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MEDIA COVERAGE |
Instant
Cafe MILLENNIUM Photo Gallery Reviews Swinging
Cabaret Satire
in an Instant
Cafe with Millenium
Jump Millennium
Jump II |
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Swinging
Cabaret THE Instant Cafe Theatre's (ICT) Millennium Jump, their first show for the year 2000, has come back looking brighter, spunkier and funkier. Phew, what a relief. There was a time when I wondered if the venerable ICT was, after 10 years of political satire, losing steam. Only last October, their Austin Powers and overdose-ofarsenic show suffered from sporadic patches of self-titled Double Vision. Humour is, after all, delicate business and a slight miscue is all it takes to unravel punchlines. Though the technical polish was fully restored in their shows last December, there remained niggling doubts as to whether their tried and tested formula of a "comedy romp through Malaysian politics and culture" was becoming jaded. I confess, under no "turning over" operation, to having been a hardcore fan of the ICT for some years now. Their ability to poke fun at the inanities of local life has always been their forte but, for a repeat offender such as myself, it looked as if consciousness-raising content and word play was beginning to overshadow everything else. Substance over form, so to speak. Fortunately, the new show is a happier, indeed, sassier balance of the two. The traditional format of comedy skits spliced with satirical songs/news broadcasts is still largely intact, but improvements in the latter aspect have enabled the whole show to take on a swinging cabaret flavour. After all, if this nation could be blessed with Umno Baru and Melayu Baru, hey, why not ICT Baru as well? The microphone stands which once rooted chorus singers into place have been replaced by clip-or wireless versions. This enables all cast members to prance and slink about the stage as much as they like; making a generally livelier, sassier show. Puut it this way. Whereas formerly, the main reason, for me, to attend an ICT show was to check up on the latest buffoonery of Malaysia Boleh; the singing and dancing are now much stronger supporting factors, "so good ... you can even eat it on its own!" Well, almost. True to its title, Millennium Jump is liberally sprinkled with special radio news bulletins about our latest record breaking attempts; be it the national team carrying the greatest amount of Kiwi-Aussie currency through an airport or the attempt to scrape together the largest ball of earwax. The latter attempt is rejected by the Guinness Book of World Records and aha(!), that's proof that foreigners are conspiring against our earwax success. As a sketch later on sums up: "These foreigners are jealous of us. They don't want us to succeed. They don't want us to jump over the North Pole and the South Pole. They want us to riot then only they are happy." And this is just the garnishing. The ICT serves up a whole lot more punch; whether it's DP Vijandran in Kuch Kuch Twin Towers Very High High Hai!!, Datuk One-For-You-One-For-Me and the Multimedia Super Currypuff or two politicians (hilariously executed by Jo Kukathas and Zahim Albakri) poison penning each other to death while maintaining the facade of salam salam silatulrahim unity. The wisdom of our justice system is extolled since cultivating a marijuana bush deserves a life sentence and six strokes of the rotan whereas killing one's wife with a reversing Mercedes is merely a misdemeanour. A must-see skit, certainly for lawyers at any rate, is the one here the two opposing sides in Judge Mental Singh's court battle it out not with legal arguments but with condos, cars and club memberhips. Then again, elections, ICT style, are won with a majority of 20,000 in constituency of 330 voters and two blue IC-carrying buffaloes. This lampoon is probably based on the real life courtroom story of phantom voters in Sabah not being able to name which kampung they come from even though they are registered voters of the area! Then again when Augustine Paul ecently decided that the Election Commission cannot be brought to court, you can't blame the ICT for singing "It's irrelevant" to the tune of Nat King's Cole Unforgettable. Lest anyone reproach the ICT for being totally one-sided in their lampoons, , journalistic balance is provided in the skit where everyone dons head coverings and sings "Tudung Farewell" to the tune of So, Long Farewell from the Sound of Music. As a turbaned mullah shakes his head disapprovingly, women escape from the East Coast to the great haven of KL so that they can wear make-up. And what is the ratio of such spoofs to the normal ICT fare? Well, let's say it's as balanced as our newspapers. I Nor is everything political. Bimboism and sexism bounce all over the place in the form of Formula I Grand Prix umbrella girls (ably played by newcomers Nellie Ng and Chae Lian) while SPG-ism is highlighted in the take on the first Malaysian-inspired Rarbie doll. If you like Malaysian cuisine I'm your belacan queen If you like IT, I'm your rekreasi (sung to the tune of Aqua's hit Barbie Girl) Edwin Sumun and Iskandar Najmuddin stand up, literally, in their roles and lend lots of energy to ICT Baru. Indeed Sumun is perhaps worthy to step into the exalted shoes of Renee Choy (the ICT character played so illustriously by Jit Murad). ICT does recycle some skits from show to show, but this time all the material is new except for the football match featuring Malaysia versus the Rest of the World. Some things are of course better left unchanged, such as the classic Jo Kukathas role as the wincing Datuk. "I'm not interested in big big post, big big contracts or big big shares. I'm not interested in being PM, DPM or Minister," declares the political animal. "But then ... if the people want me to take it up, I cannot refuse them." |
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Satire
in an Instant Instant Cafe Theatre delivers again, this time with a positive regard for the Malaysian palate. FRANCIS DASS writes. NEXT to the completely unstoppable duo of Alan Perera and Indy Nadarajah (a.k.a. Comedy Court), the only other bunch of comedians who always laugh their way to the bank has to be the zany gang from Instant Cafe Theatre. Their show stopping antics and satire have gained them a loyal following amongst the capital's elite movers and shakers. Sure, what they are doing is merely preaching to the converted on the state-of-affairs of Malaysian society, economic policy and politics that are sometimes idiosyncratic and just plain idiotic. Thanks to the abundance of such fodder, ICT is always able to keep up with the times, offering something new for their loyal fans. Their satirical take of the social, economic and politicAl facets of Malaysia is, as always, priceless. Their new show, Millennium Jump had all the familiar ingredients ICT fans are used to. As always, they began their show with their trademark headline news announcement, remarking that "raging controversies" have enveloped some issue or other. Along the way, familiar personalities in the newscasting business were given a deserved grilling and politicians got thrashed right and left. Songs were also given hilarious re-writes, for example, Aqua's Barbie Girl became Kebaya Barbie to honour the Malaysian edition of the doll and Nat King Cole's Unforgettable was transformed to Irrelevant. Refreshingly, the bane of this country's progressives: the religious right movement which appears to be spiralling out of control even as we speak, gets its face rubbed in mud for its intellectually challenged holier-than-thouism. However, despite the familiarity and freshness of the material, there's a certain new feel to ICT's show. If you had earlier had a sneaky suspicion that everything they did was done in order to portray Malaysia as it is for an expatriate audience, you will sense that their concerns have somewhat shifted slightly. This time around, everything they do, they are doing for a clearly Malaysian audience. This is not to say that the expat loses out in any way as the hilarity quotient is still palpable to all. Another noticeable difference is the fact that the troupe does not waste a single minute, not even when the stage hands are groping about in the dark and re-arranging furniture and props in between sets. During these moments, a voice booms and a timely joke is delivered just in time for the next skit to begin. All these cosmetic changes and directional shifts aside, good old-fashioned fun came by way of the infamous characters created by the ICT gang. The beloved Ambrosia La-La and Judge Mental Singh (both played by Jo Kukathas) brought the house down with their antics. Ambrosia played hostess for the first Bolehwood movie awards. Vying for the awards were some of the dimmest films that met the criteria of showcasing a spirit of "Malaysia Boleh" or employed phrases like "To Know Malaysia is To Love Malaysia." Another high point of the evening was the performance of Kebaya Barbie by Iskandar Najmuddin (Ken) and Monita Tan (Barbie). A highly inspired adaptation, watch the jaws drop as Barbie explains to Ken what she can do while wearing her songket. Anyone game for a brasher, sprightlier, in-your-face and take-no-prisoners Instant Cafe Theatre? Come one, come all to the Millennium Jump! |
Photo Gallery Reviews Swinging
Cabaret Satire
in an Instant
Cafe with Millenium
Jump Millennium
Jump II |
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Instant
Cafe with Fruity Infusions YOU SIMPLY HAVE TO HAND IT to the Indians. As far as theatre in Malaysia is concerned, the only practitioners of late to have made it to the delicious theatrical plateau of the Almost Perpetually Full House are Indians. Look at Indi Nadarajah and Allan Perera with their super sold-out runs of Comedy Court. Look at Huzir Sulaiman and his money-spinningly sold-out reruns of Hip-Hopera. And it goes without saying that the droolsome height of ingenuity and tremendous devotion inspired by Jo Kukathas and The Instant Cafe Theatre Company has to be recognised as a national first. Indeed, the excellence of ICT has spawned legions of theatre groupies willing to beg, borrow or steal when it comes to hard-to-come-by tickets. At the recent fun trip that was Millennium Jump; ICT's first show of the New Age, scores of the faithful were seen indecorously plonked on the aisle steps of Dewan K.R. Soma, and given the adulating applause that erupted at the end, it was very obviously worth three hours' worth of Numb Buttocks. Cutting close to the bureaucratic bone for a decade now, and apparently finding it an increasingly burdensome onus to fire political salvos all the time, ICT cunningly changed its tone this time round; injecting pure silliness and that certain je ne sais quois of feminism cloaked in the sly guise of sexism into its latest show. Of course, sarcastic news reports and rude songs chastising the inept retained their time-honoured slots, ranging from jibes at Singapore's fixation with freebies from McDonald's ("Hello Kitty, Singapore's shitty -- the perfect mascot for a pussy state ...") to an ode to illegal racers in a modified version of P. Ramlee's Bila Larut Malam ("Bila lumba haram ... masuk longkang, masuk longkang-kang"). But the phenomenon of sexuality and the popularity of breasts bobbed wantonly to the surface in arenas other than the one controlled by Jo's Ambrosia La-la, and took everybody's mind completely off our shambling government for many a moment - a scrvice almost or possibly equally as important as social comment -- as we were allowed to revel in the realln of forbidden fruit. Maybe no democracy, no separation powers and no rule of law ... but sex? GOT!! The outrageous pair (!) responsible for most of this up-front ribaldry were ICT greenhorns Nellie Ng (Shakespeare for Dummies and Remain Standing) and Diong Chae Lian (The Typist), who slipped like a couple of oiled ducks into water as they took us to town with the politics of sex. Featuring in one of my favourite skits of the evening with a sleazy Patrick Teoh, as two voluptuous "umbrella girls" at a racing circuit, they brought the house down as Donatella Lim and Ms Candy Pork Halal. Whooping it up as rally bimbettes who have honed their cup presentation curtsies, slogan shouting and camera-grabbing antics to perfection, I strongly suspect that it must have been Nellie and her skills at choreography and at cracking people up with hilarious body language who was behind the success of this piece and many others, for certainly, everybody's body was more loquacious than usual. Go, Nell! The other highlight of the night (quite apart from Zahim Albakri's stupendous impersonation of a Bhai lawyer complete with white towel slung under the chin for that netted beard look) was the mock presentation of "The Bolehwood Awards" honouring foreign films shot in our fair land - another poke in the eye to the authorities for allowing Sean Connery to feel up someone half his age in the Twin Towers and telling the infinitely cooler James Bond to piss off. Jo as Ambrosia La-la sparkled as a most licentious host and the boys distinguished themselves further with amazing impersonations: Edwin Sumun hammed it up to excruciatingly camp levels as a local transvestite make-up artist who accepts a film award as proxy for "all those wonderful mat salleh who came here to shoot" and Zahim was the biggest twit in the world as Asli, a fictional king of kutu mat rock. Fellow newbie Iskandar Nashmuddin was also massively funny, especially in the highly enjoyed "film clip" of Kuch Kuch Twin Tower Hota High-High Heh with Monita Tan. But it has to be said that Nellie's wannabe CoCo Lee, a jiggling, high-kicking bundle of tacky flirtation ("He can have my love! Ooooh! He can have my sweat! Aaaow!"), audaciously stole the thunder from her veteran castmates with a sheer voluptuousness of expression seldom seen even in ICT. Can she stay? Kudos to Na'a Murad, Kam Raslan and Andrew Leci for their ebullient script. And lots of terribly sincere prostrations to the all-new improved ICT ensemble for kicking ass with it. Copyright. Day&Night |
Photo Gallery Reviews Swinging
Cabaret Satire
in an Instant
Cafe with Millenium
Jump Millennium
Jump II |
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