{"id":28959,"date":"2016-04-01T15:58:00","date_gmt":"2016-04-01T07:58:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/glutenfreepleasure.com\/__proxy_domain\/www.wildrice.com.sg\/?p=28959"},"modified":"2021-04-30T16:50:36","modified_gmt":"2021-04-30T08:50:36","slug":"tough-love","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/glutenfreepleasure.com\/__proxy_domain\/www.wildrice.com.sg\/tough-love\/","title":{"rendered":"Tough Love"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Faizal Abdullah had a minor existential crisis when he first encountered\u00a0Hawa<\/em>. Johnny Jon Jon\u2019s smart, complex play, in which faith, love and sexuality collide when death comes calling, appealed to him at once\u2026 as a performer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMy first thought when I read the script was: why am I directing this play?\u201d Faizal laughs. \u201cI want to act in it!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He was immediately taken by the three characters whose lives and worlds converge in Hawa<\/em>: Siti, a Muslim convert who is trying to make funeral arrangements for her \u2018best friend\u2019, Sarah; Ahmad, the veteran funeral director who is flummoxed by the circumstances; and Zaki, a mysterious stranger who turns up at Siti\u2019s doorstep.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAll three characters are very compelling,\u201d says Faizal. \u201cThey all have issues and flaws, which is always very attractive to me. Ahmad, for instance, is an authority figure \u2013 the one you think can help you. But it turns out that he needs help as well.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The significance \u2013 and potential controversy \u2013 of the relationship at the heart of Hawa<\/em> is not lost on Faizal. \u201cThere are people in Singapore who are living in the same situation as Siti and Sarah,\u201d he points out. \u201cWhatever label people want to put on their relationship, I treated it as a simple love story between two people. Siti has just lost someone she loved, someone very dear to her \u2013 that\u2019s something everyone can relate to.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With its complex themes and potentially morbid setting, Hawa<\/em> could be difficult to stage, even for a seasoned director. Faizal confesses that one of his biggest challenges in staging it for Hatch Theatrics last year was to take a step back and let the play and its characters breathe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAs a young director, you want to put your stamp on the play,\u201d he explains. In his previous directorial outings, Faizal had frequently had a hand in \u201cdismantling\u201d scripts \u2013 breaking up scenes and putting everything back together to uncover surprises that were not on the page.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For Hawa<\/em>, he had to remind himself and his team to exercise a great deal of restraint. \u201cWe just had to let the characters be alive in the way the writer intended them to be,\u201d he says. \u201cI realised that the play needed to be directed in the simplest manner possible.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
First table read for Hawa<\/em> (2016)!
L-R: Koh Wan Ching, Al-Matin Yatim, Saiful Amri & Faizal Abdullah<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s nothing simple about the profound effect Hawa<\/em> has had on its director, however. The blackly comic play may treat the grim subject of mortality with a lighter touch, but issues of life and death still came up all the time in the rehearsal room.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Together with his cast and crew, Faizal recreated certain elements of the Muslim funeral for research purposes. \u201cAt first, we were just laughing as we tried it out for ourselves,\u201d he recalls. \u201cBut then, it got freaky. I felt very scared. It made me think: \u2018I really am going to die one day.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But it\u2019s not all doom and gloom as Faizal and his team prepare to restage Hawa<\/em> at the Singapore Theatre Festival. He is particularly keen to unearth more layers in the script and characters with the help of actress Koh Wan Ching, who will be replacing Isabella Chiam in the pivotal role of Siti.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWan Ching actually watched the play when we first staged it, and asked if we wanted to stick with the character that had already been created,\u201d explains Faizal. \u201cBut I\u2019m not really a big fan of that. I want to work with her to create her own version of Siti. I\u2019m very excited to work with Wan Ching \u2013 I absolutely adore what she brings to the table as an actor!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Directing a play for W!LD RICE\u2019s Singapore Theatre Festival represents a homecoming, of sorts, for Faizal. He was part of the second cohort of young & W!LD, our youth development division.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI have very fond memories of being in young & W!LD, which taught me a lot about becoming an actor and an artist,\u201d he smiles. \u201cIt\u2019s always nice to return to where you were a student, and to get the opportunity to work professionally. It\u2019s great to be involved in the Festival!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hawa<\/em>, directed by Faizal Abdullah, plays as part of a double-bill with Riders Know When It\u2019s Gonna Rain<\/em> at the Singapore Theatre Festival from 30 June to 3 July 2016. Visit www.singaporetheatrefestival.com<\/a> for more information!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All images courtesy of Hatch Theatrics.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Faizal Abdullah reveals what appeals to him about Hawa, a soulful black comedy that challenges society\u2019s prejudices in its exploration of grief, love and identity.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":28960,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"default","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"default","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[325,369,324,34,323],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/glutenfreepleasure.com\/__proxy_domain\/www.wildrice.com.sg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28959"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/glutenfreepleasure.com\/__proxy_domain\/www.wildrice.com.sg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/glutenfreepleasure.com\/__proxy_domain\/www.wildrice.com.sg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glutenfreepleasure.com\/__proxy_domain\/www.wildrice.com.sg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glutenfreepleasure.com\/__proxy_domain\/www.wildrice.com.sg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28959"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/glutenfreepleasure.com\/__proxy_domain\/www.wildrice.com.sg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28959\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glutenfreepleasure.com\/__proxy_domain\/www.wildrice.com.sg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28960"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/glutenfreepleasure.com\/__proxy_domain\/www.wildrice.com.sg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28959"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glutenfreepleasure.com\/__proxy_domain\/www.wildrice.com.sg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28959"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glutenfreepleasure.com\/__proxy_domain\/www.wildrice.com.sg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28959"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}