Kee Thuan Chye

Born in 1954 and educated up to tertiary level in Penang, he wrote his formative plays in the early 70's. These plays were leaning towards absurdism, which was influenced by works produced by Beckett, Ionesco and Pinter during his university level education. Some of them had long titles such as Oh, But I Don't Want to Go, Oh, But I Have To (premiered in 1974), Eyeballs, Leper and a Very Dead Spider (1977), and The Situation of the Man Who Stabbed a Dummy or a Woman and was Disarmed by the Members of the Club for a Reason Yet Obscure, If There Was One (1974). Characters who were given names such as Glane and Luge, The Young Man, The Old Man, 1st, 2nd and 3rd Onlooker, non-Malaysian settings as well as frequent stretches of dialogue, were akin to Waiting for Godot and Pinter. These plays served to hone Kee's skills where he was searching for appropriate themes and characters, while deciding on an authentic theatrical language.





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We Could **** You, Mr.Birch by Kee Thuan Chye

• One of the things that struck me about this play was how candid and honest it was about Malaysians and their political landscape.
• It highlights the vagueness of historical accounts and how it can be manipulated by people in power for their own personal gain. The random lines spouted by characters such as Actor/M and Actor/S with regards to historical accounts in Malaysia, are peppered with various improvisations and assumptions which further underlines the subjective nature of history.Apart from that, historical figures are portrayed in all their imperfect glory, complete with all manner of warts and questionable behaviours. Instead of singing the praises of these men, Kee gives us a sly reminder that they were all human, like the rest of us.
• The ridiculous amount of red tape involved when it comes to certain government procedures is also given special attention. When a character (Birch) remarks that in order for a person to lodge a complaint against him, that person must first go through Birch himself, it is an annoying reminder to all of us who've had trouble getting through tedious bureaucratic procedures involving government service.
• In addition to that, one of the worst cultural traits inherited by Malays is demonstrated through Mastura's relationship with her father, Lela. Mastura's feeble attempts at having a mature discussion with her father are met with dismissiveness and annoyance from the latter, even culminating in a slap and claims that she wasn't brought up to 'talk back' at him in one of the scenes.
• This is a perfect example of how Malay children are often discouraged from answering or 'menjawab' to their parents from a very young age whenever they try to make a point in a conversation or defend themselves. While most parents think it is a necessary sign of respect for their children to keep silent, it's actually severely detrimental to their intellectual development and thinking skills.
• Overall, We Could **** You, Mr.Birch is a highly entertaining and symbolic play which is very enjoyable because it contains many Malaysian anecdotes which we can all relate to.