Image credit: The Kuala Lumpur Performing Arts Centre

Would you consider your life a private, limited? Or are all our lives one big company?

Explore these questions with Life Sdn Bhd, which will be staging for the 13th time at the Kuala Lumpur Performing Arts Centre (klpac) next month.

This year, for the first time, one half of klpac’s founder, Joe Hasham, will join the line-up of casts.

It is indeed surprising that the show started by Faridah Merican, (klpac and Joe’s other half), which has gone on for over a decade, had never included Joe until now.

The show is also marking the first time for Eksentrika’s own one half, Sukhbir Cheema, as part of the cast.

He’s quite excited to perform and has since resisted my pesterings to divulge too much on the details for show night.

Watch it to find out, he tells me and yes, that’s exactly what I plan to do! (See you guys there!)

Having never caught the previous shows, I am intrigued to know what I might learn from it.

I’ve been told, in the past, it had offered a glimpse into the private lives of some pretty famous people such as the famed local voice personality, Patrick Teoh, master dancer, Ramli Ibrahim and household name actors, Susan Lankester and Gavin Yap.

These guys and a string of others talked up some pretty intimate and sometimes taboo subjects, which include stories of abuse and battling terminal illnesses such as cancer, HIV and AIDS.

For this year, some of the anecdotes were sought for while others were accidental spills, as happens sometimes, in chats over coffee with trusted people, which makes it all the more precious, methinks.

For Faridah, the cast for Life Sdn Bhd are not merely actors per se, but someone’s family or friend offering a glimpse into their life to a group of people willing to open their ears and hearts to listen.

“All the past episodes that dealt with so many important issues impacting our lives, was about the people,” says Faridah.

“Now we are stretching out to bring in the various stories that people have that they want to share,” she adds.

You know, every time I hear a story, I feel blessed that Life Sdn Bhd has provided a stage for that particular story to be told and shared. It makes me want to search further and further.

This year an old dear Friend has sent her stories to be shared. Thank you Nala. Wish you were here though.” – Faridah

The personalities to look forward to this time around are a mix of theatre and non-theatre personalities such as  klpac’s resident director and actor, Mark Beau de Silva and actors Omar Ali, Roshinee Mookaiah, Veshalini Naidu as well as Karanbir Singh Hundal, Ryonn Leong, Sharon Ohno, Sukhbir Cheema and singer-songwriter Ian Chow.

Expect to hear some personal stories, such as Joe’s childhood growing up as a Lebanese-Australian in the land of Oz and Sukhbir’s…well,  we’ll have to find that out at the show.

It’s playing in Kuala Lumpur from March 2 to March 4, with a matinee on March 5. It’s also going to be held at Penang Pac between March 17 and March 19.

Two free tickets are up for grabs now until February 18, if you would share your answer to the question “What is Love?” on klpac’s Facebook page. 

Alternatively, you can contribute to the arts by purchasing your tickets (RM45 regular, RM35 if you got TAS card member, a student, senior citizen or differently-abled).

Get it by calling 03-4047 9000 (klpac) or 03-7880 7999 (Ticket Pro) or online. You can also walk-in lah to the klpac box office or any Ticket Pro outlet.

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