By Badrolhisham Bidin

It was one of the performances held in conjunction with the birth of our beloved Prophet. Held at the Muar High School hall, the dark drama was about life after death. I was sitting among the crowd comprising students, teachers and parents, watching the drama unfolding.  Towards the end, everyone was shocked when I started crying and screaming as I ran towards the stage.

What they did not know was that I was one of the cast, I was the one who had that bad dream, screaming towards the supposedly main actor who was to be my father. I actually shed real tears as I sought forgiveness from the “dad”.

When I joined The Malay Mail, it was always work hard and play harder. In between chasing for exclusives and exposes, I took part in several stage shows, including one in front of a more than 1,000 people up in Cameron Highlands to promote a discount card introduced by the company then, earning praises from the man I posed as – the legendary Sudirman Haji Arshad.

So, when my son invited us to watch Bebenang, we were thrilled. The last theatre performance I watched was so long ago that I have even forgotten the title.

Bebenang that was held at Black Box, DPAC in Petaling Jaya, last Aug 6-16, had me glued to my seat the whole time, watching intently at the cast performing.

It depicts the everyday life of Malaysians, how we grumble and complain about everything but if there was any tragedy that befalls any of us, Malaysians from walks of life would quickly offer their hand, or at least a word of encouragement on social media.

It is then not strange that after all the brouhaha over a trivial matter on social media, we would wish our next door neighbours good morning every time we meet up.

The theatre performance, directed by Farah Rani portrays the typical Malaysians with everyone having his grudge and dissatisfaction. Every Malaysian, that represents his race feels he is sidelined or forgotten. But the grudges they have are the actual connections that bind us.

At least that was what my feelings were when I left the hall.

A trivial matter that matters – my wife accidentally left her jacket at an outlet just before the show, found hers safely kept behind the counter by the kind cashier.

The motorist who waited patiently as we tried to make our way out of the narrow parking lot. We are, after all, Malaysians.

Yes, we hear of people getting out of their car with weapons in their hands as soon as we made a wrong turn, a motorcyclist putting up his middle finger even though it was his fault. But life’s like that.

The Bebenang performance featured Anitha Abdul Hamid, Amelia Tan, Jeremy Ang, Han Zalini, Nephi Shaine, Perassath, Sidhart Joe Dev, Sukania Venugopal and Yon Lynn who managed to draw laughter amid the hidden messages they wanted to deliver.

Met after one of the shows, Farah said the timing coincided with the upcoming Merdeka celebration. “But, it was an afterthought, it was not meant to be.”

The 10 performances they held were well received, spurring her to look into bringing it on a nationwide tour.

“Everyone loved it. It spurs me to bring it to a wider audience. It is not just in time for the 69^th Merdeka celebration, it is for everyone to ponder any time,” she said.

So, we wait …