Past Performance

The Murder Game Poster

The Murder Game

by Constance Cox

Date/s: 12th, 13th, 14th May 2023

Synopsis

Brian and Sheila’s comfortable life is unraveling as their marriage crumbles. One day, Brian invites a stranger in for a drink. Realizing the truth of Brian’s domestic situation, he suggests a plan for murder. Brian agrees, but soon regrets it.

Director
Adrian Chang

Actors
Fariza Ariffin.....Sheila
Rachel Yeoh.....June
Arunen.....Brian
Derick Tan.....Gerry

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A Couple of Secrets Poster

A Couple of Secrets

by David Tristram

Date/s: 13th, 14th, 15th May 2022

Synopsis

Marriage & Infidelity on Stage.  A COUPLE OF SECRETS, an adult comedy drama on love, marriage, and infidelity.  In this play, adapted from David Tristram‘s The Opposite Sex, the pasts of couples Mark and Vicky, and Judith and Eric, come crashing back to haunt them. Fate intervenes at a chance meeting between the characters, on which could have made for a pleasant evening. But it is not long before what should have been a friendly dinner party turns into a social nightmare. As it starts to become clear what the common denominator between them is, the air soon becomes thick with insults, black eyes, and broken china. As Pandora’s box unfolds, that once opened does not want to be closed, and the plot must run its hilarious course to its inevitable ending.

Directed by Lawrence Chin, a well-known theatre practitioner in Penang, and staged at Wawasan Open University.

Director
Lawrence Chin

Actors
Rachel Yeoh.......Vicky
Adrian Chang.......Eric
Fariza Ariffin.......Judith
Ian Lee.......Mark

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A Plague Upon Your House Production Poster

A Plague Upon Your House

Date/s: 4th, 5th, 6th March 2022

Synopsis

The Plague is back in London, killing people and destroying livelihoods. Only the powerful bureaucracy, religious hierarchy and the Order of Physicians seem to thrive. The London City Council, charged with bringing the plague under control, takes the route of strict lockdowns on most public venues including theatres.

Upcoming playwright-impresarios Will Shakespeare and Ben Jonson are not taking it lying down. Ben lobbies the Council to allow theatre to operate, even if under stifling conditions. Will aggressively pursues other avenues to keep his theatre company afloat by writing racy lyrical poems and romances for his steadiest patrons and even offering them his family-recipe remedy for the plague.

When a member of his company gets infected, Will at considerable danger to himself offers the last of his supply of the remedy to his infected actor-friend. Will too eventually falls victim, and is on his death-bed when a gipsy Esmeralda arrives from Stratford with a fresh batch of the medicine.

This meeting catches the attention of High Spirits Khaliban and Ariela whose charter includes non-interventionist trend-spotting on human societies devastated by the Black Death 300 years ago.
Waiting upon humans to break through out of their plaque-encrusted legacy institutions that are gradually being dismantled by repetitive plagues, the High Spirits clash when they experience Will’s plague-enhanced mind.

 

Director
Jay Menon

Dance Director
Khoo Jen Leong

Choreographers
Havela D. and Sylvia

Music Coordinator
Nick Pagan

Actors
Lord Mayor… Prabah Ramdass
Councillor Cromwell… Joe Napoli
Physician Cauchy… Sharmila Kana
Bishop Becket… Christopher Miley
Ben Johnson… Philip Yeoh
Will Shakespeare… Ivan Gabriel
Orlando… Jen Leon
Edwina… Diana Saw
Diana… Sheryl Lee
Diana’s Mother… Monica Mohan
Diana’s Father… Jay Menon
Khaliban… Garu Rumon
Ariela… Ida Suhaimi
Esmeralda… Afifa Hanafiah

Dancing Imps
Havela D. & Sylvia

Singer
Tatiana Breger

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Memes Poster

Memes: A Love Story

Date/s: 28th, 29th, 30th June 2019

Synopsis
A group of friends find themselves in circumstances that lead them to pair off two of their acquantances. We discover that there are forces that are interested in the potential that exists between these two. The meme-masters are at work.

Link [Opens in new window/tab]: Jayaram GK Menon, Playwright & Director, interviewed on Traxxfm - 5th August 2019

 

Director
Jay Menon

Choreographer
Luvenia Kalia (Studio Pentas)

Dance Director
Aida Redza (studio Pentas)

Music Director
Jerome Quah

Actors
Alex Ward, Xin Er, Sebastien Romero, Rachel Yeoh, Ivan Gabriel, Hasina, Roshini Chandran, Lawrence Chin, Sharmen Glenn, Ida Suhaini, Jay Menon, Lucille Dass, Esther Kuan, Audrey Kholti.

Singers
Adli Nasrul, Andre Cremnitz, Julio Geronimo, Philip Yeoh, Roshini Chandran, Monica Mohan, Kamal Chopra.

Dancers
RJ Franklin, Khoo Jen Leon, Anastasia Usik, Neoh Kahi Juin, Chee Jo Anne, Joy Ong, Charmrath Aroonratana, Gary Eng, Esther Khoo, Michelle Cheah, Jordan Sivapatham, Pawan Jaiswal, Kenji Ooi.

Musicians
GQ, Lim Yuin Shing, Eugene Ong, Lee Jia Wen, Lyana Cremnitz.

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St. Joan

Date/s: 10th March 2019

Synopsis

For the annual Irish Association’s St Patrick’s Festival  PP quite swiftly chose Bernard Shaw’s St Joan. An excerpt from the play was chosen- a conversation  between St Joan and Captain Robert de Baudricourt, a military squire.  In the scene, the Captain quizzes Joan on her determination to fight the English against tremendous odds. The conversation reveals the power of Joan in her confidence to rally the French soldiers to defeat the English.

It is a scene which we have all come across in various guises in life. It is the classic encounter between business as usual and risky, creative endeavour. The heart of the play can be felt in these 7 minutes of dialogue.

 

 

Director
Jay Menon

Actors
Frederique Gaveau & Jay Menon

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Three Days of Rain

by Richard Greenberg

Date/s: 27 & 28th October 2017

Synopsis

To celebrate their 25th anniversary, Penang Players Music & Drama Society presented Richard Greenberg's Three Days of Rain.

Spanning two generations, Three Days of Rain is a heart-warmnig, and sometimes tragically funny, examination on family connections and the inherent loneliness of being human. It is unexpectedly Greenberg's romantic family story in the guise of a love story.

A year after he disappeared on the day of his father's funeral, Walker Janeway returns to New York. He takes up temporary residence in the unused space where thirty-five years earlier, his father, Ned, and Ned's late partner, Theo, lived and designed the great house that would make them famous. Sleepless and emotionally jangled, Walker scours the old empty space for clues to a tortured family history. Discovering his father's journal hidden under the bed, he finds it as forthcoming as his nearly silent father had been. Walker is joined by his sister, Nan, and their friend from childhood, Pip, Theo's son, to hear the reading of Ned's will. It is there that Walker forces the confrontation that the others need.

W;t-front

 

Director
Christopher Preslar

Actors
Tan Seoh Chen…Vivian Bearing
Christopher Preslar….Dr Jason Posner
Anna Tan….Susie Monahan
Philip Yeoh…Harvey Kelekian
Lucille Dass….Evelyn E.M. Ashford
Chris Culver… Lab Technician/Student/Resident
Ivan Gabriel …. Lab Technician/Student/Resident
Farah Jasani …. Lab Technician/Student/Resident

W;t

by Margaret Edson

Date/s: 16th, 17th June 2016

Synopsis
W:t, a play written in 1991 by Margaret Edson, made its world premier in 1995, in California. It was adapted into a movie for television which won several Emmy awards and was nominated at both the Screen Actor's Guild and Golden Globes. W;t is as relevant today (if not more so) in our hectic, insular, ivory tower lives, where technology substitutes human interaction and striving for excellence tramples all else.

The protagonist, a renowned professor, is forced to reassess her life when suddenly she is no longer in control. She reflects on her life through the intricacies of the English language and her talent for wit and, ultimately realises that hope lies in kindness alone.

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Four Play & Pastiche

Date/s: 22nd, 23rd November 2013

Synopsis

FOUR PLAY by Colin Smith

The setting is a perfectly ordinary evening with hosts David and Caroline and their guests Helen and Edward enjoying a dinner party.
A perfectly ordinary evening in suburbia until we realise that David is having an affair with Helen and Caroline knows all about it. Once the cat is out of the bag there is no way to stop the evening developing into a battle ground of recriminations, explanations and cruel home truths. Cleverly written by Colin Smith, the play is a study of modern adultery with a dash of dark humour.

PASTICHE by Nick Hall

Sir Peter has planned a dinner for two. His companion is Viola, a young chorus girl. But he's forgotten it;'s his wedding anniversary - his wife, Lady Alexandra come home early and aided by butler, Medford, turns Sir Peter's evening into shambles. The machinations verge on farce but the question is - will they succeed?

Four Play

Director: Jay Menom

Actors
Caroline.......Melissa Wong
David.......Adrian Chang
Helen.......Sangita Bhattacharjee
Edward.......Jezzdin Carr

Pastiche

Director: Jay Menon

Actors
Lady Alexandra.......Melinda Jacob
Viola.......Angelena Wright
Medford.......Jon Ong
Sir Peter.......Narinder Shadan

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Delinquent Domestics (2013)

Delinquent Domestics

Date/s: 10th, 11th May 2013

Synopsis

As You Were by Jonathan Nestroy
Michael and Helena Hoffmann lead nearly woe-free lives until hired help enters! See the clashes and misunderstandings between them and their hired help providing a witty portrait of amorous chaos, evasion and duplicity that comes full circle.

Two Wits to Woo by John Kelly
When Winsome Manor encounters financial difficulties, the widowed Lady Winsome decides to sack long-standing help Joe and James. With illicit dealings to cover up, the two desperately attempt to prevent that. Little do they know that Lady Winsome has a few surprises up her sleeves!

As You Were
Director: Jay Menon

Actors
Adrian Chang.......Hoffmann
Saw Jin Jin.......Helena
Lim Yao Han.......Muffet
May Kung.......Josie

Two Wits to Woo
Director: Jay Menon

Actors
Lucille Dass.......Lady Winsome
Abdul Raqib Karim.......Joe
Philip Yeoh.......James

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Underneath the Lintel (2011)

Underneath the Lintel

by Glen Berger

Date/s: 11th December 2011

Synopsis

Synopsis : A library book is returned 113 years overdue. Is it just an overdue book or a challenge? Will the librarian recognize a miracle if she saw one? Will you? Follow her as she bravely attempts to unravel the many puzzles in this twisty mystery of tale.

Director: Jay Menon

Actor
Shamila Ariffin

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