Here’s A New, Original, Malaysian Play By Theatrethreesixty

Theatrethreesixty last made headlines with the rather excellent Love and Information which we reviewed back in March. A month and a half later, they’re back again with another major production, and this one is a bit of a tongue twister.

How I Learnt To Accept Reality By Sleeping Through It (Anak/Benih) is set to be playwright Ariff Kamil‘s (who has been carefully groomed under the wings of Christopher Ling and Alex Chua) full-length debut.

The script, originally planned to be in English, ended up being half-Sabahan and half-English by the end of the writing process.

Ariff had begun writing an original English play but his writing facilitator, Alex Chua, recommended that he try something else. He then started writing in Malay, using the Sabahan-Malay voice in his head.

“I did it out of frustration because he wasn’t happy with what I’ve written, so I was like, whatever, I’ll just write whatever’s coming out,” Ariff explains to us with a chuckle.

“The first time he said my work was OK was when I gave him something I wrote in Malay. He thought that was when my writing was most honest.”

How I Learnt To Accept Reality By Sleeping Through It (Anak/Benih) is a two-act play starring veteran actor Radhi Khalid, and stage performers Belinda Hon and Shah Shaha. It is split in two acts, both featuring the same cast playing different families.

But what is it about, exactly?

Belinda takes a moment to come up with the right way to describe the entire thing.

“It revolves around a mother-father-son dynamic and they’re all trying to help each other but because of the way the story is told with the help of Hannan’s music and some other elements, it really becomes something bigger than it sounds,” she tells us.

“It’s not just a straightforward play; you’ve got Hannan who’s playing the ukulele and we’ve got other little surprises as well. It’s not just going to be a single linear story even though the story sounds simple in essence.”

It’s a wee bit darker than what it may seem thus far. For one, How I Learnt To Accept Reality By Sleeping Through It (Anak/Benih) addresses issues nobody wants to speak about in a family.

“There’s something here I’ve definitely not seen in a Malaysian play: the issue of mental health,” explains Belinda.

“It’s about how Malaysians – not necessarily Malaysian citizens, but those who live in and are surrounded by Malaysian culture as well – deal with a situation where someone says, I’m depressed.”

This is something that holds personal value to Belinda. She adds, hesitantly, that it reminded her of times spent with her own father who couldn’t relate to her during a low point in her life.

“The thing is, he came from a time when problems were just something you’ve got to push through. In Malaysia, the idea of mental health is not something the previous generation fully identify with.”

Accompanying the lot is comic relief in the shape of musician and stage actor Hannan Azlan on her ukulele, Tanner. From our understanding of the show, Hannan does not play a character in the stories, and her presence is not acknowledged by the other performers.

“I cannot be conscious of her,” Radhi Khalid tells us conspiratorially. “Even when she’s there singing, my character must not register her.”

“She reminds me of my niece,” laughs Radhi, when asked about Hannan outside of rehearsals. “She’s like a child yang manja but wants to assert her maturity.”

How I Learnt To Accept Reality By Sleeping Through It (Anak/Benih) reunites Radhi with director Christopher Ling who he has worked with several times over the years.

“It started with The Sound of Music, when Chris was one of the von Trapp children. I was the butler,” confesses Radhi.

Both have certainly come a long, long way as Radhi is now one of Malaysia’s veteran performers while Christopher has built a reputation for coming up with some of the smartest, slickest plays in the country.

If Theatrethreesixty’s track record is anything to go by, prepare to be amazed by what the troupe have in store with their latest offering.

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How I Learnt To Accept Reality By Sleeping Through It (Anak/Benih) will open on Thursday, May 14th. For more details, visit their .