8 June 2006 Thursday

Theatre T27
STARTWO

A few steps forward

ARTSPHERE
By NILUKSI KOSWANAGE

TAGING subversive dramas written

with a British accent have always
been a compelling means for a
theatre company to distinctly emphasize how
far it has artistically evolved. Indeed, the Kuala Lumpur Performing Arts Centres (KLPac)
current staging of Philip Ridleys malevolently
lascivious comedy, The Fastest Clock in the
Universe, does indicate an overarching desire
to display an obvious artistic progression.
The effects of such artistic ambitions are
two-fold. For one, Malaysian audiences have
an opportunity to view a wickedly carnal,
character-driven piece by a rather remarkable
British writer whose work for the stage is
rarely performed in South-East Asia. Just
catching a glimpse of Ridleys brand of
allusive language peppered with caustic
missives performed on stage, already makes
the ticket price seem worth it.
Secondly, such anticipation places director
Joe Hasham and his ensemble cast in an
unenviable position of imposing a distinct
interpretation onto a play, which he has
described as leaving very little, if indeed
anything at all to the imagination (in the
show's programme). Yet, given Hashams
obvious desire to send out clear signals on
how KLPac has been moving along as an
artistic force, The Fastest Clock in the Universe
should be paid close attention to.
The plot, which is deliciously unsavoury,
centres on the goings-on of a rather claustrophobic and shabby apartment shared by an
unlikely couple with memorable names like
Captain Tock (Ari Ratos) and Cougar Glass
(Gavin Yap). As designed by Loo-Jia Wei, the
flat emphasizes Ridleys indulgent homage to
Hitchcock films like The Birds and even Psycho
with stuffed birds that dangle from above the
apartment with only a net to separate them
from the characters below. These birds are
the macabre keepsakes of a sexually and
emotionally-frustrated Captain Tock who
desires for the strangely feline Cougar, who
stalks around the flat bare-bodied and sunglassed in his own intimate sessions with the
tanning lamp.
The tanning sessions prepare Cougar for his
self-serving pleasurable exploits. His youthful
and glowing appearance allows him to celebrate his 19th birthday party every year
where a delightfully unsuspecting young boy
is invited to attend, only to get seduced and
cast off. This evening the birthday present is
Foxtrot Darling (Niki Cheong) who brings
along a surprise of his own in the form of
Sherbet Gravel (Joanna Bessey), his pregnant
Cockney bird (pun intended) who has her
own devious plans.
Hashams direction does not quite maximize the potential in this comedy of power
struggles between master and slave, dominator and dominated. However, it must be
noted that it is difficult to work on Ridleys
plays given his over-fondness in layering and
embellishment. Within The Fastest Clock in the
Universe, the characters have to consistently
keep in check the metaphors of passing time,
narcissism, self-destruction, unrequited
sexual and emotional desires as they try to
out-manoeuvre each other in the apartment.
Nevertheless within the maze of mind-games
spun by the characters, pivotal moments like
the point where Sherbet turns around to
discover her lover getting fumbled at by an
increasingly frustrated Cougar have been
maximized to the intended farcical effect.
Yet, the larger concern is the lack of
chemistry between Ratos and Yap, talented

From left: Niki Cheong,

Ari Ratos, Joanna
Bessey and Gavin Yap
star in The Fastest
Clock in the Universe.
actors who do not seem to relish the
grotesquely painful relationship that their
characters are embedded in. Perhaps that is
the main point but there is no vulnerability
and softness in Yaps contrived show of
indifference and no malicious coat of steel in
Aris bumbling subservience. Instead, the two
over-compensate with physical gestures: Ari
stumbles around while Yap remains rocky
and impassive with moments of rage.
The dynamics of the pairing is slightly
mended by the entrance of Faridah Merican
whose mink-clad Cheetah Bee clearly relishes
the role of soothing Cougars neurosis of
growing old and chiding Captain Tocks petty
childishness. It is a piquant portrayal of a
heavily made-up woman past her prime with
a penchant for liver, which makes much of
what goes around her seem a little
flavourless.
The other pairing of Darling and Gravel in
the play, fairs slightly better. Suitably
outfitted with a school-boy uniform designed
to get Cougar all wild, Cheong stops at
nothing to embellish a charming and
innocent presence, which does correctly
emphasize the jaded and unsatisfied desires
of the flats occupants. Perhaps a more
obvious indication of a repressed desire to
freely explore other sexualities would have
made this performance more delectable.
Bessey, as the main foil to Cougars birthday
wishes, is a brash and screechy Sherbet.
While her Cockney accent is rather jarring,
which must have been very much intended to
annoy and push Cougar to his extremes, there
is a sense that Bessey relies too much on the
accent to get her through the emotional
corners and twists. While she does admirably
in portraying both a cock-sure young woman
who keeps an iron grip on her nave lover and
a formidable foe to Cougar, there is no sense
of pathos, of vulnerability and fear of losing
yet another lover.
If anything, the direction and acting in The
Fastest Clock in the Universe has shown that
KLPac has undergone some level of artistic
evolution. Now it is time to fully explore the
emotional heft and nuance that works like
The Fastest Clock in the Universe demand, in
order to move to a higher level.
The Fastest Clock in the Universe ends its
run this Sunday at KLPac, Pentas 2. Shows start
at 8.30pm; with a 3pm matinee on Sunday.
Ticket prices are RM50 and RM30 (for students,
disabled and senior citizens). For ticketing
information contact KLPac ( 03-4047 9000).