In Atomic Jaya, uber-talented theater veterans Claire Wong and Karen Tan endeavor to act out the roles of all 16 characters. With the play’s satirical take on Malaysian politics and a fictitious storyline about the country’s desire to build an atomic bomb, the performance is entertaining and witty to say the least, especially when you consider the play was written 15 years ago. Since Atomic Jaya is largely based on Malaysia’s heyday of expansion and development, the desire to build a bomb depicts these ambitions.
Delivering their lines with effortless comic timing was the highlight of the show, bringing on knee-slapping laughs from the audience. While skillfully weaving in and out of the various characters, they managed to keep in mind the accents and dispositions of each individual character, among which included an eccentric German uranium smuggler and a melodramatic Indian physicist.
Perhaps surprisingly, the plot is still relevant to this day and could work well due to the generally harmless rivalry between Singapore and Malaysia. We did however, wonder how our peers in Malaysia would react to the performance. In an exclusive interview with I-S magazine, Huzir Sulaiman—playwright and director of Atomic Jaya—says without hesitation, “It was written with a lot of love, and it fundamentally celebrates Malaysian-ness in all its hilarious and crazy forms.” (read: Huzir Sulaiman’s full interview)
Atomic Jaya runs till November 1 at SOTA Drama Centre. Tickets at $40 from Sistic.
