Jo Kukathas makes a long-awaited return to the stage, plays an astronomer

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New theatre manufacturing How To Be Alone by actor/director Ghafir Akbar and Seattle, United States-based director/dramaturg Joel Waage presents an intriguing proposition – being alone doesn’t indicate loneliness.

“There is a misconception that being alone means being lonely. We did a lot of research on people who chose isolation and found the opposite.

“We were especially drawn to the idea of an anchorite early on, someone who chooses to isolate themselves, willingly, and finds it enriching. This intrigued us,” says Ghafir in a latest interview.

These questions and explorations resulted in How To Be Alone, an 80-minute workshop manufacturing that opens tomorrow (Nov 9) at the Blackbox, Damansara Performing Arts Centre (DPAC) in Petaling Jaya.

Ghafir and Waage co-direct How To Be Alone, that includes a stay efficiency by theatre veteran Jo Kukathas (a frequent collaborator with Ghafir) and a digital efficiency (pre-recorded) by Wisconsin, US-based actor/author Danny Jones.

Ghafir, Waage and Jones co-wrote the script. Melissa Teoh, who’s additionally the present’s producer, creates the scenic design for How To Be Alone with lighting design by award-winning lighting designer Ee Chee Wei.

“The play is a direct response to being in lockdown and abruptly having nothing to do and catching up with individuals over Zoom. Joel and I reconnected just about and we simply talked about our respective international locations, what we had been feeling, what we’ve been doing on a regular basis… very mundane conversations,” says Ghafir.

These conversations between the former classmates (each Ghafir and Waage studied at the Asolo Conservatory for Actor Training at Florida State University) finally sparked this intercontinental challenge.

Ghafir Akbar (left) and Jo Kukathas seen during a rehearsal session for this intercontinental production. Photo: HandoutGhafir Akbar (left) and Jo Kukathas seen throughout a rehearsal session for this intercontinental manufacturing. Photo: Handout

How To Be Alone explores loneliness and grief. It asks what it means to be alone. While this may occasionally sound summary and existential, the co-directors hope to inform a very human story from the views of two characters who navigate their particular person relationships with isolation, trying to the sky, land, and sea to find out how to be alone.

Ashwini (performed by Kukathas) is an astronomer who finds herself alone as soon as extra following her husband’s demise. Undeterred, she units out on her personal to see the photo voltaic eclipse midway throughout the world. William, in distinction, emerges from the woods after a decade of solitude. He appears for companionship on the Internet in a world he doesn’t perceive. The solely different (unseen) “character” is a lonely whale in the ocean.

In the play, they delve into a world of hermits and recluses, eclipses and tides, singing whales and speaking vegetation, in addition to informative tutorial movies on how to survive alone in the woods.

Ghafir says each Ashwini and William “orbit each other, maybe they never collide but maybe at some point they have or they will in the future. We don’t know. Something in their energy and in the universe allows them to gravitate towards and pull each other momentarily.”

The two characters are loosely impressed by the tales of Julian of Norwich, an English medieval anchoress, and Christopher Knight, an American recluse and burglar who disappeared into the woods for 27 years.

“For me, the challenge was that my character is somebody who’s struggling with solitude. Personally, I’m quite good with solitude. Ashwini, on the other hand, is someone who is accustomed to solitude from a very young age, found companionship and then lost it.

“There is another kind of loneliness that you experience when you find pleasure in company and then you lose it. It makes you think about your place in the universe. And this became quite dominant in our discussions,” shares Kukathas.

For Kukathas, being a part of this manufacturing is “very special and personal.” The final time she appeared in a dramatic function on a KL theatre stage was in Raj And The End of Tragedy in 2014. She is now keen to get again to work as a theatre actor and carry out to a stay viewers for the first time in seven years.

She additionally mentions she loved the analysis and growth levels of the manufacturing, exploring the story and the characters with the co-creators just about.

Ghafir agrees and provides that penning this play throughout the pandemic was therapeutic for him and hopes it is going to be too for the viewers watching.

“For the past two years, we’ve been through a lot, and this show attempts to acknowledge that. It was difficult and we had to overcome obstacles. So let’s all experience this play, the characters, and hopefully grow from it, together,” says Ghafir.

How To Be Alone is supported by the Cultural Economy Development Agency’s (Cendana), Performing Arts Presentation Funding Programme.

How To Be Alone plays at Damansara Performing Arts Centre from Dec 9-12. Ticket: RM50. The theatre area capability has been decreased to 60 individuals per present and public well being SOPs should be noticed. More particulars here.



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