PETALING JAYA: Drawing from personal experiences and growing up in a mixed marriage family, theatre arts practitioner Joanna Bessey has come up with an original play, Love Journey – A Nation Of Two.
The production, made possible by a writing and staging grant from JKKN (National Department for Culture and Arts), will run from July 25 till Aug 2 at The Blackbox Theatre in Enfiniti Academy.
When met yesterday at Enfiniti Academy in Kota Damansara during a press conference for the play, Bessey, 39, said: “It explores how we define the ideas of love and how we reconcile our belief systems and our ideas of what we think our faith is.”
The play, written by Bessey and Na’a Murad, chronicles the love journey of Aisha, an urban Malaysian woman who has one foot in traditional values and the other in modernism and globalisation, who falls in love with a foreigner.
Featuring themes based on the classic “East meets West” concept, the story spans over three different timelines as two very distinct worldviews, cultures and ideologies clash, leading to many trials and tribulations.
But despite the differences in gender, culture, religion, race, familial customs, traditions and social pressures, love flourishes as the two try to find a balance within their new “Nation of Two.”
“I grew up in a mixed environment with two very different families,” said Bessey, who was born in West Sussex, England.
With a Malay Malaysian mother and a British father, she explained that she would travel back and forth between here and England.
“Growing up in the 1980s was a very contrasting experience for me at a time before the Internet and instant connectivity.”
“That’s probably why I became an actor – I became fascinated with human beings and different types of people and different points of view,” she said.
Bessey, who also directs Love Journey, has acted in TV productions and feature films and has done extensive voice-over work, in addition to starring in theatre productions since the 1990s.
Other productions that she’s directed include An Enemy Of The People (2008), Dreamgirls (2013) and Seussical The Broadway Musical (2015).
“I also drew inspiration from the experiences of a lot of friends and family who are Malaysians and non-Malaysians.”
“I feel in Malaysia, we are more affected by what our family thinks – we want their blessings, we want to please everybody and sometimes we ultimately end up pleasing nobody, not even ourselves,” she said.
Bessey added: “I know of quite a number of friends who are very well suited to be together, and they would have been just fine together, but because of all these other things to consider, it just never worked out.”
“The play is basically about faith and how we define faith in love.”
Despite the heavy topics involved Bessey assured that it’s a comedy with plenty of light hearted moments to balance the dramatic tension.
“I like to do everything with a good sense of humour, so I hope this play will also make people laugh,” she said.
Believing that it’s healthy for Malaysians to be able to laugh at themselves, she added: “I think it also brings about a certain sense of maturity when our society can explore issues that may be considered uncomfortable and still be able to laugh at ourselves at the same time.”
One of the things she’s excited about Love Journey is the ensemble cast. “I think the strength of this play comes from the actors who agreed to be involved,” she said.
Presented by Joanna Bessey Productions, the one-act play stars some of the local theatre scene’s current, fresh and veteran luminaries. They include Safia Hanifah, Tim Howe, Fatimah Abu Bakar, Datuk Rahim Razali, Na’a Murad, Sharifah Sofia, Bella Rahim, Alfred Loh, Anitha Hamid, Chacko Vadaketh and Qahar Aqilah.
Speaking about the venue for the play, Enfiniti Academy’s Blackbox Theatre, she said: “I’m also excited about this small space.”
“I watched the recent play Another Country and I was particularly moved by the segment that was based on an essay that the late Datuk Krishen Jit wrote on the myth of the theatre performance space.”
“It really reinforced my belief of how to go about staging a theatre show,” she said.
Utilising the “less is more” approach, which brings the theatre experience back to basics with a strong and raw focus on storytelling and acting, Bessey explained that the experimental space she had chosen will provide the audience with an intimate and warm environment.
“The set also reflects this and I want it to envelope the audience,” she added.
Built by Paul Loosley, an award-winning set designer and film director, the set was inspired by environmental art works practitioners Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s Wrapped Trees, which consisted of 178 wrapped trees at Fondation Beyeler and Berower Park in Switzerland in 1998.
“I want the audience to feel included and a part of the dialogue,” she said of the play that will include a post-show Q&A and discussion session.
“It’s a wholly Malaysian play for the people and I hope the audience will come and watch it and be able to feel, understand and relate to it, as well as to talk about it and contribute to this discussion,” she said.
Love Journey – A Nation Of Two
When: July 25-Aug 2, 8.30pm (Sun, 3pm show only)
Where: The Blackbox Theatre, Enfiniti Academy, No. 28-1, Jalan PJU 5/20D, The Encorp Strand, Kota Damansara PJU 5, PJ
Admission: RM40 (chair seats) & RM20 (floor-mat seating)
Call 017-6145379 (J. Redza) or email lovejourneytix@gmail.com. Buy tickets online at lovejourneyanationof2.eventbrite.com. For more information, visit facebook.com/LoveJourneyANationOf2