Venue : Dewan Auditorium Tunku Abdul Rahman
Malaysia Tourism Center, 109, Jalan Ampang Kuala Lumpur
Date & Time : Fri 29 Feb – Tue 4 Mar 2008 (8.31pm, with an additional 3pm show on Sun)
Tickets : RM30/ RM20
Synopsis : A tribute to the late, great Tun V.T Sambanthan, starring Mano Maniam,
Dato’ Jalaluddin Hassan, Dr. Peter Low Meng Tuck and others.
Written
and directed by S.T. Bala and presented by Fenomena Seni Pentas, Istana
Budaya and the Ministry of Culture, Arts and Heritage Malaysia.
*Admission is for those aged 12 & above only.
S.T. Bala, the writer and director of the play, has 18 years’ experience directing and producing Tamil plays but in a recent interview, he related how Sambanthan, his 19th production with Fenomena Seni Pentas, made him feel like he was just starting out.
“Directing and writing Sambanthan felt like I was doing my very first play,” Bala laughed. “A lot of work and effort went into this production. Casting was a very difficult process and the script was challenging as well because we had to get all the facts right.”
Telling Sambanthan’s entire life story within a two-hour play is daunting but Bala had the help of the late leader’s family for the research that he needed. Finding the actors – there are five actors including theatre stalwart Mano Maniam to portray Sambanthan during various periods in his life – proved the most difficul
