Theatre is his passion

Although focused on numbers and spread sheets, the theatre has snagged the heart of upcoming director Sahruddin Manas, writes SATIMAN JAMIN

TO his colleagues at work, Dean Manas is a number cruncher with an artistic bent but to his theatre peers, he is a drama prodigy who just happens to be a financial officer.

“Some people see a financial officer as a corporate person, but to me that’s just work.

“Theatre is my life, and where my heart is,” says Sahruddin Manas, fondly called Dean, during a break while rehearsing the musical theatre, Kasih Teja Di Muara Muar, at Dataran Bandaraya in Johor Baru.

The play attempts to give a historical perspective of the story of Tun Teja, the daughter of the Bendahara of Pahang, who was bethrothed to Sultan Ahmad.

The story goes that young Tun Teja was coveted by Sultan Mahmud of Malacca. Hang Nadim was given the task of enticing Tun Teja to Malacca, and he did this with a love potion.

Tun Teja followed Hang Nadim, leaving her fiancé Sultan Ahmad so distraught that he abdicated the Pahang throne, and lived in seclusion to the end of his life.

Hang Nadim swore his true love to Tun Teja but she still had her doubts. Then she learnt about his task.

She had to drink that love potion again to fall in love with Sultan Mahmud. They got married. Portuguese attacked, and the Sultan ran away to Muar.

As they reached Bentayan in Muar, Tun Teja drew her last breath. She is buried there.

The play, staged last weekend for the Johor Baru Arts Festival, saw a good turnout.

Dean’s previous plays, also musicals, include Si Bongkok Tanjung Puteri and Hijrah, both done in 2006.

The energetic 30-year-old Dean, born and bred in Johor Baru, is at the forefront of a theatrical revival in Johor.

“Actually, my involvement in theatre started when I was in secondary school.

“My sweetest moment then was when my school, SM Majidee Baru, won the inter-state theatre competition organised by the Education Ministry and the National Anti-Drug Agency in 1995.”

In that play, titled Keadilan, Dean played the part of a lawyer who achieved much despite being born with a deformed leg.

After his SPM examination, Dean used his free time to learn zapin Tenglu Mersing, a fast-paced and aggressive form of zapin which, as the name suggest, originated from Tenglu village.

He learned the dance under Onn Jaafar of the Yayasan Warisan Johor (Johor Heritage Foundation).

According to Dean, this proved a handy skill in his second year at Universiti Teknologi Mara Jengka in Pahang.

He says that he and a friend of his had formed an arts society called Persada Sari to offer students some form of on-campus entertainment through their involvement in theatre.

Girls signed up, he recalls, but the male students were reluctant to come to the stage. Dean formed a nucleus dance group showing all and sundry his prowess in zapin Tenglu Mersing.

The guys, he says, were attracted by the silat-like, fluid movements of the dance. And Persada Sari’s male membership picked up.

“I loved theatre so much that whenever there was a play on at Istana Budaya, Kuala Lumpur, I would hop on the earliest available bus to KL to see it.”

Dean, newly-married, works at the Johor Education Foundation as a financial officer, and worked on a business administration degree through a long-distance study programme with his alma mater.

“It was hectic as I had to work, study and, of course still continue my theatre. I even managed to co-direct a musical theatre, Sang Petani, with Johor Baru Malay novelist Rahimah Muda in 2002. The projects just didn’t stop because I had to study.”

Dean thinks “music, dance, theatre all help improve people and lives”.

“However, we need to have more programmes and a better strategy to increase our level of appreciation.”

His target now is to achieve full certification as a theatre and drama director from the Arts, Culture and Heritage Ministry, having achieved the second-level certification last year bagging the Best Overall Trainee prize.

“My ambition now is to stage a play at Istana Budaya,” he says with steely determination in his voice but still keeping his ever-present smile.

“I will think about further plans only after I have reached that milestone.”