After critically acclaimed ‘Nadirah’ which won best script in Life! Theatre Awards 2010, Alfian Sa’at returns with… ‘Pariah’,\u00a0the second installation of Alfian’s tribute to the late Yasmin Ahmad.<\/p>\n
Melur is a Form 5 student studying in Kuala Lumpur. When she hangs out with her friends, Hafiz, Mahesh and Kahoe, they look like the poster children of 1Malaysia, a slogan celebrating multiracialism and nationhood.<\/p>\n
One day, Melur discovers that a page from a novel that was lying around in her room has been torn out. The trouble is that the novel belongs to her schoolteacher mother, who uses it as a literature text. Investigating further, Melur realizes that the page that has been torn out contains the word \u2018pariah\u2019, deemed controversial by the Indian community.<\/p>\n
The only suspects are the three boys, who had visited Melur\u2019s house during the school holidays. As they begin to read it, however, the four students start to question some of the histories presented in the book, histories that they are supposed to claim as their own.<\/p>\n
Who are the indigenes and who are the immigrants? Is there a grain of truth in even the most repellent stereotype? What power does a word have to shape reality? And is a civic nationalism possible in any society obsessed with race?<\/p>\n
Inspired by Yasmin Ahmad\u2019s final film, \u2018Talentime\u2019, as well as Abdullah Hussain\u2019s novel, \u2018Interlok\u2019, Pariah is a timely exploration of how identities are contested in a young, pluralistic nation. Funny, provocative and moving, Pariah asks urgent questions about love, home and belonging.<\/p>\n
Written by ALFIAN SA’AT
\nDirected by JO KUKATHAS<\/p>\n
Farah Rani
\nGregory Sze
\nIedil Putra Alaudin
\nMervyn Raj<\/p>\n
Performed in Malay with English Surtitles.
\nPresented by Teater Ekamatra with support from Instant Cafe Theatre.<\/p>\n
23-25 June 2011, 8pm
\n25 June 2011, 3pm<\/p>\n