Rojak - Watched, Not Eaten.
Monday, April 17th, 2006
So what did you do last weekend?
A bunch of old friends and I went ALL the way to some godforsaken place that even father time himself forgot JUST to catch a stage project of a personal friend. A play called Rojak.
The Personal Friend looking as naked as a newborn baby with his freshly shaved face.
See this face? This guy is like MY age okay. Bugger has not been hanging out with US because he’s spending the rest of his spare time with kids half his age on his PROJECT. Yeah right, as if we don’t see right through you, you fucking paedophile.
Bugger has always taken a huge interest in the artsy fartsy industry.
How I envy him.
Gay.
Rojak booklets. 2 bucks only.
Because I’m a horrible lazy fuck, I didn’t do my research and watched Rojak without a flying rat’s clue on what it was really about. But that’s fair because I did the same for every other plays before anyways, and seriously do YOU google up for the synopsis of a movie you’re about to catch? Don’t think so.
So they have a blog and everything. Minus a million points for being so young and energetic like those Energizer bunnies on SPEED.
Bio of crew and casts just right outside the theatre. Nice touch!
This is definitely NOT PGL the musical, M the opera or The Homecoming, which were produced and peformed by PROFESSIONALS who do this kinda shit as a DAY job. Move out of your parent’s house and get a REAL job already, bitches.
Nevertheless, the level of enthusiasm and the effort that went into this production was not any lesser than that of a pro’s.
The director was a 20 year old boy, OKAY.
20 years old! I mean, what the fuck were YOU doing when you were 20?
Rushing your opponents with your zerglings in Starcraft while drowning yourself in alcohol? Hahahahah.
Me too.
Switch off your phones bitches, otherwise it might end UP in a dark place.
Rojak, aptly titled as it’s basically a compilation of ten 15 minute unrelated skits, is fantastic for people with Attention Deficit Disorder, ie, me. The great thing is that if you hated a particular skit, it’s only 15 minutes worth of finger-eating torture. Bad thing is that if you are the seriously slow thinker/problem solver type, this is too fast and short for you.
It definitely feels like like you’re sitting through a BEST HIGH SCHOOL STAGE PERFORMANCE COMPILATION CD 1 COMING SOON IN A RECORD STORE NEAR YOU.
Before I start tearing this play up to pieces (I kid), I’m keeping in mind that this is strictly a play done by amateurs for amateurs, ie, people who are not into the whole hardcore WE TAKE THIS WHOLE PLAY SHIT SERIOUSLY performing arts enthusiasts. Probably the best target audience for this play would be students with their short attention spans who STILL have the ability to NOT take everything too personally and seriously AND looking for a fun day out at KLPAC.
I’m sure the cast and crew KNEW that they’re not going for any awards or anything. It’s a bunch of youths having fun experimenting on stage for fuck sakes, they KNOW that. Young cikus doing what they love doing most, just starting out on making their acting dreams come true. How can you not applaud their passion?
*applause applause*
Because they were all young and inexperienced, there are bound to be misses. As there are with hits.
Out of the 10, I’m singling out two of my favourite, more memorable skits.
The Hits.
Emily’s RSVP
Emily’s really kicking some ass with her monologue sketch about her own private party which totally “tak jadi” because people couldn’t be arsed to RSVP, and those who DID RSVP, didn’t show up.
Her facial expressions and her acting skillZ were really quite excellent for an amateur. I kept an eye on her through the entire play. Maybe we’ll see more of this young lady in the future.
Sanjiv’s Malaysian Citizenship 101
Sanjiv was wickedly hilarious, the script itself, which pokes fun of us, Malaysians, being typically Malaysians, was spot on and very in-your-face. I LOVE in-your-face skits.
Now, I’m not saying this JUST because he is my personal friend. Or that he held a knife at my throat and threatened to eat my first newborn. Seriously, it was nothing like that at ALL.
And it’s always nice to see that we still have enough humor left in our cynical bones to laugh at ourselves without constantly being BLEEPED.
The “Tak Nak” skit with its rapping-meets-dikir barat beat was memorable and really clever! Am a sucker for synchronised choreography and choruses. But it did felt like it went on a TAD bit too long.
Most of the cast had stage presence and you could see that they WERE ALL VERY talented kids. A shout out the skinny Indian boy. And that boy from the “perfect screwed up Stepford family” had the most wittiest perfectly exceuted lines EVER. AND that reaaaaaally sweet looking thing (girl, I mean) in the “female oppression” skit was good too! I couldn’t stop looking at her! So damn SWEET looking!
(I’m making up the names of the plays as I go along because I didn’t buy the booklet.)
The Misses.
Sometimes it gets a little too abstract. The director had the idea, but that idea was sometimes was NOT executed properly, not polished enough. WHAT ARE YOU TRYING TO DO HERE? WHAT IS THE STORY ABOUT? There were times when it got too messy and confusing and the play was drowned in its own drama - like the “damned” skit. I personally disliked that Ringo re-enactment horror screaming thing the most. Didn’t get that at all. Shocking, scary - for sure. There were some girls in the audience who were SCREAMING with the cast. But what the fuck was that about? All it did was to gave me the goose bumps, a splitting headache and a WTF looked constantly etched on my face.
Sometimes the idea itself was too vague it makes you go WHAT IS GOING ON DUDES WHAT ARE YOU TRYING TO TELL ME? Like the “sinking boat” (huh?) & the “oppressed woman” (damn disturbing, to say the least) one. Did we really had to sit through that? Why? I hate feeling disturbed. Brrr.
I felt that whenever a skit or a monologue start to take itself too seriously, it gets lost and confusing in it’s own little web of over-the-topness. But whenever it wasn’t trying too hard to send out a message and pushing the audiences like an annoying lunch-time table-to-table salesperson to figure out the “makna tersirat”, it was perfectly fun and that was good. Shallow is good. Sweet, simple and in your face is best methinks. I’m not much of a thinker, see? Being a mindless android and all that.
Group photo with cast.
But I must say, for a bunch of young farts (young farts because, let’s face it, you’d called me an old spinster), this was some top-notch effort! Don’t ever slack off on the enthusiasm and passion because that’s what performing arts is about isnt it? Passion and love, baby! Get us all free tickets next time Sanjiv you bitch.
Now, if only the other kids find a better hobby and get themselves involved in productive projects like this to channel all their angst and anger, instead of listening to emo “rock groups”, angry rap songs, smoking, drinking and getting abortions - maybe the world could be a better place to live in or something.
Camwhoring time!
What are you looking at, Lainie?
I met Lainie there! Apperently her friends had FFK-ed her poor ass. This would be my second meeting with her in 2 days. Of course must touch her. Of course must be touched BY her. Of course must camwhore WITH her.
Old friends. I missed you bitches. (Group photo must be bigger abit mah)
See how much we support you kau kau Sanjiv. If coming all the way to Sentul West to see you isn’t support I don’t know WHAT is. I haven’t seen most of you since Chinese New Year. Thank you for NOT disowning my sorry ass.
….and of course, there’s me.
Related:
@ Ky’s
@ BoredWorkers’
@ Hyperhex’s
Phew. Am spent. Too old for this shit man. Am keeping my day job. Argh. Have so much to do. And I still have about 2 other posts just SCREAMING to be updated. Need a drink. Or five.
THE END!
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