It started with a wild idea: what if I were to create a mashup of Yasmin Ahmad's final film, 'Talentime', as well as the controversial novel, 'Interlok', by Abdullah Hussain? I count myself very lucky to have been able to work closely with Jo Kukathas on this project, a director and artist whom I respect for her formidable literary knowledge as well as her sensitivity to a playwright's text. It has been such a joy to create this work where the director deals with a non-native language while the playwright writes about a non-native country - leaning on each other as we went along. The very diligent actors have also been an inspiring bunch, and it is through their willingness to be vulnerable on stage that the heart of the play is unveiled - even to me.
Both Yasmin Ahmad and Abdullah Hussain believed in some kind of utopia. But Yasmin has been criticsed for offering saccharine, 'love-conquers-all' resolutions to complex problems, whereas Abdullah's lead-up to a portrait of inter-racial solidarity finds itself haunted by the spectre of stereotypes. And yet, while I was writing Pariah, it dawned upon me how important it is to still believe, often with an urgent obsession, in utopias. As Mary Oliver asks in her poem, 'Singapore': "If the world were only pain and logic, who would want it?"
Yes, who would?
Enjoy the show.
– Alfian Sa'at
