Wed 6 Sep, 2006
Was fooling around on the search engines and found this article. It was for my previous play. Enjoy!!
Freeing the bound woman by Himanshu Bhatt
A lawyer awakens in a dingy room to find herself tied to a chair and guarded by a manic-looking girl.
Trying to free oneself from being bound, as the lawyer does in the short play called Infant, is exactly what a new double-bill production on the modern female is all about.
Entitled F for Female, the presentation also features a monologue titled T.O.P.
Both short plays are meant to deal with the dilemmas faced by many young urban women.
The production is presented by La Victoire Production in collaboration with The Actors Studio at the latter’s premises in Light Street, Penang.
Infant is written by Fariza Zainul Ariffin and directed by her younger sister Fadzrina.
Acted by Adeline Ong and first-timer Shaleena Saduruddin, it’s about a young girl who was kidnapped and raped, and now seeks vengeance.
In a sequence with doses of intense physicality, the character holds captive the very lawyer who helped her abductors go free.
T.O.P. deals with unwanted pre-marital pregnancy, and the stigma and predicament that arise from it.
The monologue, performed by a focused and crisp Johanna Wee, is written and directed by Janarthani Arumugam.
Wee plays a young woman who is taken advantage of by a boy for five long years, only to be abandoned when unplanned consequences arise. The painful experience leads to renewed feminine awareness and a human maturity.
Very importantly, the script’s conveys the message that, like the duped girl, gratuitous physical expression in romance can be superficial and misleading.
With minimalist set design and concentrated lighting, both plays lend focus to role and dialogue that emphasise relevant issues on womanhood.
* F for Female will have its final two shows today at 3pm and 8.30pm at The Actors Studio Green Hall, Penang. Tickets at RM25 and RM15 (senior citizens and students).
