Natrah

Managed to organise a trip to Istana Budaya with Big Boss last Wednesday night to watch Natrah, our first theatre night out as man and wife (is that even relevant eh?). I was quite excited about it quite frankly, since the last play I saw was P Ramlee the musical and that felt like years ago since I couldn't even remember when it was exactly.

Furthermore, I was truly fascinated with the Natrah story when I was in primary, even went to libraries to search for the related newspaper articles back then. Yes, I already started indulging myself into history, politics and current issues when I was only 5-6 years old (sad, I know) and only switched to science after form 3 (for reasons still unknown to me considering that I hate biology and physics). So, to get a chance to revisit the history through a musical play was something that I wouldn't want to miss especially when I managed to secure third-row-from-the-stage seats. Bulu hidung pun boleh nampak ok!

My verdict? The play wasn't as good as I hoped it would be especially when it was loaded with well-known personalities like Maya Karin, Umi Aida, Sofea Jane, Remy Ishak, Aaron something (can't remember his full name) Susan Lancaster etc. I think, only Maya Karin, Umi Aida, Sofea Jane and Susan Lancaster managed to relay the emotions of their characters well. Bearing in mind that the Natrah tragedy is supposed to be emotionally-charged, I didn't even shed a tear during the play (and I did at P Ramlee the musical!)

Oh well.

Anyway, if you're interested to read more on Natrah, here's an interview with Datin Fatini (the author who wrote Natrah @ Nadra @ Huberdina Maria Hertogh @ Bertha : Cinta, Rusuhan, Air Mata) published in Kosmo, or of course, you can just search for the entry on the subject in Wikipedia.


A picture of Natrah aka Maria Hertogh with Che Aminah (dicilok from Wikipedia)