Malaysian Society: MNight Director

I could show you pictures of my solo backpacking trips in Europe and my weeks-long volunteering in the rural areas of Borneo. And I could tell you all the crazy stories that happened there; from getting lost in the snowy mountains of the Dolomites, exploring the hidden gems of Kampung Teringai Darat with local villagers, and spending nights on the streets of Southampton.

But narrating my own experiences would not do justice to the profoundness of the stories itself. Just like how listening to your friend's love story isn't as profound as experiencing and feeling love of your own.

So, if there's love in our story, then let the audience feel love!

And if it's inspirational, let them be inspired!

I wish to make UCL MNight a show where we can shape new perspectives. And not only so that we could understand, but also so that we could experience the new and different perspectives.

For that understanding and experiencing others' perspectives will bridge the differences between ourselves 🤍

With nearly 10 years of professional vocal training, improv clubs and even more time spent onstage and helping out backstage, performing arts is an unfeigned passion of mine. Delving into the production side of theatre has always been my dream, and I believe that running for MNight Director is the perfect medium for my ambition.

From my experience with MNight 2023, I understand that everyone enters with varying skill levels; I wish to use my decade of stage performance, improvisational knowledge and general volunteering experience as a teacher to introduce pre-planned lessons on specific techniques to the cast members. I aim to have fun activities on improv, stage movement and teamwork to encourage creativity and experimentation from the cast.

To further expose non-Malaysian audiences to our culture, I wish to further incorporate specific architectural and art elements into set design, publicity materials and costuming to create a unique and distinct atmosphere. I plan to contact experts on specifically East Malaysian culture and conduct my own research on these topics to ensure an accurate representation of an underrepresented community.

I believe that a director should encompass the originality of a creator, the patience of an educator, and the skills of a performer in order to bring to life an original yet realistic vision — one that allows the performing artists, the production team or the audience themselves to create the best possible memories that MSoc has to offer.

Initially, I was only interested in becoming a director because of my script idea, and it wasn’t until I had a conversation with someone close to me that truly transformed my perspective on this role.

From the beginning, I was under the impression that I was surrounded by people I didn’t think I could connect with; it never really felt like home for me, bearing in mind I have (evidently) lived my entire life here and not in Malaysia. I was consciously exposing myself to new people, and to a new culture. I thought I wouldn’t fit in, and I felt that way when it came to auditioning. Little did I know that leaving my comfort zone was the best part of it all.

When I met the cast, the lovely directors and the producers, I realised something crucial - Mnight is not about singing, not about dancing, and not about the story. It’s about the experience you can craft for everyone, be it an actor, singer, dancer, or even your friends who are attending just to make you laugh on stage. Taking part in Mnight was an experience like no other and it's an experience I urge everyone to have, regardless of whether you've acted before or have no interest. Perhaps the real Mnight was the friends we made along the way.

I sincerely wish, as Mnight Director I can make a profound and transformative impact on you as you’ve done for me. Because at the end of the day, this isn't my story, it's OURS, so lets chase the future and leave the past - it's not too much to ask!