Shanon’s Air Con

Local pianist and crooner Shanon Shah adds another feather to his creative cap with the staging of his first play Air Con, writes AREF OMAR

THE piano has always played a big role in Shanon Shah’s life. “At a very early age, I wanted to become a concert pianist,” he says during an interview over dinner in Taman Tun Dr Ismail, Kuala Lumpur.

Finding infinite possibilities and pleasure in the ivory keys, the family piano became his constant companion growing up in the sleepy hollow of Alor Star.

“It was frustrating that there weren’t any big bookshops or theatres but I surrounded myself with music and books,” he says.

In 2003, he won the Most Promising Artist Award at the Cameronian Arts Awards and soon after, released his debut album Dilanda Cinta, which received rave reviews, leading to an award for Best Male Vocal at the AIM awards.

But the talented singer-songwriter also had a creative itch to write for theatre, something that he’d only realise in 2006, after much persuasion from Jo Kukathas of Instant Cafe Theatre (ICT).

“Initially I wanted to write a musical, which seemed like a natural progression, but that soon fizzled out quickly since I wanted to focus on my album first,” says the 29-year-old, who has performed in theatre productions like Encore! and What’s Your Race?

“Although I was reluctant, Jo kept urging me to write and invited me to an ICT workshop.

“Initially I was supposed to tell everyone there why I didn’t want to write a play, although deep down it was the opposite,” he says.

The workshop, under ICT’s Firstworks banner, which is a programme to encourage fresh ideas and new visions from first timers trying their hand at writing for the stage, proved to be just what Shanon needed.

“I got hooked on the 10-week workshop. It was so fascinating,” he says.

Two years and 11 drafts later, Shanon’s first play is ready for staging. Entitled Air Con, directed by Jo Kukathas and Zalfian Fuzi, it touches on xenophobia and school bullying, as well as religious, sexual and social intolerance.

“It’s about a murder, seen as inconsequential, but which actually haunts an entire school and turns the lives of the people involved upside down.

“Our lives are all interconnected,” he says.

But before everyone thinks this play is all serious doom and gloom fare, Shanon is quick to respond that there’s surprisingly a lot of comedy in it too, some of it black and some of it very light hearted.

“I didn’t want to write a trivial story. But I didn’t want to lecture either,” he says of the story about a bunch of boys, who learn to grow up, in a fictitious school in Kedah.

“When I was in school I used to know friends who were different and because of that, got picked on.

“I really don’t like it when people get discriminated because of their beliefs, religion, gender and such.

“So the play is based on some of my personal experiences and from there I took it to another level creatively,” says Shanon, a human rights advocate, who had previously worked for Amnesty International Malaysia.

The play also features dialogue in the Kedah Malay dialect.

“My aim is to put Bahasa Kedah onstage and have it there in all its musical glory, not just for comic effect, which is usually the case.

“I like it a lot. It reminds me of home. It’s my little tribute to Kedah,” says the proud Kedahan, who is now based in Kuala Lumpur.

A chemical engineer by training, Shanon is currently the editor for an upcoming online news site and has just finished a new batch of songs for his sophomore album, which is more band-based.

The budding playwright is also busy preparing drafts for two new plays, which revolves around the alienation that overseas students feel and the experiences of a bunch of new graduates at a government linked company.

“My goal and passion as a creative person is just to be able to touch and affect people with my work. And I want to keep doing that.”

• Catch Air Con at KLPac from July 3-6 at 8.30pm (Sat&Sun, 3pm). Admission is RM42/RM27 (students and senior citizens). Note: Staged in BM and English with subtitles. Call 03-40479000.