KAKAK is going to International Theatre Festival Of Kerala (India)

Pitapat Theatre is a self funded theatre company from Sabah founded in 2012. Though faced with lacked of resources and financial stability and support in Sabah, where arts development was always absent, the theatre company still insisted on providing intensive training to create serious works that could inspire the society. Therefore from 2016 Pitapat Theatre started to reach out from Sabah to extend the works to other places by gaining resources out of the region.

In coming 2019 for the first time ever, Pitapat Theatre is invited to perform KAKAK in the INTERNATIONAL THEATRE FESTIVAL OF KERALA (ITFOK, http://theatrefestivalkerala.com/), for which is Pitapat Theatre's first time to perform in a region out of Southeast Asia. This is highly meaningful not only for the theatre company, but also for Malaysian theatre, because Pitapat Theatre will be the first theatre group to be invited to ITFOK. This presents the opportunity to extend Malaysian theatre arts to this important, centered place of theatre, where many of the oldest performing arts form were born.

However, there’s still one more step to take on this mission. For invited groups of the festival, companies and troupes are to be responsible for their own international travel costs, eg: airfare and visas applications etc. As mentioned above, because Pitapat Theatre is a self funded company, they need your help, by donation, to reach their goal of RM5000 to fly 6 team members to the festival. Small amount or big sum, every cent counts. Please help support Pitapat Theatre to extend and reach further, to nurture and nourish the Malaysian Theatre scene.

You can check our FB page for more information: www.facebook.com/Pitapat Theatre

THANK YOU!

卜卜劇場於2012年成立於馬來西亞沙巴州。自成立以來，一直都是自供自給式的經營著。在藝術資源非常匱乏的沙巴，我們從來都不放棄本身的創作理念，堅持執行嚴格的表演訓練以及創作並製作專業的作品。從劇團兩度西渡吉隆坡演出皆獲好評並得到大馬戲炬獎的承認，可證明劇團多年的耕耘及努力。然而，即使劇團持續的自我提升，卻改變不了藝術環境不成熟、文化資源依然匱乏的困局。近年來劇團於是開始往外發展，除了吉隆坡，也兩度到台北的大稻埕國際藝術節演出，以期在提升創作水平的同時，也增加國際上的交流以及亮相，以便可借力國外的資源讓劇團繼續成長。

在來臨的2019年，劇團將走入新的開始，也就是獲邀第一次到戲劇古都Kerala，於Kerala國際戲劇節演出【下人】。這不僅是對我們來說是極為振奮與榮幸的事，甚至對馬來西亞劇場來說也有著歷史性的意義。Kerala 位於印度南部，是印度多種古典戲劇與古典舞蹈的發祥地，能夠在此地演出，可說意義非凡。

然而，我們仍然遇上經費不足的問題。我們目前還在籌募國際飛行所需的經費（機票與簽證申請費用），我們急需大家的捐助支持以讓我們可以實踐這歷史性的巡演。如果能得到大家的支持，卜卜劇場將可持續成長，以期未來能夠把作品帶到更多、更遠的地方去。2018年我們迎來了新馬來西亞，目前我們正努力用我們的力量去打造好的藝術以期照耀未來的新國家。這是第一步，也是重要一步，我們希望得到你的支持！

What is the story?

KAKAK tells a story about revenge of two house maids upon their master and mistress after years of oppression from them. The progress of their plan reveals complexity of relationships with the master and mistress but mainly between the two maids, which causes the plan gradually falls apart. This conflict between the two parties and among the oppressed metaphorically reveals the society of Malaysia, especially the last ten 10 years under the ruling of the seriously corrupted government, while people’s right are constantly being oppressed, meanwhile conflict between different races was being enlarged by the people who were in the power.

Reception in the past performances

KAKAK has been performed in Kuala Lumpur, Kota Kinabalu and Taipei (in Tua Tiu Tian International Festival of Arts) since 2017, and received good responses from all three venues by audiences from different backgrounds and different cultures. A review from Taiwan says, “KAKAK not only portrayed the multiculturalism in Malaysia, it also revealed the truth of status conflict by standing not only beside the oppressed, but also the ones in power...” .

One of the reviews in Malaysia says about directing and acting, “Soo Ming (The director and actor) is a theatre artist who is good at all the three stages of creating: playwright, directing and acting. He has strong vision upon global issues and also local community topics, which is rarely find in Malaysian- Chinese theatre scene. Whereas Zizi, the actress is an actress with strong presence and energy. You hardly take your eyes from her while she is on stage because she is the kind of actress who constantly growing and transforming while she performs.”

In 2018, KAKAK received three awards in Malaysia 15th ADA DRAMA AWARDS, including Best Actor and Best Actress of the year, and also Best Image Design.

【下人】在說什麼？

【下人】 說的是關於兩個僕人欲對主人復仇的故事。過程中不止揭發了這兩個下人平日是如何在不平等的制度下被壓迫，也揭露了不同階級間的微妙關係以及其中的拉扯角力。這其中象徵著馬來西亞多年以來的社會階級結構下的實相與困境，尤其揭露了過去十年間在前朝政府嚴重貪腐以及種族政策之下被扭曲了的社會怪象。

迴響

【下人】自2017年以來於吉隆坡、亞庇及台北（2017大稻埕國際藝術節）演出，獲得好評如潮。台灣劇評評道：“ 【下人】除了融入了馬來西亞的語言特色在裡頭外，最大特點是，與其說【下人】改編《女僕》，倒不如說導演守明想帶著觀眾一起拆解這個劇本，或是透過這個劇本帶領觀眾觀看階級兩端的心境。”

對於以著重表導演著稱的卜卜劇場作品，吉隆坡著名劇評人如是評道：“程守明是編導演俱佳的全才型戲劇人，他的國際視野、多元意識和本土政治關注，在本地中文劇場是較少見的。侯桂芝的氣場很強大，在【下人】全劇她不曾一秒鐘離場，但我相信很多觀眾都和我一樣，目光在她身上也是一秒鐘不曾移開，因為她已經把戲劇演成了舞蹈：每一秒鐘都在變化生長。”

2018年，【下人】於第15屆馬來西亞戲炬獎斬獲三獎，分別是年度最佳男、女主角以及年度最佳造型設計獎。