A nostalgic tune rings within the space. Rahmah Pauzi, a journalist, draws the outlines of a textbook with white chalk on the floor. She colours it in. Then she puts her fingers in the thick layer of chalk dust, takes two to three steps forward, and leaves traces of her fingerprints on the floor, now serving as a blackboard and stage.
Elsewhere, the activist and graphic designer Fahmi Reza strikes the stage with chalk. Deliberate and purposeful; angry. There is no missing the invisible target; each strike marks a target of its own.
Faiq Syazwan Kuhiri, a theare performer and musician, builds on the melody line, lulling the audience as his fingers dance away on the ukulele. His voice fills the room, and we are lost in the haunting repeated word, “remember”.
In the opening scene of Five Arts Centre’s theatre production A Notional History, audiences are introduced to three Malaysian performers; each presenting individual narratives weaved into a rich, troubling tapestry. The subject matter? Malaysia’s violent history which mainly revolves around the Malayan Emergency and the Malayan Communist Party (MCP).
The critically acclaimed show will be restaged at Pentas 2, KLPAC, from March 2-5.
Rahmah shifts between investigative and self-reflective moods through the show. Photo: Witjak Widi
It expertly tethers various media, tools and techniques to tell the elusive story, presenting a new framework for Malaysian theatre. Moving beyond traditional theatre, A Notional History combines archival footage, photographs, textual material including textbooks and examination papers, song and storytelling, presenting them through documentary-making tools and techniques.
By negotiating and honouring the dynamics and interaction of each medium, A Notional History takes audiences on an investigative and self-reflective multimedia journey of Malaysia’s past to propose visions of a future.
Exiled memory and buried truths
The narrative primarily draws from two sources. The first is Revolusi 48, an unfinished documentary by Fahmi; the second is from textual material. Rahmah begins by expounding live interview footage as the faces of two women and seven men, both Chinese and Malay, fill the screen. They are slow-moving, sometimes unsteady. They utter words with forlorn looks; they talk in fluent Bahasa Malaysia in thick regional dialects, with no decorations or frills but poetic and rhythmic all the same.
They speak the language of their motherland. Audiences can finally witness and listen to recollections of memory from the vilified, exiled members of the MCP, their truths and justifications.
Meanwhile, Fahmi re-examines Malaysia’s history by explicating the various publications of history textbooks for the national school syllabus. He points out facts and figures, names known and unknown, hidden information and nationwide events deliberately hushed over the supposed repercussions of truth.
He includes how highlighting the nationalist propaganda in the history syllabus brought much hate, harassment and verbal abuse. He asks pertinent questions which deconstruct how history has been (re)written, offering perspectives on whose terms and for whose benefit.
Audiences are left hypnotised by evidence after evidence and missing links as he attempts to piece together erased and forgotten history.
In the midst of all this, Faiq adds to the curation by revisiting oral and personal histories, tying Rahmah’s exposition and Fahmi’s critical examination into a shared perspective of past and present. But his music and voice emerge as a pivotal element to the production, playing and singing the spirit of warriors smeared as villains of life and death, grief and loss, exile, home, and nationhood.
'A Notional History' combines archival footage, photographs, textual material including textbooks and examination papers, song and storytelling. Photo: Witjak Widi
So crafted is his work that his tone and lyrics buoy the varied artistic and sensory perceptions of the production. A Notional History stands as a compelling, diverse, and radical work of art.
Exploring new histories
A Notional History was first presented as a lecture-performance as part of the Performing Arts Meeting in Yokohama (TPAM) in 2019. The production has since been on an international tour, invited to perform in Jakarta, Brussels and back in Japan, opening up room for conversations and shared- narratives on difficult, troubling, and sensitive discourses on history.
Mark Teh, director of A Notional History and coordinator of Five Arts Centre, highlights how the show offers the space for different generations (and nationalities) to connect with history.
He writes, “When we did the run in KL, what was particularly special was we had a lot of young history teachers from the national primary school system come to watch the show. They actually grew up studying the history textbook we feature in the show and are currently teaching the new history textbook. It’s that kind of resonance or dialogue we are interested in having with people to think through how to deal with difficult, taboo, unresolved, inconvenient problematic histories.”
June Tan, producer and member of Five Arts Centre, shares her reflection on how audiences abroad have engaged with the show.
“Overseas, it raised different questions for audiences in different cities – in Brussels, some responded to the poignancy of seeing old freedom fighters. In Japan, it was a way to think about World War 2. While people in different cities were amused at different points in the performance, I found they all got emotional at the same point – the idea of forgotten struggles and where we can place those in our society who risk a lot or too much for their principles, even if we disagree with them,” says Tan.
Today, A Notional History is bound to echo across generations, as it consistently has, with narratives for all to unlearn and relearn. In light of the political turbulence of the last five years, the rise in racial sentiments, and a general air of despondency, ANH is especially important for Malaysian audiences as it offers much more than a history lesson.
Fahmi in a scene demonstrating how history is always being written, rewritten and unwritten. Photo: Bryan Chang
“A Notional History is not only about history but also about the future. How does it fit in our current landscape? The audience has to decide that. Because we have made a work that I feel attempts to talk about precisely that thing, about fitting in, and the costs of fitting in or deciding not to fit – in society, in time and in a nation-state,” reflects Teh.
“A Notional History reminds me that if politics is the tussle for power, then the tussle centres on the narrative. When used for political gain, black and white, right and wrong, does not allow for nuances," says Tan
"But how do you decide who should govern a society, which is already inherently complicated, without understanding and giving space for nuances?
“Maybe we must find ways to increase voter awareness and not only consider ideological positions, but other aspects like justice, progressive thinking, intellectual curiosity to help us consider what our society becomes,” she adds.
A Notional History presents an opportunity for us to linger and reconcile with who we were, who we might have been, and who we are today. It gives us more questions than answers and offers the space for dialogues and conversations to be held after.
More importantly, it is an indelible mark, leaving us alive and open to the possibility of making new histories through our personal and collective struggles for our nation.
Five Arts Centre’s A Notional History will play at Pentas 2, KLPAC, Sentul Park, Jalan Strachan off Jalan Sultan Azlan Shah in Kuala Lumpur from March 2-5. More info here.
