YOU know the old adage/cliché, “Don’t judge a book by its cover”? Here’s a prime example. In June, I joined a touring group of theatre performers from Perth, Australia to the Temple of Fine Arts in Johor Baru (JB), where we put on a show. Having been to the Temple of Fine Arts in Kuala [...]

SINCE 2003, I have been involved in the Children’s Theatre course at Murdoch University in Perth, Western Australia. Each year, Associate Professor Dr Jenny de Reuck coordinates a unit that trains students in the various aspects of putting on a theatre production, which she also writes and directs. The objective is to teach not just [...]

WORKSHOP performances and previews are an important step in the process of staging a theatrical production. Generally, workshops are presentations of works in progress, in the forms of semi- or full staging, or even just readings. Previews usually feature the end product, either a complete performance of, or just highlights. Both workshop performances and previews [...]

THE stage, like any other forum, can be used to discuss issues that affect humankind, even though not all forms of theatre are interactive. Often there is a clear divide between the stage and the seats, which creates a sometimes necessary distance between audience and performer. This tends to work in favour of both actor [...]

MANY a bored reader has sighed at the impression that there seems to be nothing of greater significance to report on than Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim‘s sodomy trial. But on some level, the proceedings of the trial — including the lurid details involving the de facto Parti Keadilan Rakyat leader, his former aide [...]

(Pic by theodore99 / sxc.hu) JUST recently, pigs’ heads were left in mosques, after previous arson and vandalism attacks on churches, a Catholic school, a Sikh gurdwara and two surau. These attacks on places of worship are apparently related to the ongoing tussle over the “Allah” issue. In the last edition of Merely Playing, I [...]