Mak Yong Titis Sakti

5 June 2009

KL Performing Art Centre

By Jane Kong

When I was first heard that I’m going to attend a theater called ‘Mak Yong Titis Sakti’, I thought it would  made me feel sleepy since I had the perception that traditional Malay theater, and other traditional theatre would be very boring and dull.

But ‘Mak Yong Titis Sakti’ was an exception! It was more fun and humorous than I thought it could be! It gave me a sense of excitement and I found out I was laughing most of the time during the play.  A Malay woman who sat beside me was laughing non-stop as well.

Mak Yong was inspired by Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Actually it was more like a Malay drama that used a Western storyline and the actors and actresses wore wearing traditional Malay costumes and spoke mostly Kelantan Malay.

Mak Yong Titis Sakti was a light hearted romance theater with many funny scenes. It started with traditional Malay instruments that accompanied a short piece of dance.  This happened when the Raja Besar and Puteri Indah Permata announced their wedding ceremony, which will be held after four days. The dance was soft and gradefull, and it reflected the soft-spoken Malay culture.

Both Raja Besar and Puteri Indah Permata held high status in the Malay kingdom and they both loved each other.  Their union was considered a perfect match by their ‘rakyat.’  Everyone was happy and excited about their wedding.

But somewhere in the lower status of the community, a couple was facing difficulties because the girl’s father was against their relationship.  The couple had to run away to get married in another place. When they were running through the forest, the servants of a God called Raja Dewa Kayangan, made a mistake and caused the couple to hate each other and caused the girl to fall in love with another boy, and the boy, with another girl.  These other persons that they fell in love with happened to be a couple.

The servants were afraid of being scolded by Raja Dewi Kayangan so they quickly used a magical flower to help return everything back to normal. When everything returned to normal, the father of the girl took the couple to meet the Raja Besar and asked to have the boy punished for running away with his daughter.

But after being persuaded by the Puteri Indah Permata, Raja Besar decided to let the couple go.  He even invited both couples to be married in a joint wedding celebration with them.

Mak Yong Titis Sakti was overall interesting and funny to me. My perception towards Malay theatre had changed through this play. Although in the storyline was inspired by Shakespeare’s ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’, I personally think that Mak Yong, a Malaysian traditional form of dance drama, has a unique style that can never be replaced by any other culture.