By Ahmed Wafi RashidÂ
GOMBAK, 5Â October 2015: The long awaited English Language, Linguistics and Literature Students Association (ELITS) theatre night finally came to life on this wonderful night as three different production houses were given the opportunity to showcase their adaptations of Shakespearean plays including “Hamlet”, “Much Ado about Nothing” and “Romeo and Juliet”.
The organising committee managed to sell all their tickets and it was full house tonight in the Main Auditorium as the audience took their seats before the play began at 8 p.m.
As tradition dictates, the nights agenda started with the recitation of surah al-Fatihah and prayers made asking for our Lord to bless the night and grant ease for everything that was planned. Not just students filled the hall but lecturers and proud parents were also among the audience. One of the notable lecturers who was present on the night was the well-loved Mr. Nazriq Ahmad, lecturer of English at the Centre of Foundation Studies. The programme manager, Muhammad Afiq then delivered a welcoming speech followed by a speech by Mr. Mazlan, the advisor of ELITS.
The first production house to take the stage was the Silver Spades which performed their adaptation of Hamlet, a story of deceit and betrayal. The performance had a dark, gloomy vibe to it and the actors and actresses seemed to practice their evil laughter to perfection which in turn had the audience laughing. Hopefully, they were laughing with them and not at them. It was an exceptional performance considering this is Silver Spades debut performance.
The second performance of the night was by All Nighter production house with their adaptation of “Much Ado about Nothing”, a romantic comedy set around a modern Malay group of friends who are about to get married and encounter different challenges along the way. The charming actors and actresses managed to woo the crowd and had them laughing from the get go.
The old saying goes ˜save the best for last and the honour of the third and final play of the night belonged to Amigos productions with their adaptation of “Romeo and Juliet”. Obviously, Amigos had made a lot of changes from the original script and if one didnt know any better, one would have thought that this was their original play. Everyone knows “Romeo and Juliet” to be a story of two young people madly in love but are forbidden from seeing each other due to rivalries between their families. This was exactly the case in this adaptation except that the story took place in India. The ending of the story was far different from how most of us remembered it.
Actor Alif Azizan credited the success of his play to the Amigos family saying “without these guys, I wouldn’t be where I am today.”
He later added, “It’s priceless to be part of this family.” He expressed his excitement to work with them again in the near future.
The crowd of almost 600 burst into a round of applause for the hard work put in by all those involved including cast, crew and the organising committee. We sure look forward to whatever ELITS have in store for us!***