The stage is dark, save for a dimly lit section on my right-hand side. The Grand Puppet Master Tan (Sharifah Sofia) sits cross-legged among her students, her face calm with concentration. She carries with her a bunch of crudely made puppets. She takes a deep breath and begins her story. She tells us of a tale, of a monster and the scholar who confronts him of his evil deeds. The Master weaves her puppets in the air; they exchange clashes and blows, her voice becoming more frantic and louder as she goes on. Then she hits a particularly high note and I could feel the vocal cords in my throat cringe as it became obvious that she was running out of breath.

This, I noticed became a very regular occurrence during the rendition of Kuo Pao Kun’s “Lao Jiu – The Ninth Born” for Sunway University College Department of Performance + Media’s (DP+M). The play revolves around Lao Jiu, the only son out of nine siblings, golden child to his manual labourer of a father and housewife mother and, as the play opens, the chosen applicant of an extremely prestigious scholarship.

What follows next, is the usual: Lao Jiu snaps under the pressure and begins to question whether or not he would like to have his life fully planned out. He seeks solace at Grand Master Tan’s puppetry place in the hills. His family, horrified that their only chance of escaping hardship is being thrown away, try to reason with the boy, even resorting to force to try and bring him back to his senses.

Directed by Chee Sek Thim (“That Was The Year”, “The Coffin is Too Big for the Hole”), the play is divided into segments, each with an individual title and different performance genre. The opening was a wayang kulit performance while an excellently choreographed fight scene was used for the “Blame Game” segment where Lao Jiu’s family members argue who’s to blame for the boy’s disappearance. Of course, no play of Chee Sek Thim’s could go without an Incredible Showcase Of Amazing Acrobatic Skills.

However, aside from the casts’ Incredible Showcase Of Amazing Acrobatic Skills, everything else became quite neglected.

Like someone following an exercise video, the cast seemed rather content to have allowed their bodies to go through the motions rather than conveying any believable emotion whatsoever. It seemed that they were so focused on getting a high-kick right that they have forgotten about living within the moment. Therefore, scenes that require something beyond a physical-skill showcase became rather wanting.

One such moment was when Father (Nicholas Liew) confronted the Grand Master Tan about Lao Jiu (Ruby Ooi). Here, we saw two desperate people whose livelihoods depended on whether Lao Jiu would choose to further his studies or remain with the puppets. The resulting argument made me feel as though I was watching two ladies buying groceries at the store. When the discovery was made that Master Tan is dying of throat cancer and has only two years to live, I had to fight the urge to yawn.

There were times when it seemed like the cast was going somewhere beyond their monotonous acting. This was evident in the final confrontation between Lao Jiu and his family. Nicholas manages to convey his Father’s extreme anger and disappointment with Lao Jiu. For once, you could sympathise with this man who is unable to comprehend why his son would want to throw away such a brilliant scholarship and the chance to help his family just for the sake of a dying art-form. It made Lao Jiu’s rebuttal of wanting to have his own way look like a tantrum of a spoilt child.

By this time, unfortunately, we reached the end of the play and whatever sympathy incited was not enough to override the fact that we simply did not care for most of the characters to invest any more emotionally.

Ruby Ooi’s Lao Jiu was quite weak; you never get to feel the young boy’s breakdown, desperation and his determination to carve his own path. The Mother (Valerie Chai) and Lao Jiu’s sisters and their husbands (Afiq Nazmi, Ivan Wong, Bonno Jackson, Yasmin Martin, Elza Irdalynna) felt like caricatures serving forced levity. Sharifah Sofia’s Master Tan looked as though she could sink into the wall at any moment. The only character that came rather close to achieving any semblance of a likeable individual was Nicholas Liew but even then, his portrayal barely scratched the surface.

It was strange that a play emphasising the need to follow one’s heart sorely lacked one itself.

~ ~ ~

Tengku Amalia is a freelance writer and is currently working at Valentine Willie Fine Art.

DP+M’s “Lao Jiu – The Ninth Born” ran from Thu 18 - Sun 21 Oct 2007 (Thu - Sat: 8.30pm; Sun: 3pm) at Sunway University College’s Rooftop Theatre.

Performance photos courtesy of Pang Kee Teik and Sunway University College.