LIFE Sdn Bhd has always piqued the interest of theatre fans as it seeks to offer not a delivery of a scripted story but "real stories by real people" as its tagline states.
During its 16th edition run recently, seven youths gave heartfelt renditions of their stories which ranged from unrequited love and realising dreams to loss and finding oneself.
Against a stark backdrop of the show's title on a video screen at the Kuala Lumpur Performing Arts Centre, the actors – Badrish Bahadur, Adry Bashir, Nabil Sufian, Tinesh Raman, Amirul Zain, Scarlet Gouk, Syed Qadeem and Wong Zi-Enn – casually walked onto the stage, looked at the screen and then introduced themselves... each ending with "I am Malaysian".
They seem to say the latter with pride. In all the deliveries, the actors spoke eloquently about their chosen issues.
Some like Tinesh Raman, an alumnus of the Theatre for Young People programme, showed emotional depth by talking about his experience of living in Malaysia. Wrapped in poetic nuances, it made for a riveting, and moving tale of fortitude in the face of adversity.
Bubbly fashionista Wong offered her quirky take on sex education in the country's schools, examining in some part the time-honoured coming-of-age question: Where do babies come from?
Basically, sex ed in school sucks, and Wong -- like everyone today -- looks for information on the Internet.
Skateboarder Syed Qadeem offered his take on going with the flow with life, sharing lessons he learnt as a skateboarder that led him to acting, and rapping.
Using syntax that seems borrowed from the street lingo of the United States, Syed gave a positive, cheery spin to making mistakes and his viewpoint is that a good attitude will always see you through an experience.
How he learnt to rap was a fun listen, with his anecdotes of YouTube lessons.
Speaking on unrequited love was guitarist Nabil Sufian, whose story evoked a heartfelt "aww" from the audience that night.
With an adorable Malay accent, he spoke about falling for a girl, and how he came away with his soul intact.
Saxophonist Gouk ended the show with a tale about finding her voice in her music. Gouk had won the 2017 Asia Pacific Saxophone Competition.
When she played her instrument, KLPaC's Black Box took on a sublime, mellow glow.
They left with that line "I am Malaysian" resounding in the space they had vacated with stark simplicity.
All their stories told of youthful angst that really is the same no matter what era you come from.
But these were not grungy rebels like some people we all may know.
And the show showed what a difference speech and drama training makes in youths, if you are used to young people saying "okay" and "okayla" to every question thrown at them by their parents, as they study their smartphones.
Their dramatic deliveries spoke volumes of the mentoring by Datuk Dr Faridah Merican, whose Life Sdn Bhd series kicked off a year after the floods that destroyed The Actors Studio @ Plaza Putra back in 2003.
Over the decades, it has seen true and raw stories of all kinds being shared on stage, from breast cancer and human trafficking to HIV and abuse.
Some of the actors are products of KLPaC's Theatre for Young People (T4YP) which is co-led by Joe Hasham.
Since 2008, 153 young thespians between the ages of 18 and 25 have undergone free theatre training, mentorship and performance opportunities under T4YP.
Their ground-breaking works have toured to Singapore, Russia and Kota Kinabalu, Sabah performing to full houses and rave reviews.
The T4YP alumni from 2015 to 2019, 26 of them, will perform tonight till Sept 20 in T4YP Emergence 2020: Love & Loss.
This will be the very first performance culminating from T4YP Emergence 2020, a new experimental platform where T4YP alumni are encouraged to find their own voice and learn how to be creators under the guidance of Mark Beau de Silva and Ho Lee Ching.
Support young local talent and the arts scene and check them out.
T4YP Emergence 2020: Love & Loss
When: Sept 17–20, 8.30pm (additional 4pm show on the weekend)
Where:: Pentas 2, KLPaC and various sites
Admission: RM 25
Members of the public can help by buying a ticket to a show, shopping on Barang Best @ KLPaC or making a donation via www.klpac.org/donations.
Note on access:
One piece will be performed in Studio 9, Level 3, which is not wheelchair accessible. The remaining seven pieces will be performed in spaces which are wheelchair accessible.
Call 03-40479000 or visit www.klpac.org.