Anak Bulan Di Kampong Pulau Betong... eh, Kampong Wa' Hassan...

That's the title for an act from the Actors Studio coming to Balik Pulau tomorrow night!

Excerpt from the Actors Studio website:

The Actors Studio with the support of / dengan sokongan Ministry of Culture, Arts and Heritage / Kementerian Kebudayaan, Kesenian dan Warisan (KeKKWa) present / mempersembahkan GENE SHA RUDYN in the text written by / dalam karya tulisan ALFIAN BIN SA’AT

“Anak Bulan Di Kampong Wa’ Hassan”

Director / Pengarah: Gene Sha Rudyn
Writer / Penulis: Alfian bin Sa’at
Cast / Pelakon: Gene Sha Rudyn

“Anak Bulan Di Kampong Wa’ Hassan” tells the story of Kampong Wa’ Hassan, the last Malay kampung (village) to fall victim to Singapore’s efforts at modernisation. Far from a nostalgia trip down memory lane to a romanticised Malay kampung, this is a journey of discovery of the true worth of a kampung, filled with real-life characters in all their rawness, and the true loss in the dispossession of it.

“If ‘to know me is to love me’, then the way for us to understand why Orang Kampung love the kampung is to get to know the kampung that they know.” - Gene Sha Rudyn

“Anak Bulan Di Kampong Wa’ Hassan” mengisahkan tentang Kampong Wa’ Hassan, kampung terakhir di Singapura yang menjadi mangsa dalam usaha Singapura mengejar kemajuan. Jauh berbeza daripada sebuah lamunan romantika tentang sebuah Kampung Melayu yang penuh nostalgia, malahan ianya merupakan satu penerokaan mengenali nilai sebenar sebuah kampung, yang padat dengan watak-watak nyata lagi asli, dan kehilangan sebenar dengan pemupusannya.

“Kata pepatah ‘Tak kenal maka tak cinta’. Jadi, kalau kita nak faham kenapa orang kampung cinta sangat dengan kampung, kita kenalah mengenali kampung yang mereka kenal.” - Gene Sha Rudyn

“…bijak pada masa-masa yang tepat dan lucu tanpa disangka-sangka.”

(“…intelligent at the right times and funny when least expected.”)
- Hasleen Bachik, Berita Harian (Singapore)

“Funny, intelligent and moving.”
- Eugene Ng, getasia.com.my

“Although hilarious at times, there was also serious reflection…”
- Jad Mahidin, The Malay Mail

“The insightful observations of Kampong Wak Hassan suggested the subtle suppression they faced.”
- Zieman, The Star

“…a weighty depiction of the faces of fear and apprehension…”
- Christina Leong, KLue

“…penonton ketawa terbahak-bahak,… mengetawakan diri sendiri.”
(“…the audience laughed hysterically,… laughing at themselves.”)
- Mislina Mustaffa, Berita Harian (Malaysia)

“…with this sense of unease,… left us with a powerful imagery of the past drowned out by modernity.”
- Veronica Shunmugam, The Edge Daily

“…so clearly illustrates the battle between the spiritual human voice and the increasingly dominant consumerism of our culture and traditions.”
- Amir Hafizi, Kakiseni.com

Event Information/Maklumat Acara (as SMS-ed to me from Lina/The Actors Studio):

Time/Masa: 9 pm
Date/Tarikh: Sunday, 10 JUNE 2006
Venue/Tempat: Taman Rimba Anjung Indah (hmm.. I don't even know if this place exist -- definitely not in Kg Pulau Betong!), Balik Pulau

ADMISSION IS FREE!

See you there!

UPDATE (15 JUN 2007): I finally got more info about the event and venue... but too late now... posted anyway here for everyone's acknowledgement -- and only yesterday I've first realized where the mysterious place called "Anjung Indah" (just officially named such last month) is situated at although that's one of my favorite hangout place for nearly five years now.. and I tiredly circled the entire Balik Pulau from Pulau Betong to Sungai Rusa to look for it last weekend... bummer!:

1. Event announcement at Behind the Red Helmet Blogspot
2. Info on Gene Sha Rudyn, the play director. He also has a website at geneshar.tripod.com