Tales from Amma’s Kitchen 老媽廚房軼事

Tales from Amma's Kitchen is an English show, staged in Kuala Lumpur Performing Arts Centre andIt Performing Arts Centre of Penang in 2018. It was well received by audience of all races including the expat community. The show was fully sold out in Kuala Lumpur and almost a sold out in Penang for its entire run.

Tales from Amma's Kitchen is a collection of ten interconnected short tales featuring a loving Indian mother who has her hands full dealing with the affections of the amorous Uncle Muthu, her son’s Chinese girlfriend who (to her horror!) does not like curry; and her three children – recently divorced Gayathri, unmarried Jyothi and the unemployed Raju. Other characters include Bunga, Amma’s Indonesian maid and Shahbudeen, a Pakistani foreign worker who encounters the colourful family.

While presenting humorous, poignant and thought provoking stories based on Amma’s family, Tales from Amma's Kitchen touches many topics which could relate well with the Malaysian society such as racial discrimination, homosexuality, hypocrisy, dowry practice, foreign labour, abuse of domestic helpers, divorce and feminism.

 

Reviews

 

A Fundraising Project

This project is aimed at raising fund to assist the Performing Arts Centre of Penang (penangpac) to sustain its operation. It is a well-known fact that penangpac has been badly hit by the Covid-19 pandemic. Although they are back in operation early this month after shutting down temporarily for almost three months, things hasn’t been looking too good for them.

As a not for profit organisation, penangpac has been struggling with financial loss for years. However, the financial crisis caused by Covid-19 pandemic is a big blow to the only performing arts centre in the Northern Region of Peninsula Malaysia.

The survival of penangpac at the moment depends on donations. Big Nose Productions aim to raise as much funds as possible to keep penangpac afloat until it is able to operate at its full capacity. At the moment, with SOPs and public’s fear of going back to theatre, penangpac is still struggling to recover from its financial crisis.

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關於演出

《老媽廚房軼事》為之前在吉隆坡表演藝術中心以及 2018 年在檳城表演藝術中心上演的英語系列短劇，當時深受馬來西亞各族觀眾甚至外籍觀眾的好評。此劇在吉隆坡與檳城上演之時幾乎一票難求。

《老媽廚房軼事》中收錄了十個相互關聯的英語短劇，講述一位充滿愛心的單親印度老媽如何處理為她癡迷的情郎姆都、她兒子那不喜歡咖哩的華裔女友（她最大的夢魘），以及她那三位兒女 – 即將離婚的大女兒加雅媂、遲遲未婚的次女佐媂，還有待業家中的小兒子拉祖的種種狀況。其他角色包括老媽的印尼女傭武雅以及不小心走進這個多姿多彩家庭的孟加拉外勞沙武丁。

《老媽的廚房軼事》以引人發笑並發人省思的方式來呈現老媽家中發生的種種雞毛蒜皮事，並帶出馬來西亞社會對種族歧視、同性戀、偽善衛道、嫁妝風俗、外籍勞工、虐待女傭、離婚與女性主義等課題的觀點。

籌款活動

這個活動目的在於為檳城表演藝術中心籌措款項來維持運作。眾所周知，檳城表演藝術中心深受新冠肺炎疫情打擊，雖然該中心在暫停運作三個月後已經向公眾開放，中心依然面對嚴峻的狀況。

作為非為營利的組織，檳城表演藝術中心這些年虧損連年，但新冠肺炎疫情所造成的財務危機將會給這北馬唯一表演藝術中心帶來致命打擊。