F for Female….feminism in Malaysia

Last week, I went to The Actors Studio, Bangsar Shopping Centre to watch a play that bought up feminist issues. Here, the plays are to show that women’s rights in Malaysia can only be achieved when everyone including women start respecting each other for whom they really are without being prejudice or discrimination. There were two plays. The first one is Anything for Love, where it shows the extend a women would do for love. Some marry for the sake of money and some on the basis of love. There were so many confusions and questions portrayed in this play. What does it take to be love? Money and power or just plain sacrifice? The battle of the inner voices. Do women often compromises with their needs in exchange for love? In this play, we can see how Datin Khatijah was not happy with her marriage as she married her husband for the sake of money. She suffered. Here, I amused with the way they play with the light to show the characters existence. The next play was Infant. Here it shows that one will be always be culpable for one’s actions, each person will always be judged for what he or she does…A girl’s life is shattered, her future bleak and hopeless because of another woman’s action. A pure irony of human life. All were revealed in this play. I really should give a standing for ovation for this play. The actresses were damn good. They acted it so real, as I’m the audience can feel the pain when Lisa tied the lawyer. Lastly, the ending of the play was unpredictable, as I was not expect that Lisa was the lawyer’s daughter. BRAVo!!

The Kuala Lumpur Performing Arts Centre presents….

Last two weeks, I have joined the ‘Taming of the Shrew’ group went to watch a play entitle Untitled, Uncut and Paperhouse at KLPac, Sentul. We went there by the UPM bus and the journey to the KLPac was such a bad trip, as some the crews just do not how to sit still and shut up! It was my first time went to the KLPac, as I do not know how to go there, and there was no public transport. First of all, KLPac was absolutely stunning. As I enter the main gate, I have imagined myself in Hollywood, with lighted tress bordering the road. Plus, we went there at night, thus it adds up the magnificence. Besides, the building itself was such splendor with red bricks and glass for walls and paintings and huge banners plastered all over…brilliance!
The play was splendid! What makes it so overwhelming was because the minimal used of props. For the three different plays, there were ONLY used boxes. They just had to move the boxes, and they just have to pretend cleaning, drinking, and watch TV. I should salute the casts, as they were so excellent, because the way they pretend to play with the boxes was such a real! There were three plays here. The Untitled and Peperhouse were so typical Malaysian Chinese, where we can sense the Chinese slang. However, in the Uncut, I had to give a standing ovation. Plus, it was played by my favourite actress, which is Aishah Sinclair and Hafizsuddin. I was so surprised to see the actor, as he always play in Malay dramas and movies, thus I did not expect him to play in an English play. The play was cynical, as the issue was fuhhh… for those who did those things, obviously could not sit still. In addition, they used vulgar language such as fuck off, shag, screw and bong. After finished watching it, I feel so proud that our Malaysian can produce such an awesome play.

It’s time to judge people….

At first, I thought it was easy and fun to evaluate others and make some comments, and I was excited to fill the form that is provided to us by Miss Baiti, but when the teaching sessions start, I found it quite hard to evaluate my friends. I was not able to evaluate them based on what they are teaching but just based on my experienced of working with them. This is basically because it was so hard to evaluate and listen to their instruction and pay attention to their teaching at the same time. Then, I decided to do it later and pay attention to the teaching session, but after they finish their teaching session, they quickly asked for the evaluation form back, thus I have to hurriedly finish it. As a result, I did not give a proper evaluation to my friends. Besides, I tried so much to give good comments towards my classmates, as I do not want them to feel offended. Even though, we need to be genuine in our evaluation, but some people just cannot accept when people critics on their work.

Me..being a teacher again..& again

We have to do simulated teaching again. Yeah, indeed we are going to be a teacher.. This time, I decided to do it in pair, and I have chosen to do it with Khalifa. We were working on the text Oedipes Rex, and Khalifa did the induction and pre-reading, while I did the while reading. Even though we might not have same ideas, but we managed to make our lesson perfectly. I mean..not so perfect, but Miss Baiti did not complain anything. So..it means good right? But this time, it was a bit different because we need to evaluate others and it was not Miss Baiti alone, my friends also have to evaluate my teaching. It was such an exciting experience, being evaluated by others, as I can know my friends’ view towards my style of teaching. From the evaluation forms that they have returned to me, I did not find any negative comments or errors in my activities. Overall, it was a positive support from my peers. Miss Baiti did not give any comments and she went on with next presenters. Hopeful I have done the right thing and did not miss any important points to consider in simulated teaching.

Adiosss…Cleopatra..hello Blanche..

After finish study Antony Cleopatra, I am so relieved to learn a new and a good play. A street car named desire is one of the best playwrights that I had learn throughout my course here in UPM. It was written by Tennessee Williams. What I like about this playwright is actually, the language and the portrayal of the character Blanche. Obviously, the language use is much more easier than Shakespeare and I could understand easily by reading it on my own. Not like Antony and Cleopatra, where I really need Dr Edwin help in class to make sure that I understand the play.
As for the character Blanche, it is the most important character in this play. And what I like about Blanche is that her character is very unique and also very complex. From our discussion in class with Dr Edwin, there are two ways in which we can examine character traits which are through action and speech. What I like about Blanche is that she is a type of character who is cannot accept the reality. She has the inability to accept changes in life that makes her become a pretender, liar and others.
Due to this also, she is having a lot of conflict with other people in this play. But, what really interested about Blanche character is that even though she is a well-educated people, she did not behave like one. For example, she lies to people, she's lying about the truth, and she’s hot tempered and others. Yes, she behaves like a lady even though and still retains her own values in a new setting, but to me, it does not correlate with her personal traits like liar, pretender and etc.
In a conclusion, I would like to say that I really like this play especially by the way the author portray the character Blanche. The play is so much interesting that makes me want to read the play over and over again.

What walla….it’s Shakespeare Wallah!

The word “walla’ sounds like great to me even though I do not know the real meaning. But when I first watched the movie, I saw the name Shashi Kapoor and immediately I thought “what on earth is Shashi Kapoor doing in Shakespeare movie?” Only after that I discovered that the setting of this movie is in India, and so probably they want to get audiences’ attention by having an Indian actor as the lead actor in the movie.
From the movie, I understand that even though they are professional actors, Buckingham’s family live a hard life as they need to struggle for their craft as the English theatre is being replaced by the emergence of Indian film. After all, they are in India and they have to work very hard to win the Indian’s hearts. To me, it is like a meeting of two different cultures, English and India that have their own strength and weaknesses but at the end surely the Indians will support the work of their people. The company travel around the world to perform Shakespeare’s works such as Romeo and Juliet and Hamlet (the rest I can’t remember).
In addition, one thing that I don’t like about the movie is the part where Sanju and Manjula made a grand entrance in the middle of the scene and they received a lot of attention from the audience while at the same time Mr.Buckingham was performing on the stage! It is such an embarrassment for the actors when nobody is paying attention for their performance. Besides, Manjula has not only interrupted the plot of the story, she only shown up for a few minutes. However, at the end of the movie, I respect Lizzie for making a wise decision by leaving Sanju who is a playboy that has an intimate relationship with her but having an affair with Manjula, an actress, at the same time.

Blood..blood..in Macbeth

When we were assigned by Dr Malachi to watch Macbeth, I thought it is going to be a boring story. But I was wrong. I found out that Macbeth is a very interesting story but the only problem that I face while watching that movie is the language used. To me, the language used appeared difficult for me to understand. In the end, I was able to understand the whole story by reading the simplified version of Macbeth. So, Macbeth is basically the last of Shakespeare's four great tragedies
The film started with three witches conclude a meeting. They decide to meet the on his winning return from a war between Scotland and Norway. The Scottish king, Duncan, decides that he will confer the title of the traitorous Cawdor on the heroic Macbeth.

Macbeth, and another General called Banquo, happens to meet the three witches. The witches predict that he will one day become king. They also predict that Banquo will create a line of kings. King Duncan arranges to visit him at his castle. Macbeth cannot stop thinking about the witches' prediction that he will become king and decides that he will murder Duncan. Macbeth's wife agrees to his plan and she is the one who supported Macbeth.

He then murders Duncan assisted by his wife and Duncan’s body was discovered by Macduff.. Macbeth also killed the guards before the investigation took place. Duncan's sons, Malcolm and Donalbain, do not believe their father had been killed and they made a decision to run ayay. Due to that, the crown was passed to Macbeth.
He remembers the prophecy of the witches that Banquo will create a line of kings. So, he decided to murder Banquo and his sons Donalbain and Fleance. Fleance, is the only one to escape with his life. At a feast the bloodied ghost of Banquo appears to Macbeth but to no one else causing Macbeth to act and speak strangely. His wife sends the guests away.

Macbeth was afraid that his crime was revealed and to suspect that Macduff, a nobleman who refused to attend the feast suspects him. He then meets with the witches again and they confirm that he has good reason to fear Macduff but they calm his fears by telling him that no born of woman can kill him.

After meeting with the witches he found out that Macduff is urging Duncan's son, Malcolm, to reclaim the throne. Due to that, he commands his guards to kill Macduff's wife and son. As a result, Macduff organized an army to bring down Macbeth.

Lady Macbeth's conscience now begins to torture her and she imagines that she can see her hands covered with blood but in the end she commits suicide.

Macbeth then decided to meet Macduff in hand-to-hand combat confident that he will win the day because ''none born of woman'' can harm him. Macduff then reveals that he was not ''of woman born'' Macduff kills Macbeth and the witches prediction proves true. Malcolm becomes king.

At last…

Horaaayy.. at last, we have finish learning Antony and Cleopatra. You can’t imagine how relieved I was when Dr. Edwin finished the last page of the play. But, I really thank to Dr. Edwin for helping us with the text. It really helps us a lot. I have a clear view when learning the play with Dr. Edwin, compared to my misery days when I read it alone. If you ask me now whether I like the play or not, my answer is YES! The love relationship that portrayed in this play is so much different compare to the portrayal of love in Romeo and Juliet. The play does not sugar over Antony and Cleopatra’s famous love affair; instead Shakespeare puts on stage Cleopatra’s calculated attempts to seduce Antony from his responsibilities in Rome, as well as Antony’s jealous rages and threats against Cleopatra’s life when he thinks she has betrayed him to Caesar. Nonetheless, Antony and Cleopatra are represented as finding together such sensual and emotional satisfaction in their love for each other that each yearns for an afterlife in which they may renew their union. Shakespeare lavishes such rich figurative language on his heroes’ recollection of their shared past and dreams of a future together that Caesar’s success in the business of world conquest seems a smaller thing than what Antony and Cleopatra have found in each other. In this play, he made us realise there
should be a sense of balance in life. If we let our emotion to rule our life, experiences of pleasure would disappear in no time and may end up ruining our life or the others.

Antony and Cleopatra…urrghh! what a struggle to finish it.

Antony and Cleopatra is one of the playwrights that we, B.Ed students have to learn this semester. When I think of the play written by Shakespeare for the first time, I told myself that I am going to die and suffer learning it. The language presented by Shakespeare appeared very difficult to me. Yeah.. I know that I am going to a teacher, and Shakespeare should be one of my favourite authors. But I just can’t lie to myself! It is so damn hard and depressing. When I said to my father, this play is so hard to understand, and he just said I have to read it several times to make sure that I have deeper understanding about it. I was so miserable. This is because in order for me to finish it for the first time also is in a way living in hell, what about reading it for several times. Durhh.. What he knows about Shakespeare. It is so difficult. Even though there are foot notes below for every page, I still have difficulties in reading it.

Good Morning class…

Simulated teaching is one of the compulsory things in our list as an education student. No matter what happen, we still have to go through our simulated teaching. I have gone through a few presentations before this in Maktab but I am still nervous when it was my time to do simulated teaching. I had goose bumps all over my body. I have done simulated teaching on teaching of short stories last semester with Dr. Edwin, and he has guide us on how to teach in a right and proper way, where he would stop us and correct our mistakes so in future, we will not repeat the same mistake over and over again.
At this semester, it was not Dr. Edwin who evaluated us, but it was Miss Baiti. At first, I thought she was not that fussy, but my expectation was wrong, as she critics lots. At this point, we have just to teach the set induction and pre-reading. At first I was so blur as I do not have any idea what to do for the induction. Then I got the idea to use two pictures, one is a picture of a young woman, and another one is a woman of about 40 above. I asked the students to compare between the loves that they would show towards the two women. It must have differences. Next, I asked them how they would react if one day they found out that their wives are also their own mother. Then, I continue to my pre-reading exercise. I have expected after I end my lesson, Miss Baiti would asked me so many questions, and she said that my induction is not so suitable with the text that I have chosen for the pre-reading. In addition, the way I deliver my lesson is not very smoothly. I am too nervous to the extent that I forget to look on my script even though I have prepared. I guess that is how most of us feel whenever we are asked to speak in front of many people.

An adventurous live of Teiresias

Among all the characters in Oedipus the King, I am very interested towards Teiresias. Besides, only knowing his character in Oedipus the King, I want to know more about him. Therefore, I have search on the internet about Teiresias, and I found out that there are some interesting stories about him. Teiresias is the aged blind prophet whose appearance turns the plot in all Greek tragedies set in Thebes. Teiresias can foretell the future, past as well as present. What makes me eager to know about him is that the reasons on how and why he is blind. There are two conflicting stories recorded by Appolodorus. The first story is when young Teiresias saw Athena bathing nude in the pool. Due to this, he was punished, which was struck to blind to make sure that he would never see again what men was intended not to see. But he was given a special gift by having lost his eyesight which was to be able to understand bird language and foretell the future. The other version of the story happen near Mount Kyllene in the Peloponnese when Teiresias saw a pair of snakes lustfully intertwined and he hit them a smart blow with his stick for animal decency. Hera, Zeus wife heartily approved of sex, even for the lower creatures and she punished him to be transformed into a woman in mind as well as body. But later after seeing the copulating snakes again, he allowed them to have their pleasure. Due to this he was released from his sentence and resumes his masculinity. All turn out well until Teiresias was drawn into arguments between Hera and Zeus. They were arguing about marital discussion when question such as who has more pleasure in sex, the men or women appear. Hera let Zeus believe that men are superior in this until both of them decided to check with Teiresias because he had known better what is actually like in both role. Teiresias revealed that woman's greatest secret on a scale of 10. She gets parts of the pleasure to his one. Hera was furious and struck him to blind again. Zeus could not do anything and he gave Teiresias a second sight. In conclusion, I believe that Teiresias is a very important person in Greek theatre as he is the religious consultant to the rulers of Thebes for seven generation. He is also the God's voice to remind us as the mortal to hear ad being sensitive towards out life.

Lets get it started..yeah!

Holla...this is the 1st time i'm having a blog. I do not have even a personal blog before, but i do like to read people's blog. Some of my favourite blogs of course my favourite artist. But after Dr.Edwin asked us to create our own blog, it makes me sigh...haih....So, here i am, my first ever blog!
Last Wednesday was our 1st meeting with Dr.Edwin for this fresh new semester. I feel quite excited to meet Dr.Edwin back, especially after he took long holiday for the Christmas Day. He does look the same. Surprisingly...hurm..actually it is not so surprise, he gave us a test! It was about point of view, and his reason was just to make sure whether we still remember his last lesson. Of course all of us did not stop grumbling for the sudden test!
Lastly,Dr.Edwin has assigned us to read a drama by Sophocles, Oedipus Rex.