Huzir Sulaiman (born in 1973) is a Malaysian actor, director and writer.
One of Malaysia's leading dramatists, acclaimed for his vibrant, inventive use
of language and incisive insight into human behavior in general and the Asian
psyche in particular. His plays, often charged with dark humour, political
satire, and surrealistic twists, have won numerous awards and international recognition. He
currently lives in Singapore.
His father is
Haji Sulaiman Abdullah, who was born G. Srinivasan Iyer, a Tamil Brahmin who
later converted to Islam. Sulaiman is a veteran lawyer who served as Malaysian
Bar Council president. His mother is Hajjah Mehrun Siraj, who has served as a
professor, lawyer, consultant for United Nations agencies, NGO activists and a
Commissioner with the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia. For a short time in
the early part of this decade, he hosted an afternoon talk show on WOW FM, a
now-defunct Malaysian radio station.
He is currently married to Claire Wong, a Malaysia-born
Singaporean stage actress.He is best known for his works "Atomic
Jaya", "The Smell of Language", "Hip-Hopera" the
Musical, "Notes on Life and Love and Painting", "Election
Day", "Those Four Sisters Fernandez", "Occupation" and
"Whatever That Is" which have been published in his collection of
"Eight Plays" by Silverfish Books. He also contributes articles to
the Star.
ATOMIC JAYA
Written and directed
by Huzir Sulaiman, this play is a political satire and a broad-based comedy
about Mary Yuen (played by both Karen Tan and Claire Wong), a scientist
recruited by the government of Malaysia to build the country’s first atomic
bomb. With both actresses taking on multiple roles portraying a myriad of
comical and satirical characters that come into her life, Mary Yuen begins to
face self-doubt and conflict as she questions the building of such a bomb.
Sulaiman is known to
have a very observant and analytical take on his subjects and Atomic
Jaya is no different. However, this time around, he also injects
humour – both broad and political – eliciting laughs at the slapstick moments
as well as the witty dialogue.
Sulaiman also directs
both the actresses effectively, at times incorporating a kind of mirror effect
where both actresses are literally speaking the same dialogue, and at times
having the actresses take over each other’s role mid-scene. It is through these
clever techniques that two actresses are able to present to us a full-fledged
play with a variety of quirky characters.
The actresses
themselves, Wong and Tan, both display great skill in portraying no fewer than
a dozen characters between them. Sporting a multitude of accents, mannerisms,
body language, gestures and speech patterns, both actresses bring to life each
and every person they play on stage.
It isn’t every day
that a local play, about local people and local issues, comes along that is as
funny or more so than the best-heralded comedy from the West. All right, the
play is really about our neighbours, whom we in Singapore used to share a
nation with. So there’s a cultural similarity there – and better yet, a reason
for Singaporeans to see a very funny, insightful play that’s ultimately about
themselves.
