KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 1 — Putting together a theatre production is no mean feat; scriptwriting, casting, venue and logistics merely touch the surface of what it takes to make the magic happen.
Imagine if your cast and crew are people displaced at the hands of conflict, arriving on a temporary basis in Malaysia with limited chance of assimilation and after going through various experiences of trauma.
Now you have language, cultural differences — the entire premise of communication — and religion to throw into the theatre-making mayhem.
Can it be done?
Just ask Geutanyo Foundation co-founder Lilianne Fan, humanitarian expert behind Impossible Love.
“Managing them was a pleasure,” Fan said.
“There is no challenge working with refugees."
The double bill collaboration is set to be staged at Damansara Performing Arts Centre (DPAC) from tonight until Saturday (Feb 1-3).
“The challenge was getting the word out to Malaysians — why should people care about these plays
"In daily life, the refugees don’t have much contact with Malaysians.”
The production, Impossible Love, is made up of two plays — Screaming in Silence and Romeo and Juliet 2000+ — and features 25 refugees from seven nations -- Syria, Palestine, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Libya as well as one person from Myanmar who helped on set.
The collaboration takes place between Parastoo Theatre and TheatreFugee.
It was the suggestion of TheatreFugee leader Omar Alkhammash to pool resources between the two groups. TheatreFugee is funded by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) while Parastoo depends on public donations, both supported by Fan’s Geutanyo.
“It’s challenging enough to produce, stage and market one refugee play, so we thought it would be better to bring the talents together,” said Fan.
Yet the struggle to get these plays on was trickier still.
The majority of the actors cast for both plays had little to no experience working in theatre or drama before.
“The kind of struggles the refugees face became very obvious, such as language barriers, losing precious Unhcr cards, low confidence, intimidation and insecurity,” added Fan, a Malaysian who has worked at responses to refugee crises in Aceh, Indonesia, Myanmar and more.
“But what was equally obvious was their resilience, resourcefulness, powerful life experiences and genuine support for each other.
“These refugees want to interact more with Malaysia, build bridges and dialogue,” she said.
Saleh Sepas founded Parastoo in 2016 after fleeing from Kabul, Afghanistan. He had a successful performance career in theatre, film, television and radio for more than 10 years before his life was threatened by the Taliban.
A professional theatre director, he wrote and directed Screaming in Silence and co-directed Romeo and Juliet 2000+.
“We face a lot of challenges. Social challenges, lack of access to theatre facilities and economic challenges,” Sepas told Malay Mail.
“Through theatre we were released from isolation and able to enjoy social activities.
“We want to minimise the distance between immigrants and people of Malaysia. Hopefully they will see a more realistic understanding of our lives here.”
The plays both delve into love and why, down to debilitating external factors, it simply doesn’t work out.
Screaming in Silence is set in Sepas’ Afghanistan, where 12-year-old girl Nazanin is forced into marriage with an older man as part of a gamble her father lost.
The protagonist finds running away only leads to institutions that fail to protect her rights, according to the play’s online description.
Romeo & Juliet 2000+ reimagines the famous feud between the Montagues and Capulets in socially divided Colombo, Sri Lanka, featuring warring Sinhala and Tamil Tiger families.
It retains most of the original structure of Shakespeare’s revered work, although the tragic element is replaced with that of drawing attention to a marginalised community.
“The civil conflict in Sri Lanka seemed to capture the story best,” explained Alkhammash, 19, of TheatreFugee.
“We made the play a romance and comedy but it also explains our situation here as refugees. It would relate all over the world.”
The most striking thing about the production involving novice actors is the familiar experience of civil war. Just one Sri Lankan Tamil took part in the play.
“We all had the same situation in Syria, Libya, Afghanistan. It is what made us all refugees.
“I was scared about communicating because we come from different cultures. But it didn’t matter about our mother language, our culture or our religion. There are Muslims, Christians and Hindus performing.
“All of the actors were open-minded. Romeo and Juliet 2000+ created a new family that we didn’t know we’d have when we started.”
The trio holds each Impossible Love member in the highest regard for entering the project as amateurs and emerging closer to being a professional that, at some point in their lives, couldn’t have been further from reality.
Both plays were put together from start to finish in under eight months — rehearsals for Romeo and Juliet 2000+ began at the tail-end of 2017.
Yet, for the next three nights, working right up to the wire to get everything in order, Fan, Sepas and Alkhammash will dazzle local audiences with visually gripping stuff, replete with videowork and choreography.
Opening night is a fundraising gala with tickets priced at RM100.
Tickets for tomorrow and Friday start at RM85 (RM50 for students).
Proceeds from all three nights will go to Geutanyoe Malaysia’s programmes for the education of refugee women and girls and TheatreFugee’s arts programme for refugee and Malaysian youth.
Purchase here.
