Walk in without any expectations. That’s the best advice we can give you if you plan to (and you must) catch the original double bill play, “Imports”. We spoke briefly about the play a week ago before it opened at Kuala Lumpur Performing Arts Centre on the 21st June 2012. So it was only fair to attend it, watch it in full gear, see it with our own eyes, you know the drill.
Were we disappointed? No!
“Method“, directed by writer-at-heart Jude James is a love story that is a normal as they day is long. “I love you”, “I’ll do this and that for you because you like it”, “You are amazing”, “I love you, I love you, I love you” – all too sweet. As part of the audience, you would think you know better until it starts getting “over the top” and it introduces a strange character. Suddenly, love seemed murderous.
When asked about their theory behind “Method”, Marvin Wong said, “For us, the beauty of the story comes from the fact that it’s a very simple love story made complicated by the fact that they have very perverse tastes. To them, of course, it’s not that perverse.”
The plot thickens!
“Street Lamp Named Desire“, written by Thomas Pang (who also acted in it) and directed by Marvin Wong is a love story of another kind, maybe driven to slight insanity by loneliness. Depending on how you choose to interpret it, the two lead “not very human” characters seem to bounce off each other like the “right shoulder, left shoulder” – if you know what we mean. In entirety, humour and comic relief moments aside, the play talks about courage and timing.
“When you’re with someone that you love, really, nothing else in the world matters. All sense of responsibility, all sense of logical reasoning, is out the window”, said Jude James of the concept behind the play.
We could go on and on but we might spoil it for you.
There was also some point between the two half-hour plays that it dawned upon us that the cast was as talented as they were good looking! You now what that means – we had to pry. And we did.
When asked about the pick of people chosen to take on the roles of the characters, Marvin said, “For me, personally, I started this project because I really wanted to work with Thomas and Jude. I’ve heard of Jude’s work and I worked with Thomas in a production just before this one and I just met them and..I was just really excited to work with them. Medina was an obvious choice because she was already on hand and she was available and she was ready.”
“And she’s new! It was important from us from day one. There’s not point in doing shows if we’re always using the same people because one, you guys will eventually get sick of seeing the same names and the same faces, and two, there are only so many ways that you can mold an actor“, added Jude.
Our take? Honestly? Two half hours worth sitting through and contemplating about after. We know we sat for a long time trying to dissect “Method” – only because it was that good.
And we think you should go catch it before its final curtain call on the 1st July 2012 (Sunday). Deets are as follows:
Dates & Times: 21st to 23rd June (8.30pm), 23rd to 24th June (3pm), 26th to 30th June (8.30pm), 30th June to 1st July (3pm)
Venue: Indicine, The Kuala Lumpur Performing Arts Centre (KLPAC) Sentul Park, Jalan Strachan 51100 Kuala Lumpur
Ticketing: RM 28 (Adults), RM 18 (Students, Disabled, TAS cardholders, Thirstea™ Membership card holders)
To purchase tickers, call +603-4097 9000 or walk-in to KLPAC or The Actors Studio at Lot 10. Alternatively, you could also purchase your tickets online via iLASSO Tickets.
Thank us later!
