Got a ticket to the preview performance to new theatre company Laman Artisan's first public production, Kelas Tambahan, at DPAC's Black Box... mostly because it was RM25. Which I'm guessing was why it was sold out and pretty packed on an opening night, which is rare in my own experience. My guess is that everyone else are like friends and family of the cast and crew or something, so it was a little awkward for me as some rando just there for the lolz.
Kelas Tambahan revolves around the brief life of Ikmal and the moments leading to his unfortunate demise. It made little sense to many as to why the body of a seventeen year old was found somewhere as innocent as a school. As investigation were being carried out, it was found that Ikmal's classmates from the extra class were the last few people who saw him alive. However, as the students were being interrogated, the students were not as innocent as they appear. Was there more to Ikmal's death than it seems.
Set in a high school after school class, it's about an investigation into the death of a top student. So there's a lot of flashbacks because half the plot is set in a police station where everyone is giving their statements. If you're familiar with school bullying (one way or the other) and the resulting deaths, it's a nerve touching issue all around because most of us went to school and have either heard of or experienced it in one way or another. It's also in both Malay and English, ratio of 70:30, so I don't know if angmo can watch this or not.
Luckily the cast is young/youthful looking enough to pass off as high school students, so no complaints from me there. (Also, how'd they find uniforms that fit?). The only name I recognise was Timmy Ong, whom I remembered from the Tales from the Bedroom series.
It's two hours long with a 10 (?) minute intermission (we had to leave during intermission, which I get if they were changing the set and didn't want the audience to see, but it didn't look any different when we came back in). It did get to the point I was wondering whether it was winding up or not. The ending made sense, I guess, but we as the audience were told afters not to spoil it.
Honestly, the whole play just reminded me of the RTM1 afternoon dramas that my grandmother (probably still does, to this day) would watch. Or American after school specials. But don't let me stop you from watching if you so desire.
If you want to catch it, it's only happening for 4 more performances this weekend.
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