more lucid comprehension as opposed to only read the text. I actually some perplexity and vague impression of how does things develops especially for the first act, which takes place near Covent Garden where Eliza’s conversation was recorded by Higgins. The movie has actually helps me to comprehend and depicts a clear view of how it develops and plus, the movie helps me in knowing how to pronounce Eliza’s dialect since her dialect written in the text is so much difficult for me to utter. During reading the text in class, there are some humorous part that when Dr. Edwin read it, we seem to have no reaction at all until he ask us to laugh (~grin~). I would rather say that we have done the “laughing” part better while viewing the movies since movie provide with the visual and auditory aspects that lead us to see and hear things better than only read and leads us to have our own imagination which sometimes might not be correct with the actual meaning in the texts. What I like most about the movie is that the ending of the play which differs from the text. It seems that Higgins is so frustrated when Eliza left him for Freddy, however, at the end of the play Higgins’ sadness and despair comes to an end when Eliza comes back to him, suggesting that she is also in love with Higgins. In my opinion, this movie has actually underscores some similarity in my favourite movie, “Princess Diaries” where Mia Thermopolis has been transformed from a weird-looking country girl to a very beautiful princess. Anyhow, Pygmalion has its own distinct specialties though that it is a classical movie.

Pygmalion, amiable Shaw’s masterpiece

Pygmalion. Well, the word seems to be very peculiar to me as I first read and pronounce it. At first, I have this sort of idea that the story is related to a lady since the front cover of the text (from 2 versions that I had seen from Dover’s and Enrich Classic publisher) illustrating a girl, holding a basket of flower. Anyhow, when I surf the internet, searching the information to get the real idea of what Pygmalion is, I was impressed to discover that Pygmalion is actually a name of a sculptor in Roman’s narrative poem, Ovid's Metamorphoses and he was depicted as a legendary figure. As I read further about it, it revolves around a sculptor(by the name of Pygmalion) who fall in love with his own sculpture which he had carved beautifully it. The best part for me would be the ending, where he got married to his beautiful sculpture since the figurine was brought to life as he keep on praying for the God to change the statue to a real woman. As compared to Pygmalion in Ovid's Metamorphoses, Shaw’s Pygmalion does underscore some similarity and also brings out some differences. From what can I see, Professor Higgins was the representation of Pygmalion while Eliza is portrayed as Pygmalion’s sculpture. As an idealistic professor, Higgins transforms Eliza, an unsophisticated Cockney into a refined young lady which set up in turn-of-the-century London as opposed to Greek in Ovid's Metamorphoses. The most distinct difference would be the ending of the play. In Ovid’s metamorphoses, Pygmalion was enjoying a happy life by getting married with the sculptor. As opposed to that, Shaw’s Pygmalion ends differently. Higgins and Eliza don’t fall in love with each other and both of them do not end with marriage (it is quite frustrating though…). I still confuse, why Shaw refuses to have Eliza and Higgins fall in love or should both of them fall in love? Hurm…points to ponder…

Antigone; my first study of Greek Drama.

Antigone: I was first pronounced it as Anti-gone, which later I discover the real pronunciation is beyond my mind which is An-tih-gnee. What happen was, it is not the only word that I mispronounce. There are still few more words which are mostly on the names of the characters. Undeniably, not only the pronunciation of the character, but I discover a lot of things through the study of Antigone. To many degrees, I feel fun in studying the text as it does bring novelty to me.
Before reading the Antigone, I was wrongly predicting the story. As I read and go through the text in class, it is impressively different from what I thought; I supposed that Antigone won’t be too determined to disobey the King as the King’s son, Haemon is her lover. Anyhow, something more sacred and even more vital needs to be accomplished by Antigone; to abide by the God’s law by going against the man’s law. This reflects on the element of Greek’s drama regards to the relationship of the protagonist to the God.
My uncertainty on how the emotions will be presented in the Greek’s Theatre is answered obviously through the study of Antigone. The main character Antigone, deals with a lot of emotions; anger, love and strong sense of determination. Eventhough I only read the play without watching it being acted out, the element of catharsis dissolve in me. When Antigone dared to challenge the King which resulted her to death, and when Haemon goes against the father and died for Antigone, I can feel the mood and the tense which create the empathy towards the characters. The psychological purgative is invoked.
Personally, I consider this is a very good play as I, myself can feel being in their situation. The moves or emotions of its characters and conflict I believe does grip the audiences.

The most engrossing dance; that would be zapin!

As far as I am concern, the dance is famous in the southern part of Malaysia, Johor. During the yesteryears, I only watched the zapin performance in the television. It is entertaining and engrossed me at the same time. Fortunately, last two years, I have this golden chance to watch the zapin performance live. I was stunned for the whole performance; at the very start to the very end.
For its engrossing and fast movement, it does catch my eye. The combination of the melodious melody (by the traditional music ensemble which are gambus, rebana or drum) with the delightful movement resulted the impressive effect for me to watch the show with enduring obsession, which I believe to others as well.
What is so special about this dance? Well, I would say the movement and the rules that had been set in this dance. In terms of movement, they move uniformly and very fast indeed. In addition, I like the “lifting” part; where at first, the ladies lift up their right knee with the hands bend to the knee level and come the men from the back row do the same action. I found out that this is the best part of zapin.
With regards to the rules, in zapin, only the right hand is allowed to move while the left hand is not moving since it has to do a special task. The edge of “sampin” that the performers wear is being rolled (with its special technique) in the left hand and to be hold firmly. So, the left hand remain unmoved but holding the rolled-edge of “sampin’ during the performance. It might have its significance which I don’t know.
The most interesting thing about this dance is that, now, the government of Johor is putting so much effort in popularize this dance by the participations of the children aged below 12. Hopefully this traditional could be preserved with its authentic identity and values that it brings along as the precious cultural heritage of Malaysia.

Mak Yong- a legend?

Since I came from the East coast state; Terengganu, I’ve heard a lot which regards to Mak Yong. Anyhow, I got this misunderstanding on what mak yong is, during my childhood years; I thought that mak yong is totally about dancing and all the dancers are old since it is called “mak”.
I’ve never watched mak yong’s performance live. But I’ve watched it few times on the television. From the documentary, I knew that mak yong is not basically about dancing, but it also involve theatre act, drama and also comedy; which all of this elements of art collaborate in one whole performance. It is undeniably would impress the viewers.
From what I know, mak yong was meant to be performed to the Sultan as a royal performance. That is why most of the performers’ attire are in yellow; the royal colour.
Mak yong was very popular around the years of 1950s—it was during my grandma’s time. My grandma said, around that time, mak yong was performed during a royal occasions such as the installation of new Sultan near the “Istana Negeri.” This is where the residents around Kuala Terengganu were gathered and exposed to the performance of mak yong.
Anyhow, once it was discovered that the mak yong performance was against Islam which involves spirit possession and the performance and the popularity of mak yong declining. But now, many of the Art and Culture institutions which try to uphold this ancient culture to make sure that cultural heritage such as the Mak Yong will not be forgotten in the midst of global development.

The introduction of drama—my new breakthrough

Impressed! ; That’s the word which describes my feeling as I was in first three classes of EDU 3217, Teaching the Language of Drama. I was impressed with the unfamiliar terms used related to this field especially on the pronunciations and the meaning of those Greek terms such as moira, soliloquy, carthasis etc. Apart, it is quite complicated but it was indeed fun to study the first three lectures on the Introduction of Drama – Overview of the History of Theatre. There are abundance of new things I’ve learnt, to be precise, a lot! Apart from that, the introduction of drama/theatre does give some enlightenment to me as the introduction does provide a clear horizon of what theatre and drama is all about and the distinguish difference of diverse kind of theatre.
It is undeniably pleasurable to learn this as it does endow with vivid view of what theatre and drama is all about through out the development of theatre. furthermore, it had brought up the existence of new and modern type of theatre; from Greek theatre, Roman theatre, medieval theatre, restoration drama and finally up to 20th century drama. It provides the opportunity in exploring a lot of new things which regards to the history of theatre and drama.
The part that I keen on the most is the difference between the two types of theatre; Aristotelian and Brechtian(epic). This is where I can see the crystal clear distinction between both theatre which I previously have “zero” ideas about them. One of the differences that I feel so unique is in terms of what the drama appeals to. In Aristotelian theatre, it allures to emotions, whereas the Brechtian appeals to intellect. What lingers in my mind is that HOW does this two types of drama will present us the two divergent elements; emotions and intelligence? How do those components emerge in the drama?
This gives me “thrill” to discuss and to go further into the study of drama.