Watch the shout-out from the cast:
Hear what the Director, Baba Alvin Tan has to say:
I directed Mari Kita Main Wayang 29 years ago in 1994 with The Necessary Stage. It was an honour to have had the opportunity to work with Felix Chia. He was a rebel with a cause. And he had many causes. He was dedicated to put on stage the Peranakan culture – warts and all.
The Peranakan community would turn up at his plays, laughed from beginning to end, and then chide him for washing dirty laundry in public. Felix was never ashamed of the blemishes and foibles of the Peranakan culture and heritage. In fact he was proud to draw from both its strengths and weaknesses. More importantly, he wanted the community to laugh at ourselves and not be over-precious about proper representation. He didn’t believe that heritage was sacrosanct and beyond criticism.
So I had an amazing time learning and being inspired by Felix’s bold vision which was ever present in the intentionality of his writing.
By the time he wrote Mari Kita Main Wayang, he had matured as a playwright and had the capacity to embark on structural exploration as compared to the numerous kitchen sink, linear, one-scene-one objective, slow-moving, three-hour long formulaic Peranakan plays that came before that. He attempted a play-within-a-play framework, inventing a fable comprising Baba Royalty which we never had in our cultural history.
I treasure this piece of work very much and I’m so happy and thankful to Esplanade that I now have the opportunity to, with the help of the talented playwright, Zulfadli Rashid, update and modernise the work for all of you to enjoy. My heartfelt thanks to Zulfadli Rashid for transcreating the work, my assistant director, Aidli Mosbit for her zeal and imaginative artistic contribution, to all the designers involved and our talented musicians. Thanks also to Baba G.T. Lye for composing some of the songs he will sing for the extra-turns. Last but not least, my gratitude to my producer, Michele Lim for her heart/hard work.
Looking forward to presenting Mari Kita Main Wayang (2023 version) to all of you interested in being entertained and engaged.
