ARTS BEYOND DISTANCE SEASON 1
Khairi Anwar
INXO Online Talk Series
Guest Speaker:
Khairi Anwar
About him:
Khairi Anwar is a playwright based in KL mainly with his theatre company, Anomalist Production. His first script, ‘Teater Bangsa: Anak Kecil Main Api’, won Audience’s Choice Award in the 13th BOH Cameronian Arts Award. His second script, which he co-wrote with Nell Hanan, ‘HOME’, toured to Singapore in September 2016. In 2018, his play ‘IQ.Rock’ was staged to critically acclaimed in April, was restaged later in September. IQ.Rock was nominated as Best of 2018 in the 16th BOH Cameronian Arts Award, together with nomination of Best Screenplay and Best Supporting Actor. Khairi co-wrote POHLITHIK with Jamal Raslan in 2019, a story about the power of student movement in Malaysia. Khairi’s scripts has also been nominated short film competition, the BMW Shorties 2018, for ‘Colourful’, and BMW Shorties 2019, for ‘Ralat The Musical’. Khairi strives to tell and write more contemporary Malaysian stories. His latest script in 2020, ‘24 Jam Dalam 37 Tahun’, directed by Christoper Ling under Theatrethreesixy had a full house when it premiered back in March with loads of rave reviews on social media.
About his work:
POHLITHIK
Host:
Tan E-Jan (CEO of INXO Productions)
Date:
11/04/2020 (Wednesday)
Time:
8pm – 9pm
Key Takeaway:
- Khairi started with theatre while studying in law school. He has strong interest and wanted to study film. Most of his favourite actors have theatre background.
- He did not plan to be a playwright. After good reviews of ‘Teater Bangsa’ (his first work), people suggested him to write more.
- Khairi shared about how he started the idea of writing ‘Pohlithik’, how he wanted to bring back student voices in a contemporary way, by connecting the stage with poetry, and his finding through months of research for the script.
- Khairi thought that a good artist will always be an activist, because artists always do research. If they find something not truthful enough for them, they don’t just stop there but keep on digging.
- Khairi always picture a video scene when he reads stuff, and that’s how he writes.
- “A good theatre always left me with questions, not the message of the play but why this happen in the play, and that’s what I’m trying to do with my play.”
- “To be proactive. Join workshops, watch plays and I always approach people who do things in the style that I like.”
- “Keep on writing. My writing has changed a lot over the years. Cannot be too comfortable to say ‘my script is good!’. Keep on writing until you find the moment, when you don’t say anything but saying a lot.”
Podcast download:
Podcast Intro & Outro Music Credit:
ACOUSTIC BREEZE | ROYALTY FREE MUSIC
Composer: Benjamin Tissot
