The inaugural 2017 Wayang di SINKEH theatre season in Penang comprised intimate, small-scale performances developed from local stories and themes by Penang-based practitioners. In an effort to promote exchange between the performing arts scenes in Penang and Kuala Lumpur, Five Arts Centre presented two monologues from the season in KL, in a double-bill offering of Wayang Dari SINKEH.
A Complete Women
In A Complete Woman, a mother writes to her daughter on the eve of her marriage, offering timely advice and sharing her own experiences of marriage and childbirth. The monologue uses a range of Chinese dialects to animate the characters that inhabit the mother’s universe, as she maneuvers the complex network of opinions, tradition and conscience while making important choices in life.
The Storyteller
The Storyteller is about one man’s journey as he confronts the unspoken truths that shaped the lives of his family. As the drama unfolds, we learn through the lens of each of the family members the powerful hold that a shared trauma has had over their emotional and psychological wellbeing.
These performances were originally staged at the award-winning SINKEH Guesthouse and arts space in George Town. The studio is supported by revenue from the guesthouse, providing it with a sustained income stream for arts programming, human resource training, management and maintenance.