A SASSY woman from Sentul and a disgruntled, smarmy politician are set to take the stage come March 18, courtesy of theatre veteran Jo Kukathas.
Ah, I gave the game away with her name, didn't I! Curry Spice and YBeeee, these alter-egos of Jo, the co-founder of Instant Cafè Theatre (ICT), have graced the stage many a time, tickling audiences with brilliant comedy and satirical takes on all things Malaysian.
"I've been wanting YBeeee to retire for a long time", says the Boh Cameronian award-winning Jo, "which is why last year I said (in a newspaper article) that he ought to retire."
"But as we can see our politicians never want to retire. Unlike Jacintha Adern (the New Zealand former prime minister), they never feel it's time to step down gracefully.
"So YBeeee continues to age disgracefully, giving his opinion on everything under the sun when he should just duduk diam-diam.
"But despite my saying this, I am fond of YBeeee and others are too because he is an honest dishonest politician. He lies and cheats and steals very badly.
"Unlike our politicians, YBeeee makes us laugh. I have friends who laugh at what he says and then hate themselves for laughing."
Jo's songkok-headed, bush-jacket wearing with oversized corsage YBeeee alter-ego has been around for over three decades.
He might seem like a leftover relic from the 1980s, but he represents those grifters we Malaysians are well acquainted with, even now. "He wants to be an influencer," Jo once said.
What about YBeeee's polar opposite, Curry Spice, she of the brown curls and faux British accent, the alter-ego created less than 20 years ago?
"She is the person I want to be. I want her wild hair and her badass persona. She's smart. She's funny. She's confident. She's sexy. She speaks her mind. She speaks up for the rights of minorities.
"She's also unapologetic. She feels Indians in Malaysia get a bad deal and she will say so. But she doesn't see herself as a victim. If people don't appreciate and celebrate her genius she thinks it's their loss. She doesn't care.
"She's honest. She's loud. She swears not only because she enjoys it, but also because she thinks we spend too much energy policing things rather than doing things that matter. For her, people like YBeeee are soooo last year. She's the future," says the sexagenarian, in an email.
Jo and ICT, as with the performing arts fraternity in Malaysia, has been staging live shows since Covid-19 became endemic. Many arts practitioners took to social media to promote and stage their works.
On whether it's harder to do live comedy now with social media in every back pocket, Jo says: "I think it's one thing to watch something on YouTube or TikTok and something else altogether going to watch something IRL (in real life).
"The producers of this show, Shiraz Projects, has sold out so many shows in the last nine months. They say people are hungry for live shows.
"Maybe... after so much isolation, people want to congregate and laugh together again."
Her worst audience reaction for a comedy show?
"That was for an Instant Cafè comedy revue in 1990. We call that show Black Friday. I don't remember the date, just that it was a Friday in 1990 and the audience were dead silent throughout most of the show. The memory of that stony silence still haunts me.
"Best audience reaction? The audience at the May 9 show. There was so much laughter every night, but also so much love and hope. At the end of the night, the audience didn't want to leave the theatre."
That May 9 show was in 2019, at the Damansara Performing Arts Centre, and one takeaway was that Curry Spice got the audience's vote as a likely prime ministerial candidate!
Apart from comedy, Jo has made her mark on stage with plays like Alfian Sa'at's Nadirah and Parah in 2011, and with Parastoo Theatre, a refugee community funded theatre team.
"My next project is a film in the UK of a show I did last October in London called My Bodily Remains by Tai Shani. I met her when I did her play, The Neon Hieroglyph, at Singapore International Festival of Arts 2022.
"It's nice that the relationship is continuing. After that I'll be in Singapore reprising my roles in Hotel, with Wild Rice. It will be Hotel's third staging and the first time I'll be performing at their new theatre, so I'm looking forward to that."
It's wonderful to see arts practitioners getting back on their feet, after close to two years of lockdowns and Movement Control Orders.
Perhaps it's about time Malaysians flocked back to performing arts spaces in support, starting with Instant Cafè Night Live! Edisi X, hosted by Malaysia's West End singing sensation, Sean Ghazi, and stand-up comedian Kuah Jenhan.
Instant Cafè Night Live! Edisi X
When March 18, 2023, 8.30pm
Where Plenary Hall, Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre
Tickets at https://www.myticket.asia/
Note No admission for infants in arms, those under 18. Ticket holders must be fully vaccinated adults