IN a softly-lit small hall, two actors were centre stage on the floor, around a table filled with glass figurines. Bare scaffolding enclosed the stage.
In that dim setting, 'Perhiasan Kaca' began with Aidil Rosli as Tom Wingfield, the play's narrator as well as a character, who told the audience that it was a play based on memories of certain incidents.
Breaking the fourth wall, he said that the other characters in the play were his mother Amanda, sister Laura, and a male visitor who appeared in the final scene.
'Perhiasan Kaca' was an adaptation of Tennessee Williams' well-known 'The Glass Menagerie', translated into Bahasa Malaysia by Dr Marlenny Deenerwan in 2007.
Directed by the Actors Studio's new associate artistic director, Chris Ling, it was presented by Actors Studio Foundation during a recent run at the Kuala Lumpur Performing Arts Centre in Sentul.
It was an engrossing and intense theatrical offering with three main characters and a fourth in the latter half.
And the entire two-hour or so play took place under that mere scaffolding.
But it was enough to stimulate the imagination of the audience towards the various settings, such as the kitchen, living room, front door and fire escape (or back door).
As sparse as the stage may have been, the drama that played out had tension in spades.
After mum Amanda (played by Tria Aziz) found out her introverted daughter, Laura (Cahaya Jais), had dropped out of a course, she set out to find her a suitor. Sounds Asian enough!
Laura was so terribly shy, more so because of her limp. She is shown to lose herself in a collection of glass figurines and her absent father's vinyl records.
Amanda had made her son Tom the breadwinner, who then finds his escape from a stifling home in the movies. The audience would also learn that he writes poetry wherever and whenever he can.
Tom is ordered by his mum to find a suitor for Laura. And so, he invited a buddy, Jim (Azwan Ahmadi), from his warehouse workplace over for dinner with the family.
Amanda had gone to great lengths to create that genteel home atmosphere so that Jim would see Laura as eminently suitable as a wife.
It was fireworks for Laura after finding out that Jim turned out to be someone whom she had a crush on in school.
Tria was a natural on stage. She made Amanda believable as a mother looking for the best of life for her children, and one who puts her dreams into them. Flawed and yet loving.
When she dominated the dinner with her tales of a glorious past and bright conversation, you could feel the delusion and desperation.
Upcoming actor Aidil handled his dual role with aplomb while Cahaya was captivating as the meek, shy Laura.
With her foot in a brace, limping around, it also called for committed physical acting.
Her face exuded clear hope when Tom was talking to her, she was animated as she spoke about her favourite glass figure, the unicorn, and had a palpable sweetness after the kiss.
You could certainly feel her desire for something to happen, for change.
But when Jim let on that he had a girlfriend already, her shoulders began to sag and she hunched as if to avoid further pain.
The unicorn was broken, and she gave it to Jim as a memento — for it was now just another horse.
Azwan as Jim was a warm contrast to the three main characters. The kind and ambitious man brightened the home with his presence.
Azwan had one scene and he made it count, charged with emotions such as fear that his star might have burnt brightest at school, and pity as he tells Laura to overcome her inferiority complex.
He gave gravitas to jaunty Jim as he led her on a waltz in candlelight and then left the family with sadness.
Tom eventually told the audience that he had left the home too, but regretted it.
There were English surtitles on screens, which helped but at the same time didn't because what was on stage was quite engrossing. I felt I appreciated the acting more when it was not distracted by a make-believe household set design.
'Perhiasan Kaca' did call for some stamina as the scenes were intense but the cast made it time well spent. Kudos to director Ling.