Front Row

From Wawasan 2020 in 1991 to Transformasi Nasional 2050 in 2017, Malaysians have been given several versions of their future as a developed nation. In theatre production “Version 2020”, five performers present alternative visions of Malaysia’s future by combining fact and fiction, and by leaping between the past and present. The creators of the show talk about how it was put toge...

A brand new theatre company is staging its first public production, a tale about bullies and the bullied. The company, which bills itself as one with “big dreams” and with the desire to “change the world for the better” is focusing on an issue that has been headlined as a problem in schools. Get a view into this theatre company, and in the midst of a slew of offerings of a...

The problems women face in the workplace often remain unseen. “Invisible Women” is an art exhibition based on stories collected online of gender discrimination in the workplace. Organised by the Women’s Aid Organisation, the exhibition turns the stories and statistics of gender discrimination into art, visualising issues that are often discussed in abstract terms. See omnystudio....

In How Are You? I Am Well, Malaysian artist Chang Yoong Chia begins to tell the story of how and why he became an artist. Reaching back to childhood memories, he presents a new body of paintings, drawings, sketches and poems that explore the transformative magic of making art, and the relationship between the real world and the artistic imagination. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy informat...

Fresh off performing with Taiwanese-Canadian guitarist Denis Chang in a programme of ‘Gypsy Jazz’, our guest takes us on a tour of this music, unpacking to reveal its roots and the contemporary influences that give it its distinctive sound. And for those of us who missed the performance, catch some of that music. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Created in Paris, the Festival du Féminin offers interactive, creative workshops guided by an array of facilitators. Among them are therapists, lecturers, writers, shamans, dancers, painters, singers, energetic healers, coaches, midwives and wise women. They aim to share and convey their deep experience to empower women to trust and follow their own path to reach their essence, their deepes...

From the best-selling picture book by award-winning children's author, Oliver Jeffers, the simple story of true friendship in 'Lost and Found' comes to life with puppetry, songs and music. The show will be performed by Little Blue Monster Productions (creator of “Dogs Don’t Do Ballet” and “The Selfish Crocodile” stage shows). We find out how the story is being transpo...

Poetry and theatre are part of the same discipline, and yet there's often a perceived division between the two. Can we argue that all theatre is, in one sense at least, poetry performed? Seasoned theatre practitioner of KL Shakespeare Players and BFM’s own Lim Soon Heng weighs in on this contentious topic. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Kuala Lumpur Biennale 2017 exhibition which kicked off late last year, celebrates the theme of "Beloved", and features works by 114 individuals from across the continents, consisting of 103 artists from Malaysia and 11 international artists. The exhibition consists of specially-curated selections spanning several eras, and includes paintings and installations encapsulated within five pillars,...

A fundraising concert recital in aid of Cancer Research Malaysia, An Evening with the KL Piano Trio and Tunku Sara Ahmad, promises a mix of classical and contemporary pieces. We find out more about the concert in store from Prof. Dato' Dr. Tunku Sara Binti Tunku Ahmad Yahaya, the vocalist for the performance. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A theatre company is taking a storytelling performance to public primary schools. Our guests tell about the birth of this initiative and what happens when the performances are executed in school halls. Students share what they gathered from participating in the performance and teachers share their thoughts. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Ketika Bumiku Menari is a contemporary dance performance to highlight how humans are causing natural catastrophes and other disasters. Promising dance works designed to help the us all realize that the earth is demanding better conservation, the performance features a diverse group of performers. We find out more from choreographer/ dancer Rithaudin Abdul Kadir, and choreographer/ dancer Foo Chi W...

With the tagline "thinking and talking about arts and culture in Southeast Asia," ArtsEquator.com is a non-profit company, created by Kathy Rowland and Jenny Daneels, who co-founded the pioneering arts website Kakiseni (2001 – 2009). Bringing together information, articles, events and ideas from Southeast Asia, Arts Equator aims to understand how people, place, policy, money, theory, history...

Ahmad Fuad Osman is a multi-disciplinary artist who works predominantly in installation and paintings and is perhaps best known for being a member of the famed Matahati collective. After a long absence from the scene – his last solo exhibition was in 2007 - Fuad returns with Primitive" which promises to be a gritty, visual documentation of current day events. He, together with the exhibition...

Find out why a local playwright, Mark Beau De Silva, decided, at least on the surface of things, to pen a Malaysian version of  ‘Priscilla, Queen of the Desert’.  Is the story of the struggling artist, regardless of national boundaries, the same, except for personal details? We also find out from the all-male cast and the director why men in drag--like ‘Men in Tutus&rsq...

"Heartbreak Hotel" is a group exhibition featuring the works of emerging artists, Ibnu Alfadli Othman, Jun Kit, and Mark Tan. Scheduled to coincide with Valentines Day, we find out more about the themes explored in this exhibition with the three artists. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Our producer sneaked into the first local performance of the Handlebards’ all-female cast of Shakespeare’s ‘As You Like It’. He captured some of the moments, as tasters, for you and then spoke the cast right after. The format of the show, four actors playing all the roles (in excess of 24 characters), lends to the inescapable physical humour of being in more than one suit--...

Dr Sakthi is a medical practitioner and musician who released his debut album, PULSE, in November last year. Pulse, which is described as a "quantum dancehall experience" is the culmination of Dr. Sakthi's 16 years in music. He joins us to discuss his vision in the combined field of music and medicine, and how music can be a tool for therapy. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We find out more about this charity fundraiser concert, which Malaysian-born/ Perth-based composer Nick Choo is putting together in aid of his own brother. Among those performing are Anrie Too, Dominic Lucien Luk, Peter Ong and Tria Aziz, performing songs from Nick's musicals "The Edge", "Follow The Light", "Dreaming Outside The Box" and much more. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy informati...

First composed in 2010, this evolved work, ‘Space Age: The Phantom Power’, premiered in that same year under the title ‘Space Age: A Journey like Never Before’. Two years later in 2013, with our guest on the theremin, the work was revised and performed with four other Malaysian musicians. Now before they depart to perform in Japan, the composer and producer take us through...

Talking about the ‘Golden Era of Malayan Music’, which is music of the 1940s and 1950s. The singer and composer tell about the legends of the era which celebrated those on the stage like Kamsani and Nona Asiah, and composers like Ahmad Jaafar and Osman Ahmad. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Perak-born artist reveals his sense of humor describing his solo exhibition which is dominated by a mud totem, and four photographic works, titled tongue-in-cheek, ‘Lone Ranger’, ‘Dynamic Duo’, ‘Magnificent Three’ and ‘Brilliant Four’. These light-box duratrans prints depict paddy farmers of Perak as superheroes in their fight against giant monst...

Two artists--one from Syrian and the other from Afghanistan--without any status recognised in our country tell about the importance of theatre in the lives of people displaced by war and other conflicts. They share how their personal experiences inform their productions in the double bill ‘Impossible Love’. They also express their desire to help Malaysians have a better appreciation of...

Our guests tell how two magical worlds slip into each other in the creation of ‘Mak Yong Titis Sakti’. In the conversation Norzizi Zulkifli, a theatre instructor at a public university, details which Shakespeare plays allow themselves for a marriage with Mak Yong and which are more difficult or perhaps nigh impossible. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

‘OCD’ is a devised physical theatre piece exploring what it’s like living with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. What does it do to a person and the people around them? How does one fight these intrusive thoughts? And how does one cope out there? The director herself has Tourette’s Syndrome, anxiety disorder, attention deficit disorder and, of course, OCD. She and the cast sha...