By Aliaa Nur Diyana
GOMBAK, 19 October 2022: The premiere of “Srikandi Tun Fatimah” theatre that centres on a female historical figure, Malay martial arts, and traditional dances has been the ambition of Fauziah Nawi.
The founder of Sanggar Teater Fauziah Nawi (STEFANI) and Director of Srikandi Tun Fatimah, Hajah Fauziah binti Nawi, explained in a conference held on 14 October 2022 that the play is based on the classical work of Hikayat Hang Tuah from Salatus Salatin, a publication of Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka.
She realised that the previous work of Tun Fatimah consisted of spurious facts about her and aimed to amend this through the Srikandi Tun Fatimah play.
It was a challenging process for Fauziah to ensure that Tun Fatimah can come to life as her early initiative towards creating the play, which started from her discussion with Datin Paduka Shuhaimi Baba was unsuccessful.
However, she iterated that fate brought her to the scriptwriter, Ladin Nuawi, and was told that Ladin has a complete script on the story of Tun Fatimah.
In the press conference that was held at IIUM Cultural Centre (ICC) conference room, Ladin Nuawi added that he has been keeping the original script of Tun Fatimah for so long, which can be equivalent to the age of the leading actress of the play, Mhia Farhana who is 16 years old.
Even though the original script has to be altered, the collaboration between the IIUM Centre For Arts & Cultural Sustainable Development (CiTRA) and STEFANI means a lot to him.
“I visited Tun Fatimah’s tomb and wondered to myself that someone should recreate her story to maintain our Malay culture,” said Ladin Nuawi.
On top of that, Fauziah elucidated that IIUM can be a strategic venue in uniting students to explore the art of theatre as well as depicting the Islamic elements from the perspectives of Tun Fatimah’s characters and story.
The Head Department of CiTRA, Roslimna binti Mohmmed Saad, expressed that it was an honour for CiTRA to receive a phone call from one of the well-known production houses in Malaysia such as STEFANI to collaborate with the club.
“In two sentences I said, we will make it work and if not, we will try our best,” said Roslimna during the press conference.
She hoped that this collaboration will open up more opportunities for outside theatre productions to work with the IIUM.
Since Malaysia has reached an endemic stage, the audience is welcomed to not wear masks at the theatre venue. However, it is advisable for those who feel unwell to not attend the play to ensure the safety of the students and public.
It has been announced that tickets for special seats on the 29th October have been fully sold out even though there are two weeks more to come before the play.
Students and the public are encouraged to book their tickets before they are sold out.***