TIGA

Our last field trip for this semester. We went to watch "Tiga". Same venue as last time, at Five Arts Centre.  

Direct translate, Tiga = Three = 3.  Tiga's logo with triangle which made up by 3 sides. 

Tiga is a showcase of three monologues based on three objects brought by the young voices. It provides a platform for new and emerging performing art practitioners to develop their skills acting, writing, producing or directing. A task was given to an emerging scriptwriter to write 3 scripts based on 3 objects. 

Then the scriptwriter will pass on the challenge by nominating another scriptwriter and give him or her with 3 new objects to perform 3 more new scripts. New directors, producers, actors are involved in this challenge as well. 

This is the first edition of Tiga. Script by Sharifah Aleysha while the three objects featured are bed, chair and knife. 

"Bed" directed by Fahad Iman, performed by Inez Caryan. 

It's about a young woman fights with the idea of possession in a relationship. She doesn't seem ready to be in a relationship but she can't handle being alone either. She tries to talk to her sayang (sweetheart) by looking to her front view (which is where audiences sat), but he always stay silent. Sometimes, she holds a pillow with her hands at the back and walk at the edges of mattress. Sometimes, the actress wraps herself around with the blanket. It denotes she is going through some struggling moments in the relationship, to stay or leave. She tidies up by folding the mattress into a 1/4 of its square size, which implies that she is thinking of putting an end on the relationship. 

(Credits to Kaki Seni's Facebook)

"I am the conventional woman. Nothing scarier than that. We seem predictable enough until the day we are not."

(Lines quoted from Five Arts Centre's Facebook)

As a couple, they have commitment issue. She feeds his ego, he feeds her insecurities.

She goes mad talking about how her man talked about the women he met to her, including the lady boss he works with. Before we can expect what the actress will do next, she starts shouting and cursing with the four-letter F word to express her uncertainity being in this relationship. 

Just when her relationship begins to fall apart, she realizes how far she will go to maintain the relationship in order for her sweetheart to stay. She unfolds the mattress, putting all stuff back to its position. For instance, she decided not to attend the company meeting because she thinks her sayang needs her. 

Coming up next, "Chair". Andy Darrel Gomes is the director and Sharifah Aryana is the actress in this play.  

A young woman is trapped in her memories with her beloved mum. She can't seem to move forward without giving up her past. She misses her. She has no idea where she is. She talks to her mum, but no one replies. 

She raises her voice shouting "Mum, mum, mum", she definitely misses her mum a lot. She tries to sit on the chair but there's a force makes her falls down. She does this again and again. She keeps falling down. She wants to move on from her memories but couldn't. She was taught to always ask questions, but conflicts between daughter-mother happened when daughter asked the wrong question.

She reminisces the moment she spent with her.

"I would watch her cut each piece of vegetable so thinly and so quickly, almost like going into a trance. Then one day, she finally asked me to help. I was so excited. It felt like I was finally getting the recognition of entering womanhood. I remember holding the knife, trembling just a little bit. I started to cut and the next thing I knew, she slowly laid her hand on my shoulder. I stopped."

(Lines quoted from Five Arts Centre's Facebook)

Mum who always gives her advice and tells her what kind of person she should be. But she didn't listen to her mum, she did it her way. Their relationship got far apart.

She can't wait to see her mum again. She talks to her, talks to the air. When there's echo, she thinks it's her. When her mother asks her to dance, she feels malu (embarassing). To live in the memories again, she dances.

She communicates with her mum spiritually. Finally, she is able to sit on the chair peacefully. 

In this play, Aryana splits herself into two characters, mother and daughter. The blue lighting is added when she is acting the mum role. The scene turns yellow-ish, like a memory.








(Photo credits to kakiseni's Instagram)

The last play in Tiga, "Knife" directed by Arshad Adam and performed by Nora Rahim. 

"Knife", a young woman discusses her sexuality in ways common but not so common to society. How to do it? A cooking show. Nora Rahim who wears tudung teaches you how to make a salad. 

Every ingredient and tool is important to make the salad. From the ingredients like carrot, cucumber, vegetable, dressing and tools like knife, big bowl, gloves, each of them signifies something. For instance, carrot = dick, gloves = condom.

She also invited a male audience to help her crushes the vegetables. She tells him to make the "uh" sounds while crushing it. To this point, I'm pretty sure you know where is this sound from ... the sexual intercourse. 

Throughout the whole "Knife" play, the actress exaggerates her gestures and movement a lot. Obstacles might stop her, might freaks her out but it won't stop her eventually. Example? She enjoys cutting the carrot into thin pieces and cut even faster, then of course, she cut herself. Knife is a sharp item. If you don't use it carefully, end up you will hurt yourself.

She blows the gloves and wears it on the hand (Just like putting on the condom on sexual organs). While mixing the salads, the glove is broken! Oh no! The bacteria in your hand is more likely to have contact with the salad (It breaks your hope thinking the sexual process is 100% safe with condom but no)! Trouble is on its way...

"But please ah ladies, always put your gloves on before messing around with the dressing. No such thing toss with fork and spoon. The best made salads are the one hand tossed. So please please always wear gloves, later too late don't want to regret right?"

(Lines quoted from Five Arts Centre's Facebook)

Sex is a taboo but not when you're making fun of it. We often take this topic lightly, but we never talk about it seriously. That's what will happened.

The finish product, salad! Ready to serve! Hahaha

In all Tiga plays, there is only one performer participates in each play. The three actresses delivered their monologue lines in a mix of English and Malay. 

There is no fix interpretation towards every single detail in the plays. We can have our own context and understanding towards the three plays due to our differences in culture and personal experiences. 

In Q&A session, we were told that originally "Bed" has more props like dressing room, bathroom, table etc. In their meetings and rehearsals, they started to remove things and found that the meaning of this stories are best told by having what they have in the scene, which are one mattress, one blanket and two pillows. 

"Chair", but why chair? From the discussion, the director Andy Darrel Gomes thinks that the chair draws a borderline between heaven and hell. The daughter is not sure which side she's in. In addition, chair has its height, it's like people giving respect to another. Mum sits on the chair while talking to her daughter who sits on the floor. Mum is someone we respect.

An audience said the appearance of the "Knife" actress is contrasting to what she performed. Director Arshad Adam said it's his intention to do so. People will think this is the culture that limits her to talk about sex, but break it! It's a general topic, everyone should learn about it.

Talk about the lighting in the backdrop, is something amazed the audience. I guess no one notices it's the shape of vagina. The last minute idea from lighting designer Syamsul Azhar works wonderful!

Scriptwriter Sharifah Aleysha's approach on having male directors to direct the three plays is to let the males to learn more about females, experience what they experience. In addition, the choices of item are very intimate to us and basically what we see, hear and use in daily lives. We sit on the chair, cut the vegetables by knife, sleep on the bed...

The Tiga team. All young bloods seated in 3x3 arrangement, how cool it is!