What did you desperately desire and long for during the past two pandemic years?
Lee Swee Keong, Nyoba Kan Butoh’s artistic director, grapples with this question - alongside six performing arts regulars - in a new theatre show called Hasrat, which opens on Nov 19 (8.30pm) at the Petaling Jaya Performing Arts Centre’s (PJPac) Nero Event Space.
Hasrat presents a compact live programme spread across three shows, with talents from diverse creative arts backgrounds. It features veteran thespian Sukania Venugopal, choreographers/dancers Dida Mallik and Azmie Zanal Abdden, actor/lighting designer Amelia Tan, contemporary artist/academic Andrew Pok Chong Boon and ambient music performer Bhajan Jeff.
It is set to be a low-key reunion for this bunch of creatives, who will take on the new theatre space at PJPac with an audience in attendance.
“Hasrat is not about how the pandemic has negatively impacted our lives. Let me be clear about that. But, there might be a reason behind this whole thing and we just need time to understand it.
“That’s what Hasrat is basically about, giving us the opportunity to review ourselves inside and out in the midst of what’s going on,” shares Lee in a recent email interview.
With theatre and dance performances, an art talk and even a sound healing session, Hasrat offers the audience a transcendental journey through six solo offerings.
If you're a traditional culture enthusiast, Azmie’s Pawana performance captures the silat art form in contemporary conversation with dance and movement.
To add a personal family dynamic, Dida’s Ibu celebrates a mother’s selfless love through poetry and dance.
In a lecture performance, Pok will reflect on art during the pandemic and discuss his installation work What You Are The World Is, an existentialist maze structure which was shown at the Godown in Kuala Lumpur earlier this year, just before MCO 3.0 was enforced.
On the subject of calm and healing, there is Bhajan’s singing bowl and gong sound bath session to illuminate the meditative session.
For short theatre works, don't miss Tan’s One Day, a story about a female cleaner on the last day of her life, and Solo, a monologue interspersed with dance movements by Sukania (who plays a mature Bharatanatyam student at dance graduation performance).
Hasrat is produced by Nyoba Kan Butoh and Oasis Productions. The theatre space capacity has been reduced to 100 people per show and public health SOPs must be observed.
Hasrat plays at PJPac from Nov 19-21. More details here.
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