Comedy Court in JB

Pa, Mommy, Baby, and I went to the 6th JB Arts Festival event - Comedy Court featuring Allan & Indi, at JOTIC yesterday.

We enjoyed ourselves, though I must say that Baby and even I, admittedly, did not get certain jokes, especially where it pertained to specific political events that we were not aware of. It just flew over our heads.

The thing about comedy, whether political satire or pure slapstick, is that it is very much based on social references. This could be a mimetic performance of 'real' situations or people, or a gross caricature of events. Social mores, behavioural antics, bodily gestures and mannerisms, speech, current events, all these are are encapsulated into a 2-hour play and embodied in performance.

The audience has to understand the context for humour to be shared. Cultural references can be made, though theatregoers need to have the savvy - be it linguistic prowess, erudition, or social awareness - to plain get it.

This is in no way a critique of the performance of the power-packed duo. More could definitely be said of their talent, albeit with (perhaps presumptuous?) suggestions for improvement. Their show left me with quite an impression though, which has led me to think about performances as a whole.

My parents really understood and appreciated the humour, and it was good to have all of us go out for an event like this. They perhaps share more than they are willing to admit, which is definitely heartening to see. Another thing which came to our notice, of course, was the fact that the audience was comprised of English speaking Johorians - all older (very few my age, at least), and mostly Indians (the ethnic group is assumed as 'a whole' to being pretty much a consistent warehouse of the English language in Malaysia - Speaking English is a cultural marker in a way).

Of course, ethnic identification is very much a salient point in the discussion of the comedy. It portrayed, after all, the trinity of recognised and institutionalised racial categories in the country - each given its due attention, because one has to tread carefully on this issue after all (Make fun of one, make fun of all. This provides for some semblance of defence atop artistic immunity, no?) A detailed analysis of this would prove too damn tiring for a blog. Some questions frame the viewing of this performance though:-

How do we even recognise or acknowledge the ethnic groups the duo were (re)presenting? What cultural traits were highlighted, satirised, or validated? Is art imitating life? Does this performance, amongst many others, reflect, revert, or reassert social constructions of ethnic identification and identities?

Enough with the academese and pedantic rant. Comedy Court was just damn funny la.