Sunday March 21, 2010
Positive approach
By ANDREW SIA
A group of performers aims to ‘humanise HIV’ and share stories of how it affects people.
WHAT is “private and limited” about Life Sdn Bhd? Since its inception in 2004, this format of theatre from the Actors Studio is all about, well, “life” in Malaysia, stripped down to the basics of true stories minus the pyrotechnics, huge stage sets or massively melodramatic musical scores.
“Life Sdn Bhd is about what it’s like to be Malaysian, both the excellent and the terrible aspects of it!” says Datuk Faridah Merican, who is directing the latest, fifth, incarnation entitled Life Sdn Bhd 5: I’m Positive! The show opens in Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday.
No, it’s not that Anthony Robbins or some other American self-help guru has come to town. Positive here refers to the nine actors who are either affected with HIV or AIDS themselves, or have family and friends who are. And the motivational and inspirational force they exert is much more down-to-earth, and perhaps that much more powerful than any self-improvement guru’s can be.
Faridah Merican (left) directs nine performers in the show, among whom is Yatie. When Norhayati Musa Ali, a 34-year-old housewife with three children, recalls her experiences, the few of us in the meeting room were all hushed and touched.
“I got HIV from my husband,” she shares, speaking Bahasa Malaysia. “He was surprised that I could still accept him after that. Any other wife would have killed him, he told me. But for me, we are still a family. That is important.”
“Of course when I first found out, I was depressed for a week or two. But we won’t be cured even if we cry for 24 hours, so I don’t want to find fault. We have all made mistakes.”
Like all the other actors, this is the first time Norhayati is on stage.
“We start with their stories,” says Faridah. “And they tell it again and again until they are accustomed to talking on stage. So far, there have been lots of tears at the rehearsals, so much emotion when the participants shared. But there has also been lots of laughter over some (absurd) situations.”
Singer-songwriter Ariff Akhir will perform Take Me Home at Life Sdn Bhd 5: I’m Positive! Bakhtiar Talhah, the executive director of the Malaysian AIDS Foundation (MAF), will also be performing. “Although I have done talks in schools and companies, this is my first time on stage. Faridah makes us all feel relaxed, especially since none of us are actors.
“Our stories interconnect so beautifully. When rehearsing, I learned that although we come from such different backgrounds, our hopes and fears are starkly similar and we somehow draw courage from our HIV status,” Bakhtiar says.
Faridah adds that it’s been “heart-warming” to direct the show. “Working with first-timers is different as they do not carry baggage as actors.”
Norhayati herself has not told her own parents about being HIV+.
“I guess we know whether our parents can accept such news or not. For me, I am content to let my parents find out through this show, or the media. I have a cousin who made the mistake of telling his family that he had the virus. After that, he was boycotted by his them, even though he is the only child. People in our kampung near Tanjung Tualang (Perak) didn’t want to be near him.”
Faridah says that HIV and AIDS are things that Malaysians don’t want to talk about. “Infected people are already condemned by society. We want to widen people’s horizons on this. If you look at a HIV+ person, you would never guess he has the virus because he looks just like you and me.”
Bakhtiar was deeply touched by a fellow actor’s tale. “She lost everything when her first husband died from AIDS. Then she herself was thrown out with her children from a shelter home when the people found out that they were HIV+. Despite all that, she gathered a lot of courage and moved on, and is now happily married. It’s a classic tale of love conquers all.”
He hopes Life Sdn Bhd 5 will somehow “humanise” HIV, an underground epidemic that many Malaysians pretend is not really happening.
“We often hear of diseases without knowing how they touch people’s lives but this show will put faces to HIV. I believe the audience will walk away feeling that HIV+ or not, we are more similar than different,” Bakhtiar says.
Left: Bakhtiar Talhah says the stories interconnect. Alias Nor (centre) and Dr Zaki will perform monologues on HIV and AIDS. Faridah adds that the show will not just be serious and sad, as there will be the entertainment elements. Singer-songwriters Ariff Akhir and Ian Chow will be performing their own compositions dedicated to the show, entitled Take Me Home and What If, respectively. Peter Ong will be doing a rendition of Cyndi Lauper’s uplifting True Colours.
And R&B artiste Dayang Nurfaizah, who is part of MAF’s Red Ribbon Celebrity Support Programme, will make an appearance on March 24 and 26. Others, like Yatie, Alias Nor and Dr Zaki, will perform monologues concerning HIV and AIDS.
Norhayati says she has drawn lots of life lessons in the past two years.
“Before I got HIV, I hardly ever prayed or wore a tudung. Saya dulu selalu enjoy kat pub (I always used to enjoy pubs.) We should have taken better care of our lifestyles.
“Maybe it’s OK to just try this kind of things a bit, just to taste what it’s like, but not to overdose on it. Now both my husband and I are much more serious learning (about) and practising our religion. It doesn’t matter what race or religion the audience is. I believe they will be touched when they hear our stories.”
■ Life Sdn Bhd 5: I’m Positive! will be shown on March 24, 25, 27 (at 8 nightly) and March 28 (3pm) at The Actors Studio@Lot 10, Roof Top, Jalan Sultan Ismail, KL. Tickets are RM20 and RM30. There is a special MAF Night on March 26, 8pm.
For details, call 03-2142 2009/ 2143 2009/ 4047 9000, or visit www.theactorsstudio.com.my.
RSS
