Pesta Raya 2015: Yusof is more than history lesson on stage

SINGAPORE - Director/playwright Zizi Azah bte Abdul Majid’s Yusof, presented as part of Pesta Raya, The Esplanade’s Malay festival of arts, is an intimate and refreshing look at the life of Encik Yusof Ishak, Singapore’s first non-royal Yang-Di Pertuan Negara and first President on our independence in 1965.

The play jumps between different points of his life; between his time as President (opening with the celebration of Hari Raya at the Istana Melati house in 1966 and ending with his death in 1970); the days of his youth; his quarrels and interactions with his two brothers; and his struggles as the managing director of the newspaper Utusan Melayu in 1959.

As the titular character, actor Sani Hussin comes across initially as personable, if not quite commanding or charismatic enough to play the rabble-rouser who made grand public speeches to drum up monetary support for establishing Utusan. He shines, though, in two consecutive scenes in the second half of the play: The first, when as President, he expresses his frustration and anger at having his power to grant clemency to those on death row taken away from him in a private moment with his wife; and the second, when he and Tunku Abdul Rahman stage their final showdown over ownership of and the editorial direction of Utusan.

Sani’s depiction of Yusof’s outrage, frustration and disgust with himself against actor Najib Soiman’s slow, plodding but stubborn take at the Tunku makes for gripping viewing and culminates in the high dramatic point of the play, where Yusof stands by his refusal to write and publish an editorial about the Malaysian Elections Commission and finally resigns as managing director and editor of the newspaper in protest.

Versatile actress Siti Khalijah is a delight as Yusof’s wife Noor Aishah, convincingly depicting a country bumpkin who never left the shores of Penang (and who is astounded when she arrives in Singapore to find that Yusof’s house has neither electricity nor working toilets). She gradually grows into her role as First Lady and a leader of the Malay people in her own right.

Najib Soiman and Erwin Shah Ismail offer solid support, playing various roles - as Yusof’s brothers, his father as well as journalist and one of the founders of the PAP, Samad Ismail, in turn. Dalifah Shahril and Farah Ong take on multiple roles too, as members of Yusof’s extended family. But it is their comical turns as the squabbling fictional Utusan journalists that carried the most laughs of the evening.

In eschewing linear storytelling and focusing on Yusof’s personal and family life, the play is a marked departure from the productions which have focused exclusively on presenting the grand arc of Singapore’s journey, at the expense of breathing life into, and turning a nuanced eye on, the main characters populating that story.

In contrast, Zizi Azah’s portrays Yusof as a man with an education dearly bought and ambition keenly fostered by his father; a man with family, history, past, setbacks and flaws. And, while the play never quite reaches the emotional highs it aims for - first with its portrayal of the death of Yusof’s mother; and later Yusof’s own - it remains a convincing and touching portrayal of the man behind the portrait staring back at us every day when we look at the dollar bills we hold in our hands.