THE Covid-19 pandemic and the ensuing Movement Control Order (MCO) has certainly put a damper on a lot of things including the local theatre scene.
But one of the founders of the long-running Instant Café Theatre, Jo Kukathas, is choosing to look at it from a more positive angle.
The theatre company will be restaging its award-winning play, Parah, next weekend via a Zoom livestream setup.
"We're asking the audience to come along with us as we try something new. This is an experiment in taking theatre to a wider audience and depending on how this first online production of ours goes we will then try out new ways of doing it."
"The technology is unfamiliar but I don't want to treat it as the enemy. I'm trying to understand that this is the reality so why not learn something and be innovative?" she says during an online interview.
The Jo-directed Parah was written by Singaporean playwright Alfian Sa'at and first staged in 2011. Since then it has been restaged six times with each run receiving critical acclaim.
It focusses on four Form 5 students, played by Iedil Dzuhrie Alaudin, Gregory Sze, Farah Rani and Branavan Aruljothi, who have to confront their differences and opinions regarding race relations after an incident that takes place tests their friendship.
Jo says that she was struck by how resonant and relevant the play was after going through a small closed reading with the actors months ago.
"The actors know the play well, it's in their bones, so although it was a reading done through the laptop I could really feel it.
"I felt that if it's still so powerful via digital media then maybe it's something we could work on using this platform to share it with the public," she says.
Jo explains that during the MCO she was able to catch a lot of theatre shows online at home.
"These were wonderful recordings by professionals which made me want to explore doing theatre in the digital way as well, especially for people who cannot come to the theatre for whatever reason."
She adds that in a way it's been a blessing in disguise of sorts, since anyone with an internet connection and a computer or smart device can watch Parah.
"Now we can potentially take this play all over Malaysia via the digital platform. We certainly could not do this in the past by physically touring this production, it wouldn't be viable," she says.
DOING IT FOR THE KIDS
Jo also hopes the play will be watched by students around the country.
"Another reason I want to do Parah is because I always wanted to take this play to schools in and outside of the Klang Valley, as well as to East Malaysia.
"But we never could get the funds or the permission. We only got to take it to one semi-private school.
"I always felt this was a play I wanted all Malaysian school children to see. I'm hoping with Zoom Parah we can do that.
"I'm hoping we can use theatre to take this necessary conversation and story about race and friendship to the people that it's about. I hope students watch it with each other or with their patents or their teachers and I hope it generates a conversation," she says.
DYNAMIC COLLABORATION
For this Zoom production, ICT has collaborated with Cloud Theatre to handle the technical aspects of presenting the play in the digital realm online.
According to Parah producer Tan Cher Kian, Cloud Theatre was formed during the MCO since there was a need for arts practitioners to have a proper platform to showcase their work on.
"The online platform is something artistes are not familiar with so Cloud Theatre has provided a sort of online venue for them to stage their productions.
"The founder is from the arts scene as well, making them the right partner to collaborate with. They take care of the operations side and ticketing as well so we can focus on the creative work," says Tan.
He adds that the four actors will be performing live from their respective homes, with one currently based in Jakarta, Indonesia.
"Audiences will watch the live Zoom performance streamed through the Cloud Theatre website.
"At the same time audience members can communicate by type chatting during the show with each other," he says.
Jo adds that, "It's a new way of watching a theatre production. You can chat directly with friends as you watch it together."
"You can eat and drink in the comfort of your homes. And everyone has a front row seat. So it'll be a different kind of atmosphere."
The online production will see Jo playing a lot with the framing and managing what the audience sees in order to communicate the story.
"The content is strongly understood by the actors and it's something that we're very familiar with, so it was a good choice for our first digital experiment.
"I'll be switching the gallery view so there will be instances where you only see one actor at a time, certain close ups, and two actors together, all done to keep it dynamic for the audiences."
THE PRICE IS RIGHT
Tickets are on a pay-as-you-like basis where the audience can contribute RM5, RM10, RM30, RM50 or RM100 to watch the play.
Jo says that they scrapped the initial idea to do it for free.
"We wanted to pay everyone involved and we also felt that we should respect the work. And people have told me that they want to support us but don't know how."
"So we decided that we're not going to question your reason, you pay what you want, since we know that things are tough all around. If you want to support us, you can buy the RM100 ticket," she says of Parah, which is sponsored by Brickfields Asia College (BAC).
With funding for theatre productions being a perennial concern, Jo says that ICT has always functioned on small-scale budgets.
"We understand that everyone is facing some very tough times but companies can come in with small donations. We're not asking for RM100,000 but a company sponsoring RM10,000 will pay for the cost of a Zoom production.
"A three-camera setup with a proper crew to film will result in a good production. I hope companies will think of this as a way to take theatre productions outside of KL," says Jo.
She adds that although theatre venues have officially resumed operations, the social distancing safety measures that have to be adhered to have severely reduced the total seating capacity of these places.
This reduced seating capacity does not make staging a production in these traditional spaces viable.
"Right now we have to invest in the film version of what's going on in theatre. We can't go back to theatre venues yet since the seating capacity is about only a quarter of the actual number of seats."
Jo says that they'll be concentrating on doing live stream versions for a while.
"So that's why I'm trying to understand and embrace it now and we'll try to improve it as we go along."
THE SHOW MUST GO ON
That said, Jo is confident that theatre is here to stay and audiences will still want to catch a play in a hall for the live experience when the time is right.
"For example, we can listen to our favourite bands on radio and watch them on YouTube but when they come to Malaysia we'd want to see them perform live. So I don't think we should be afraid of this (digital platform).
"I just see it as a complimentary component and people will eventually go back to the theatre venues," she says.
But one thing's for sure, ICT is here to stay.
"We're survivors who've managed to do theatre for 31 years now with very little resources. And the biggest resource has always been the audience.
"They've really supported us, as well as the small donations from corporations.
"I think we are used to saying 'let's see what we can do'."
Zoom Parah
When: July 25 (8pm) & July 26 (3pm)
Where: Livestream via www.cloudtheatres.com
Tickets: Pay-as-you-like basis (RM5, RM10, RM30, RM50 & RM100)
For more details and ticket information, visit www.cloudtheatres.com
Parah will be staged in Malay with no subtitles (an online copy of the English text will be available during the show). There will be two post-show discussions with the playwright, director, producer and actors.