PETALING JAYA, Feb 21 — In Jit Murad’s play Gold Rain & Hailstones, the identity predicament of Malaysians living abroad and their struggle to belong upon returning are vividly captured.
Despite being written in the early 1990s and first performed in 1993, producers of the upcoming restaging at the Instant Café Theatre say the themes are just as relevant today and may quite possibly never go out of fashion.
Director Gavin Yap was drawn to the script for this very reason.
Having only read it for the first time a few years ago, he said the play didn’t feel like it was written a long time ago and proceeded to pitch the idea to Instant Café Theatre co-founder Jo Kukathas.
“The characters’ feelings and what they were talking about remained relevant and that was something that I found to be resonant.
“The idea of people leaving home, coming back and not knowing where they fit in, and then different kinds of characters are still wrestling with the idea of homosexuality, for example,” Yap told Malay Mail.
Gold Rain & Hailstones was coincidentally the first locally-written play that the Instant Café Theatre produced and Jo said it was the perfect choice to kick off celebrations for its three-decade milestone.
“I thought it’s a good way to mark our 30th anniversary by looking back at something that still is important to us today – the idea of about home and belonging which is a perennial question that we have in Malaysia,” said Jo, who founded the company with Jit, Andrew Leci and Zahim Albakri in 1989.
Although the play looks at four characters who are Malay (played by actors Farah Rani, Sharifah Amani, Redza Minhat and Ghafir Akbar), Jo stressed that the play is not about Malay identity but the complexity of identity that transcends race.
“There’s been a lot of changes, a lot of bitterness, a lot of anger and questioning of ‘you’re not from here’ and ‘you’re a pendatang (immigrant)’ so more important than ever, we need to look at a play that’s about people struggling with the idea of belonging,” she said.
So, what does it say about us as a society, if the themes are just as relevant now as they were in 1993?
For one, not all countries have the cyclical history that Malaysia seems to have, said Jo.
“Maybe because we’ve been in such a state of siege for a very long time, we always felt for so many years things just seem to be getting very bad and people have emigrated as well as parents telling their kids not to come back.
“Too many hailstones in this country but yet Malaysians keep fighting for this country – we still feel there’s something here that makes it worth managing the hailstones,” she said, adding that the Malaysian spirit is very much present in the beloved play.
Looking back at the Instant Café Theatre’s journey, Jo shared that raising funds haven’t always been easy for the company because of its constructive views which resulted in its lack of productions in recent years.
“We’ve always been quite critical of the government but this time, people are very willing to talk about funding Instant Café Theatre so this is a product of Malaysia Baru,” said Jo.
Gold Rain and Hailstones will be staged at the Damansara Performing Arts Centre (DPAC) from March 1 until March 10.
Tickets are priced at RM50 and RM65, available at dpac.com.my. Alternatively, call 03-4065 0001 or 03-4065 0002 to purchase.
You can also become an Instant Patron of the Arts by purchasing a Golden Ticket. Priced at RM150, a Golden Ticket lets you choose the best seats in the house and is available at DPAC or by emailing [email protected].
For more details about Gold Rain and Hailstones, visit here.
Malay Mail is media partner for the play.
