Thoughts on the final Improv Lab @ Findars

Improv Lab normally takes the format of this: three invited artists present their compositions based on improvisation. That's act one. Act two is all three artists putting together a devised performance without rehearsal. You might think this kind of performance is hit or miss, but it's the most exciting performance series in KL right now. Shame that Findars is closing at the end of the month. Improv Lab is hosted by Studio in Cheras KL, in conjunction with Findars Space.

For more event info, see the facebook event here.

I came late and pushed my way into the packed space. I snuck into a nook beside sound artist Goh Lee Kwang. Dancer and lighting designer Shee Hoe was cutting nipples of cloth in the middle of the room. The cloth itself resembled a Singapore flag. My friend noted it also resembled the Nusantara flag, representing the unification of Malaysia, Phillippines, and Indonesia. It would later resemble a grated face or blood confetti.

The performance took the shape of a La Vie en Rose detournement at first. There were some great accidents during this sequence.

The performance by turns burst into a domestic dispute, real tenderness, bad barbershop, a feast, a band of hyenas, a space opera. I saw shades of Buck Rogers, and Bill Hicks' "Rockers against Drugs" bit. At one point, Lena Ang sits on Shee Hoe like a chicken. It drove home the domestic aspect of the whole performance to me. A lot of the notes struck were home notes.

Ang pioneered Butoh in Malaysia. She entered the stage from a diaphanous curtain and brought the speed of the piece closer to syncopated rigor mortis. At some point, a demon flew into her. Maybe it was there all the while. Once Lena seized the scissors from Shee Hoe, it was over. I couldn't stop looking at her.

Act two was a site-specific performance called Sudden Death, devised by theatre practitioner Mark Teh. Audience members were invited to lie still in the shape of Teoh Beng Hock's corpse for the time it takes for a candle to burn out. The rest of the audience watched from a floor above. A garden of Beng Hocks: people lay still for a period, replenished by other people. It created a powerful effect. As if, as an audience member, we accept a certain amount of blame for his death.

I'll post photos tomorrow.

Sympathy for the taxi

Taxis get a bad rap, like in this Star article. Even though I've paid some ridiculous fares in my time, I find myself having to defend taxis to my friends.

I take a lot of taxdis so here's what happens with the new meters, straight from the horse's mouth. To re-calibrate the meter, a taxi driver has to book an appointment with the meter shop. It's RM70 for the service. Although the Star article says that re-calibration takes thirty minutes, it can drag on for the entire day. So, in addition to the RM70 fee, there's the loss of wages for the period the driver's waiting around for the shop guys to get done. Puspakom inspection also takes a day.

So a taxi foregoes wages for at least a day to update his meter. If he or she has commitments, I can understand why there's no rush. Plus, the meter shops are fully booked. There are no meter shops in KL, as far as I know.

Honestly, what do you expect? Meter shops are scarce and don't have the capacity to update a lot of meters in a short period.

Which is to say I sympathize with the taxi driver who asks for the new rate when he's still on the old meter. And I'll probably pay him that rate if he asks for it.