Kaki Blue

30 July
Kuala Lumpur Performing Arts Centre

By Adam Zechariah, Ministry of Truth & Entertainment

Saturday Night at NS Camp

Nee wants to run off to Kuala Lumpur with her boyfriend to become a singer (after she wins Akademi Fantasia); Lin is planning for college/ matriculation/ university while Shan is planning an ASTRO mini-series marathon.  And so it goes as three friends plan their post-SPM lives.  Alas, fate (and the government) stepped in and instead they get sent to the ‘wilds’ of Butterworth for Khidmat Negara.

Directed by Joe Hasham and written by Mark Beau de Silva, Kaki Blue is quite a youthful enterprise.  The leads were as young as 14 and hardly anyone is above 18. Even the musical director, Nick Davis, is 21. With so much youthful energy, does the play deliver?  Well, it was certainly a fun watch.

Nee (played by Lim Miaw Fen – a Form Five student) was a ‘cili padi.’  With her Penang-Hokkien mannerisms and rivalry with a fellow student creatively named Bee Chee - played by Denise Yap, who did a pretty good job, more so when you find out she’s only 14 and may have had to watch too many episodes of Gossip Girl to get in character.

And there’s Shan (Edmund Wong), the mini-series loving, gender –confused soul whom the other guys at the NS camp are envious of because he’s not afraid of girls. Not a stranger to the stage, Wong certainly brought a lot of gaiety to the performance (pun intended). And to complete the three kakis, we have Lin (Leah Sams in her first public and professional debut), the voice of sanity whose level-headed character makes the antics of the rest seem that much more ‘out there’.

Four people don’t make a camp – we have a host of camp caricatures including the camp commandant Major Sabar (Tria Aziz – whose BM and mannerisms certainly reminded me of good ol’ secondary school) assisted by her “jurulatihs” (coach), who are certainly multilingual – instructions to the NS trainees were given in BM, English, Chinese dialects, Tamil and French!  This brings me to another point, though mainly in English, the play had a nice mix of languages to give it a Malaysian feel.

So, we have a trio of friends and their over-the-top camp mates. Makes for a nice comedy right? Well, yes and no. Each of the trio had a painful past to bear, which was highlighted in several scenes, which was quite jarring in relation to the overall light tone. So if it’s a comedy, there are these speed bumps. If it’s meant to convey greater complexity to the characters, perhaps the depth wasn’t there.

Nonetheless these are just minor gripes. What shone through was the enthusiasm – not just among the leads but also by their fellow equally young cast members. It was quite thrilling to watch them dance and belt out some interesting numbers. To me the music was indeed a highlight – all originals but based on popular 60s and 70s songs. It’ll put a smile on your face when you figure out the songs they were based on.  Kudos to Davis as well as his ‘band’, Tony Selvaraj, Andrew Wong and Ivan Wong (yes it was live music!).

All in all it was an entertaining watch. Don’t think too much.  Just enjoy the ride and for those who are a little past the NS age (or way past it), it’s a nice reminder of our youth.