Huzir Sulaiman can wither lesser intellects with a mere glance. Though he seems to be smiling a bit more of late, I still put up my darnedest NOT to inflict him with my idiocy. I saw him again the other day at the DBS Arts Centre, Singapore, having just emerged from his latest play, Occupation. Huzir, dressed smartly in a suit, smiled and said, “Hey.” Caught off guard, I couldn’t think of anything nice to say. “Hey Huzir. Wow! Nice suit!” I quickly ducked out of the way and smacked myself on the forehead.
Occupation offers the story of Huzir’s grandmother and how she discovered romance cooped up in her house during World War Two. Mrs Siraj, as she is known, recounts her Japanese occupation days as a teenage girl kept indoors by a strict mother, a matriarchal figure this side of Emily of Emerald Hill. Her adventures amidst the boxes of food that the family stores and gives out to those in need and her exchange of love letters with the unseen boy is absolutely charming, despite the dangers we know they are living in.
Given the ironies present in the premise, the set is deceptively minimal, and wisely so. Malaysian artist Wong Hoy Cheong has designed an elegant curved white wall as a backdrop that cleverly conceals moving panels and other surprises. On this backdrop are projected beautiful digital images (by Casey Lim and Bernard Chauly) that miraculously complements the filmic sound-design and music (by Saidah Rastam) note for pixel. Singaporean actress Claire Wong more than manages to hold her own against all these potentially upstaging sound-visual manifestations. But these were not enough.
Many Malaysians have gone down to catch Occupation, which has been commissioned by the Singapore Arts Fest. We are all so proud of Huzir and wanted terribly to like his new play. Though the Singaporean press absolutely loved it, I believe many of us Malaysians were quite disappointed. Naturally, the tendency is to compare Occupation against Huzir’s best work, Atomic Jaya, an explosive satire of Malaysia’s nuclear power wet dreams. Occupation seems to lack the irreverent, misanthropic wit of Huzir’s previous works: look at people, they can be so stupid. This comparison is, of course, unfair. As I said, Huzir is perhaps getting friendlier. And understandably, he has withdrawn his fangs from this tribute to his grandmother’s memories. Which is fine. But if all he wanted was to document, then he needed to remove the gloss.
Perhaps for this reason, neither Huzir nor Claire should have directed the play themselves. No matter how hard they try to push this baby out with all its bloodiness and grime, they only end up keeping it sheltered like Mrs Siraj in her house. The expensive, exquisite production values seem to have shielded the play from its true potential. All these pretty adornments, all the sounds and digital images and that clever big white wall, were merely textural and does not really complement the simple, warm-hearted account of love in the time of war.
In deflecting the potential for Pearl Harbour sentimentalism, Huzir tried to give the story an edgy contemporary resonance and so set it in our times. Also, to detach the material from himself slightly, Huzir created a protagonist called Sarah, a smart Singaporean chick assigned to interview the now older Mrs Siraj.
Unfortunately, Sarah is a boring character. Claire Wong’s recreation of Mrs Siraj is so engaging and so sympathetic that one wishes she just gives up on that too-serious-for-her-own-good Sarah.
One character I wanted to know more about is the Japanese tailor who Mrs Siraj’s mother hires before the war. He is briefly mentioned – very friendly and bows to everyone in the village – but is subsequently reduced to an ironic joke as a multimedia projection of a bowing silhouette. I am curious to know what he actually feels as he sees his own people oppressing his friends.
Sarah’s constant analysis of the interviews with Mrs Siraj also betrays a lyricism that seems too writerly and in the end, becomes no more than a running commentary by the playwright himself. In fact, the divorce between the voice of Sarah and that of the playwright’s was so half-hearted that I wished Huzir had boldly made this his own story instead. Sarah really has nothing at stake in this story. But Huzir does. His intention of documenting his grandmother’s story came after the passing of his grandfather, which made him realise that time is running out. This could have been sufficient to lend the play a sense of urgency. After all, without their love story, he wouldn’t have been here.
One of my favourite moments of the play happens sometime in the middle when Mrs Siraj reads the Quran with deep calmness. As she reads, the stage lights brighten until we all had to squint and cover our eyes. An almost imperceptible shrill note played on the last string of a violin can be heard. It sounds like the dropping of a bomb.
This juxtaposition of enlightenment and destruction was brilliantly executed. The cohesiveness between different elements used to create complex layers of meaning within the text is what theatre is about.
Occupation is a unique account of the Japanese occupation. The Singapore Arts Fest must be commended for lavishing this production with their generosity. I hope more exchange between Malaysia and Singapore takes place because we do share so much, from talents to Japanese devils to lousy football teams. Apparently, Huzir said that Occupation might not come to Malaysia because it is too expensive to stage here. I think, in fact, the play is merely wearing a nice-looking suit now, and if he stripped that away, we might get a better sense of this uncommon love story.
First Published: 26.06.2002 on Kakiseni