11 & 12 May, 2024 - An Invitation to Odissi at the Bukit Merah Wood Factory, Ipoh

Dear Friends,
From my point of view, I would regard the two-day performances of ‘An Invitation to Odissi’ at The Wood Factory, Perak on 11 & 12 May, a combined presentation of Sutra Foundation & Ipoh Tin Alley, with mixed feelings.
As performers we intuitively know when the dance and total presentation was good. The production, which had been recently staged in Chennai and New Delhi, was definitely of international standard.
Not only was the audience superlative in their praises but we could also sense ourselves that we had given our best.
However, both night audiences seemed less than 50% capacity when the hall was only for 200! Obviously, the effort to cultivate a general culture-loving public of Ipoh needs stronger and more concerted push from the community.
Passing through, I could sense that Concubine Lane and Hard Rock Cafe were loosing their novelty and lustre. Ipoh needs a dynamic culture content and a lively social capital to sustain future interest. What on earth can one do in Ipoh after 9pm? Food & drinks without Culture, is a boring night out! Otherwise, Ipoh will remain a ‘hicktown for pensioners’ (said, not by me).
But on the other hand previous performances of Jaya Ram at The Wood Factory were well received with full houses for both nights! Previous to that, response to GANJAM at the Ipoh RTM auditorium (500 capacity) presented by the Ipoh Fine Arts and attended by YB former CM of Perak, was overwhelming! Sutra wanted to continue to provide cultural activities to Ipoh and had tried to convince other groups in KL to continue the cultural exposure.
Why then was such poor attendance to ‘Invitation…’ when the publicity was the best we could render?
The audience who came was also disappointed that Ipoh-Mari theatre-goers had missed a brilliant performance which deserved to be appreciated and applauded.
What went wrong?
I asked some members of the audience for their frank opinions for a quick post-mortem:
1. Ipoh audience (like its counterpart in Penang) loath to part with their money on theatre or Arts/Culture. The ticket price of Rm 90 & Rm 120 (with dinner) and Rm 70 & Rm 100 (without dinner), would be too much for them.
2. ⁠Local cultural institutions are parochial-minded and will only support their own productions. Seats are usually pushed from in-house ‘influencers’. The maxim that good performances are good for everybody, is not understood nor practised by them.
3. ⁠Shouldn’t Perak Tourism come to support this independent dance-theatre effort of Sutra Foundation and Tin Alley? Wouldn’t this kind of production help in their own effort to cultivate future theatre-loving public? Promo materials were sent to them but there was completely no takers! Again, Perak Tourism, like its local cultural institutions, support only its own efforts.
4. ⁠Some guests mentioned that they only came to know of the performance last minute and by accident. This seems to be also the shared problem in Kuala Lumpur. In the olden days, there was a ‘TimeOut’ monthly publication which would list the performances and happenings all over Malaysia. Kakiseni used to manage a similar portal but has discontinued it. This ‘service’ to theatre promotion is crucial and critical for the wellbeing of Arts & Culture in Malaysia. Funding bodies such as MyCreative Ventures and Yayasan Hasanah should endeavour to provide funding to a neutral cultural entity (and not another dance or theatre company), to take on this service-provider challenge.
5. ⁠One of the reasons, Sutra chose The Wood Factory was because there is no available theatre venue in Ipoh. It must be realised that Ipoh does not have a functioning Arts Centre for ‘serious arts’ which could be the meeting place for the diverse cultural aspirations of Perak. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to have a thriving ‘Sultan Nazrin Performing Arts Centre’ that will bring national and international performing productions and visual arts to Ipoh? The Art Centre could easily tap the Cultural Routes of performances and exhibitions passing through KL. But, alas!
Once again it has to be reminded that such productions as ‘An Invitation to Odissi’ was not funded and was never intended to make money. Like Sutra, I am convinced that many other theatre groups also sacrifice time, money and energy to sustain the cultural ecosystem and social ‘capital’ of the nation. Many of us believe that arts and culture should not only be centred in the capital, Kuala Lumpur. We need audience to perform for, but it is crucial that we don’t loose money.
Cultivating a public cultural awareness is a concerted effort from all sections of the community, City Council, State Institutions and also Federal Cultural Bodies. Our cities need more good art groups to show the works outside Kuala Lumpur. The public must be aware of the challenges involved and shouldn’t complain when groups cannot or would not come to perform!
Ramli