ARTSEE ARCHIVES

From writer-director Joe Hasham’s God’s Waiting Room, the stage at KLPAC transformed into an intimate vestibule of memory. Featuring the historic first-time trifecta of Datuk Faridah Merican, Patrick Teoh, and Anne James, the production served as a landmark celebration of Malaysian theatre. While the performance was bolstered by masterful stage command and an undeniable natural…

After watching ENTOURAGE: Murder Amongst Friends (2025), I found myself grappling not with the question of whether I liked the work, but with how best to approach it as a relatively young audience who is unfamiliar with Jit Murad’s creative context. For those well-versed in Jit’s oeuvre, or who carry vivid memories of Kuala Lumpur’s decadent urban…

What Drum Up JB 2.0: Drums: A New Beat Beckons has opened is a path that calls for more creators, more audiences, and more cross-cultural (and cross-disciplinary) dialogue: ……

Loh Kok Man’s latest return to Animal Farm at Pentas 2, KLPAC, is less a simple revival than a reckoning. Staged in Mandarin with English surtitles, this new collaboration between Pentas Project Theatre Production and W Productions reintroduces George Orwell’s fable to a Malaysian audience already bruised by cycles of hope and disillusionment. The result…

Pushing the boundaries of theatre storytelling, Fragments of Tuah examines the myth and narrative of the legendary figure.

A poetry collection written from the walls of Changi Prison’s death row is launched to a sombre crowd, but hope seeps through.

Exploring Malaysia’s small but close-knit TTRPG scene and the people that make it possible.

An avid reader examines how silent community reading has taken over Kuala Lumpur’s parks, and how she herself has fallen in love with it.

A reflection on creative climate action, storytelling, and community.

A local school’s production of an iconic rock musical performed is looked at by two theatre reviewers from different generations to rate the results. 

The trials and tribulations of a long-term Malaysian Chinese couple are explored in all its messy, complex, touching, and frustrating glory.

LaguKu 3.0 gives young shigu drummers the opportunity to express their art in their own ways, with creative ideas and global influences

Rizal Van Geyzel’s 60-minute tour de force transforms personal and political trauma into a masterclass in comedic resilience.

Haran & Shobaan’s 2025 Malaysian film is a rom-com told through the unique Malaysian Millennial lens, as reviewed by Elaine Tan

Tucked away on a green hilly little street in Kuala Lumpur, House of OMA feels like the kind of place where ideas and hands are meant to move freely.

T.H.E. Dance Company restages their 2018 work with impressive technical execution, but its commentary on identity remains questionable.

Lee Swee Keong masterfully directs this avant-garde Japanese dance-theater performance, evoking a reminder of the transformative power of art

Ian Skatu’s debut play is a brave and experimental absurdist work, but does it have a place within Malaysian theatre?

More than ten years later, Loh Kok Man’s Double Punctum is restaged for 2024, but has it held up to the test of time?

Ten years after its original debut, Loh Kok Man’s award-winning dance production, Double Punctum returns to KL

George Town’s annual literary festival is examined against its past history, looking into its evolving nature and political core.

The day finally arrived—it was time to fly. But, as with most big adventures, it wasn’t without its hurdles. From a delayed flight to almost losing my phone at airport security, and enduring menstrual cramps on a six-hour flight, the journey was a test of patience. We took a late-night flight from KLIA via Batik…

Loh Kok Man’s The Bee has transcended language and culture to examine the darkest of humanity and how violence begets violence.

Wild Rice’s ‘Accidental Death of an Activist’ adapts an Italian classic, but can it survive its Singapore-nisation?

Former Arts & Culture writer for The Edge, Elaine Tan ventures into art fluffing in KL, exploring theatre, film, and art through poem.

Malaysian Moon Rohaizan was invited to co-curate the 4th Jeju Biennale. Read how bloody anxious and excited she is from her own words.

The Sisters Soong take a brave new direction telling the story of the famous siblings, but is their irreverance to history their downfall?

by Gabriel Chin Soon Jin On Sunday, October 8th, 2023, audiences were treated to an exhilarating evening of entertainment at the Short + Sweet stand-up comedy & music showcase at KLPAC. The concept was as intriguing as it was ambitious: 23 comedy acts and 12 musical performances took the stage one by one, each given…

by Low Weiyan The tale of Hang Jebat’s dissent against the Melaka Sultanate has often been reduced to a cautionary tale about the consequences of defying the second line of our country’s national pledge: Loyalty to king and country. But what good is loyalty if it merely serves the corrupt or as Jebat would say,…

By Low Weiyan Thirty years on since the closure of its cinemas, Kelantan recently featured its first film festival. Hosted at the Hokkien Huay Kuan Kelantan (Hokkien Association of Kelantan) building in the heart of the city, Pesta Filem Kota Bharu 2023 was born out of a collaboration between Amir Muhammad (Kuman Pictures), publisher Zaidi…