Malam Bakti 2005

Yesterday, the 2nd of December 2005, LSE Malaysia Club
proudly presented Malam Bakti 2005 at the Old Theatre of LSE.

And me, being stage manager (ahem..), was there at 5 pm to set the stage along with my other mates. We had to bring all the panels up from the basement, secure them to the floor, set the other props on the stage, and the list went on and on.

All was ready at about 6.45.

And then the crowd came. Not in droves,but gradually and realised that the house was full.

It seems 60 of them were from Imperial College.

All but 6 seats were taken up. Anxiously waiting for it to start.

And at the back, the cast was getting on with some character building, where other members of the cast was giving feedback and opinions on each actor's role.

It started eventually at 7.32 pm.

The directors ( Hann and Hui Yi ) were out on the sofa. A short intro by them. No thanks to a section of the crowd who laughed sarcastically at Hann's joke.

The play was called "NO TIME FOR FIG LEAVES". 3 acts in total.

The story was pretty simple. The world is now inhabited by women and women only. The fun begins when 2 live men are found, very much alive. And and how the Prime Minister uses this fact to strengthen her position in the Cabinet is what the rest of the play is about.

Meenal as Monica ( The PM's PPS ) and Lisa as Connie ( The Prime Minister ) kicked it off with the opening act.

And there was Shazana as Dora ( The Butler ), Tony as Nigel ( The macho Air Marshall ), Jin as David ( The Professor ), Karen as Corporal Foster, Ema as Major Danvers-Bishop, Vivian as Helen Marchbanks ( Connie's rival in the Cabinet ) and Sze Ing as Lydia Parker ( A scientist ).

And I had to change the sets during the 2 intervals.
Taking out the golf bag, bringing in the Kama Sutra was part of my duty.

And all ended at 10.13 pm.

And of course, I gave the bouquet of flowers to Hann because it was for him who was supposed to give it to Hui Yi, not me.

Ah well, it all ended perfectly.

Friends were all there. Paik Gee, Azzwaa, Dania, Zhi Xin, and Zijian.
Thank you for coming.

A lil' sad though. We, the props crew didn't get enough credit for what we did I feel.
All the heavy props and the times where we had to come just for you actors to practise.
No one sees our effort.
The cast and the directors had all their compliments coming in and even at the end, we the props crew had to keep all the stuff back in the basement.
I didn't like it. I felt all should be helping as it had all ended now.

One can easily compare this to being a goalkeeper. A goalkeeper is easily forgotten in a football match. Unless you're Peter Schemeichel.

No one remembers you unless you're up there doing it, not doing it unseen, behind the stage or in between intervals.

That's the way the world is I guess.

Glad Malam Bakti 2005 was a success!

Thank you all for coming.

Till then.

PS pictures at humraaz9 .