An afternoon with Kee Thuan Chye

Last Monday, I have the opportunity of a life time. Dr Edwin had personally called Mr Kee Thuan Chye to give us a lecture about his work. This is something new for me as I had never attended a lecture by one of Malaysian writers. Well the lecture was unlike any other lecture. Here, we are able to speak our mind freely. He is a play writer, who does not hide what he has to say. He is the author of March 8 that is about the revelation of the government. And he’s style of writing, I really admire. His hilarious ideas that he had incorporated in his play such as ‘The Swordfish, Then the Concubine’ makes the play spark to life. However, as he discusses about the play the issues, he had mentioned that the edition of the play that we had examined is different from his latest edition. He had mentioned also that a play is like a living organism, always evolved in time. And he said the issues that he had mentioned ten years ago are not relevant anymore now. Although I felt quite disappointed that the play might not come to Malaysia due to the economic crisis, he still gives us some hope that it will come. Just give it time. Overall, that session was very interesting and also an eye opener for me, who never takes plays serious