Announcement: Malaya Relived: The Penang Riots (A New Musical)
Travel back in time to the 1867 era of George Town in Penang, with opulence, opals and opium featured prominently in the Penang Hokkien high life.
“The Penang Riots” is a three-act musical that invites audiences to go on a time-bending journey to visit 19th century George Town.
Strung together with original music inspired by Chinese opera and the dulcet tones of early technicolor cinema, it promises to be a colourful exploration of the past with familiar sounds, smells and tastes.
Lady Hwang (Cheryl Tan) is anxious. Her lord has been at sea for almost half a year now and her snooping yet devoted hand-maiden, Opal (Melissa Ong), finds it increasingly difficult to soothe her nerves. There are only two things that give her peace of mind: her unwavering devotion to the Supreme August Jade Emperor and the good, profitable land in George Town that her father bestowed upon her after his death.
Things take a turn when Lord Hwang returns and gifts the Lady with a personal slave: a dark-skinned eunuch (Phraveen Arikiah) with a prophetic disposition. The eunuch accounts that Lord Hwang has begun trading opium and may now be working with the Red Flags, George Town’s most notorious Hokkien secret society.
As tensions increase in Penang and while Lord Hwang leads the Red Flags to riot against the Cantonese White Flags, Lady Hwang slowly turns to the consuming ecstasy of opium. The trio must now face the difficult task of swallowing their pride, maintaining the status and land of their Great House and, more importantly, extinguishing the dark motives of their shared enemy: Lord Hwang.
Produced by critically acclaimed, award-winning theatre company Liver & Lung, it is directed and written by Shafeeq Shajahan, with Ian Skatu as musical director and composer.
Audiences are invited to dress in their best traditional wear, enjoy kuih and witness Malaysian history unfold before their eyes.
Show & Venue Information:
Venue: GMBB Gallery
Add: No 2, Jalan Robertson, 50150 Kuala Lumpur.
Dates: 27th – 30th June, 2019
Time: 8pm
Duration: 2 hours
Ticket price: RM70
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