We are all deranged in our own ways.

Raj and The End Of Tragedy
Instant Cafe Theatre Company Presentation

In conjunction with their 25th anniversary, this was their offering. A modern drama with 5 actors, it narrates essentially the restless hearts of the two main characters of the show, Raj and Uncle Lingam, who are paired to travel to America. The story tells us of their background, their journey there and the people whom they meet along the way.
It is not a conventional drama with change of sets and costumes but rather a modern one with minimal improvisation of props. Story is told by a narrator who is also part of ensemble of actors through a set of dances and facial expressions. It went on for 1h45m without intermission.
Jo Kukathas and her crew of 4 other talented actors gave quite an intense performance which brought the audience over to the dark side of human life.
To my understanding, it showcases that everyone of us have some unfulfilled madness within us. Some decide to externalise it much to chagrin of people around them, sending them off to be institutionalised. Collection of people of same mindedness perhaps is not the best option as they may fall deeper into quicksand. Others decide to combat their problem by running away from it all but maintain their sanity. In the end, we are all mad in our own ways.
It starts with the character Uncle Lingam, quite a character, a man of the world, a bigoted Ceylonese Malaysian who is looking for a companion to go back to America to re-live his good times. Leaving with no choice, he is left with the company of Raj to be his aide.
The story later tell about the mental state of Raj who is a frequent inmate of Tg Rambutan Mental Asylum. The actors reenact the scenario in the asylum. They also tell of the sad tale of an old Chinese man who was discarded by his family to rot in the asylum after the family had snitched his secret recipe of making chicken biscuit.
Raj grew up mentally deranged after being neglected by his parents who actually got him a wee bit too fast, before the matrimonial night, at a time when they were more interested in having fun. Raj, a TV addict as he grew up with the company of TV in place of his parents, yearn to be amongst the heroes that he had seen all his life on the telly - Rawhide, Clint Eastwood, Telly Savalas et al.
En route to America, the saga of two Malay civil servant couple is revealed. The first couple, quite mismatched, live to pacify the society in their daily life. The husband has actually plans to come out of the closet and live his life to the fullest in New York. The wife, a sexually deprived one, fantasises sexual fantasies with random men.
The wife of the second couple is made to live the life that she does not want. Forced to live the high life, she is actually feels quite at home in her quite simple quiet country home in her kampong.

In transit at Dubai, Raj realizes that there are people worse off than him but they soldier on. Pakistani workers who were worked to pulp with no regards to humanity brinking on human trafficking. The sad tale of workers' exploitation, sufferings, the will to survive whilst losers commit suicide is told in a masterly manner.
Raj and Uncle Lingam finally reach the land of their dreams, New York, New York.
Here the storyteller brings us to the life of an Ethopian cab driver of the predicaments that he went through his life, of growing up under the patronage of the mythical St George who slayed the dragon, in a black land even though St George never went anyway beyond the Gaellic lands. Life was easy back home with the tutelage of the clergymen, playing table tennis with no balls! Misery came in the form of civil war which drew him to Big Apple. But he maintained his sanity. 

For Raj... his lifelong ambition proved to be his tragedy. The land that he clamoured so much proved not quite he had expected. Even before the ecstasy of reaching the land that he fantasised so much sinked in, a stray bullet from a shootout proved to be his coup de grace.
I do not claim to be a connoisseur of arts to be able to pass judgement on the quality of a production. In my limited experience in appreciating the finer things in life, I find this presentation quite absorbing. In spite being told in a different mode of story telling, the flow is crystal clear in our minds like the many films that I had watched where the story goes from present time to flashbacks with ease without confusing its viewers. The talented Jo did a fantastic job of being to gasp the attention of the audience for a good 1h45m with her gripping but sometimes witty dialogue.

The cast of Raj and the End of Tragedy: (from left) Ghafir Akbar, Jo Kukathas, Suhaili Micheline, Anne James, and Doppo Narita (seated on floor).

A life lived full?

John Mortimer, The Devil's Advocate. The Unauthorised Biography. (2005)

Author: Graham Lord. 

At the spur of the moment, at the last BBW book fair, picked up this hard cover for a song. I thought then it would comprise a collection of landmark legal cases. As it turned out, John Mortimer was a Queen's Counsel alright but he was more well known for his antics outside the courts, namely the theatre and extra matrimonial activities.
Born in England to a barrister father who dealt with divorce cases and eventually became blind, he was enrolled in a boarding school. Unfit to partake in physical activities, he dwell in writing and theatrics. Even though he was initially a shy boy, he overcame his shortage in the looks department with his wit and charm. He became a woman's man. Given the lackadaisical morals of the swinging post war years, he was romping every person with an extra X chromosome.
Whilst still married to Penelope, who was married when they started an affair earlier, he continued his blue bearded lifestyle.
In spite of his active social life, he graduated as a lawyer and be called to the Bar.
His interest in writing continued and he became a prolific writer of screenplays and books. Interestingly, Penelope was an established author. John's affairs brought many unhappiness to his fragile marriage and Penelope brittle psychology. The many upheavals they had in the family was the theme of many of his plays. Actually all the things that are seen in his plays are actually reminiscent of what was happening in his daily life! Masala in real life!
His continued infidelity drove Penelope to brink of insanity. John's idea of marriage is to accept his clandestine romps without batting an eyelid!
His legal work notoriously involved him defending many cases that were deemed to affect morality of the society. He and his generation were accused of decadence of British social mores and decency, hence the title of 'Devil's Advocate'. He successfully defended a thrashy tabloid which published smut for teenagers under the guise of health education. Even Richard Branson and The Sex Pistols were defended by him for an offence related to the use of the work 'bollocks' in their title of the first album. All in the name of right to self expression and freedom of speech.
He also defended Ben Jayakumar, the opposition politician in Singapore.
His marriage ended when he took a pretty young thing as wife who was young enough to be his daughter. Penelope's health took a dive for the worse. His tryst with an actress also produced a love child which he did not acknowledge decades later.
He continued authoring books and screenplays late into his twilight years. His name graced many films and TV dramas over the years.
The author of his biography was denied permission to write after two long interviews. That would explain why the book became an unauthorised version. In a way, the author looked at it as a blessing as he could tell the negative and low-down-dirty aspects of the subject.

Music, music and more music...

Les Misérables 2012; [pronounced leɪ ˌmɪzəˈrɑːb (Fr)]

Back in the spring of 1995, as I was wandering around the streets of London aimlessly after the clinical examination That is the advantage of having name starting with the first alphabet. You are mostly in the first few names of the exam register, hence you sit for your practical exams first and have to wait the rest to finish theirs!

So, my partner in crime then, LSC, insisted that we should not leave London without watching at one show in the theatres there. Living on a shoestring budget, the only plausible way to purchase their ticket were from a kiosk in Soho selling last minute tickets. Of course, this is before a time when Soho (at least in UK) only meant a strip "SOuth of HOuston (Street)" which was famous for nightlife, theatres and Chinese food! The concept of Small Office Home Office was unheard then! 

To me then, theatres did not excite me. I thought it would like the school dramas that they staged in school. I did not expect it to blow my mind as it did.

Due to unavailability of tickets we ended up watching 'Miss Saigon' instead of  'Les Misérables' or 'Cats'. The highlight of 'Miss Saigon' was the scene of people trying to board a helicopter. The whole theatre hall shook violently as if a helicopter was indeed on stage, with the excellent make believe stroboscopic lights and powerful acoustics to mimic the sound and sight of the rotating rotor blade of a chopper! My impression of the theatres changed forever.

18 years later, I finally got the opportunity to watch Victor Hugo's 'Les Misérables' on film.
Set in the depressing times of 1815 in Paris, two decades after the French revolution where everybody seem restless, poor and unsettled. The state appears like a open sewer and poverty is everywhere. Children are running around aimlessly with nothing to do. Against this backdrop, our hero Valjean (Hugh Jackman) is released from jail after hard labour of 19years for stealing bread to feed his starving child. The years were added on when he unsuccessfully tried to escape incarceration. His jailer, Javert (Russel Crowe) has a personal vendetta against Valjean  (gaol no. 24601) and promise to bring him down.
Even as a free man, he is unable to secure a place to sleep in peace because of his checkered past. He is given shelter and food at a church, but being the thief that he has changed to be, he even steals silverware for the church. He is caught by the police but is given a lease of new life when the pastor denied any wrongdoing on Valjean's part. Valjean repents and changes his wayward ways.
Fast forward... 8years later, 1823...
Valjean jumps parole but made himself successful. He owns a factory and is a mayor of a town. One of his workers, Fontine (Anne Hathaway), is ostracized and sacked for having an illegitimate child. She sells her hair, teeth and finally her body to fend herself and her daughter who is actually treated as a child slave by the paid caretakers. After a dramatic display of emotions, Fontine dies. Even though Hathaway appears for a short segment of the film, she made an impressionable impression on its viewers. (she went on to win many awards).
Valjean goes on to adopt her daughter, Cosette, as he felt bad as Fontine was his employee. The story goes on to explore the complex emotions, turmoils that the characters go through - the relationship between adult Cosette and her adopted father, Cosette and her boyfriend (Marius), Marius and his revolutionary seeking friends and of course the duel between Valjean and Javert who is forever trying to bring him back to jail.
An excellent musical with a complex layered story with rich characters depicting a time in the past.