Kee Thuan Chye up close and personal

Meeting with Kee Thuan Chye in person is a new experience to me as I had never sees a writer up close, especially a well-known writer like him. When he first arrive at the hall, the first question that I want to ask him is how in the world that he can come up with the great play like THE SWORDFISH, THEN THE CONCUBINE. He looks like ordinary people but his mind is unthinkable.

Looking at the time, it’s almost 12 o’clock and the person we are waiting for is not here yet. I was getting curious and finally the most awaited person came through the back door (well, the back door is the main door). Looking at his figure, (especially his hair) he must be thinking a lot in order to perfect his work of the play. He also carries a few books that he wrote to sell to anybody that is interested with his work.

During the forum (or is it meeting), he mentioned that he had changed the play that we were reading, especially after the performance in Singapore. He has added a few situations in the play and delete a few as the play talks about the phenomena that happened in real life.

When Marklin asked the significance of Ris Kaw and Logod, he explained that they are spell backwards as the real name for them is Wak Sir and Dogol. Hearing his answer make me laugh as I also tends to speaks like that (Dogol become Logod) and I cannot figure out the significance of the name until he explained. The explanation given by him made we wonder, can become a good writer like him (in your dream).

Meeting Kee Thuan Chye has opened my mind to think outside of the box (though usually always like that). A good writer need to creative in order to catch readers’ attention especially during crucial time when the message is conveys. Not everyone can do that. Only those that have experience in writing can be a good writer (there are some that is good).