Friday November 20, 2009
Language of the birds
By RIZAL JOHAN
CHEE Sek Thim, the director of the Five Arts Centre workshop performance Conference Of The Birds, got involved with the project when he was approached by composer and musical director Johan Othman who wanted to write an opera based on an epic poem.
“We initially wanted to use the Hindu epic Mahabharata, and then it was suggested to us that we try something else because many works have already been based on it. So we decided to base it on the ancient Sufi poem Conference Of The Birds instead,” said Chee in a recent telephone interview from Penang.
Written by 12th century Persian poet Farid ud-Din Attar, Conference Of The Birds describes a group of birds searching for a leader. It is an allegory of a Sufi sheikh or master leading his pupils to enlightenment. The journey of the birds takes them through seven valleys – love, understanding, independence and detachment, unity, astonishment, poverty and nothingness.
Chee Sek Thim at a rehearsal for the production of Conference Of The Birds which is based on a Sufi poem. “It was an exciting proposition for me,” said Chee, who is a member of the Five Arts Centre and an art educator.
Earlier this year, he directed a choral production of the Conference Of The Birds.
“This time around, the performers sing, move and act,” he says.
He described this production as “minimal” – with “no elaborate sets or costumes” – and estimates that there are 50 minutes of music.
“It is a festival-style production which is compact but has the potential to expand,” he said.
“The music is traditional in the sense that it comes out of Europe but it doesn’t sound classical. It has elements of film score from horror films and discordant sounds and the like.”
The director is eager to see what else he can do with the production in the future.
“I hope to move it on to another level and focus on other aspects of performance.”
Conference Of The Birds will be staged today and tomorrow at 8.30pm, and on Nov 22, 3pm, at Wawasan Open University, Theatre 1, Level 5, Penang. Entry by donation: RM20 (adults) and RM10 (students). Tickets available at Sentuhan, 90 Armenian Street (016-473 3483), Penang Heritage Trust, 26 Lebuh Gereja (04-264 2631) or James Lochhead (016-484 6042). For more information, go to fiveartscentre.org.
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