KUALA LUMPUR: Director and playwright Fa Abdul has apologised for her oversight with regard to the misleading title of her play "Sex in Georgetown City".
"It was never my intent to offend religious or cultural sensitivites, but in the creative industry, such incidents are inevitable," Fa said in a statement posted on her Facebook page.
The title of the play led to police reports being lodged against it, as well as statements issued voicing displeasure over its staging.
A statement by Pertubuhan Ikram Malaysia (Ikram) said they were against the staging of the play set to take place at the Performing Arts Centre of Penang (Penangpac).
Basing their statement on the promotional poster of the play which depicted two people in bed, Ikram however noted that while there may not be any actual sex scenes in the play, dialogue and "in bed displays" could lead to an imagery of sex being presented in the form of lewd comedy.
Ikram said this was against the norms, culture and teachings of all religions in Malaysia.
Explaining the matter, Fa said she understood and agreed that the title was misleading and has since been changed it to "Love in Georgetown City".
"The play consists of ten skits, each skit lasting up to 8 minutes. As with all my previous plays performed at Penangpac over the last four years, my intent is to educate the public on social issues in an entertaining and informative manner.
"The skits address social issues that are impacting our society and nation including inter-racial relationships, racism, pedophilia, and infidelity. They are not deviant nor exploitative, instead they reflect our challenges and cultural idiosyncrasies.
"In my experience, feedback from my shows in the past has been overwhelmingly positive and indeed resulted in healthy conversations and debates," Fa said.
The play has a disclaimer that it is for mature audience of 16 years old and above.