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Jit Murad, celebrated Malaysian theatre stalwart, dies age 62
By DARYL GOH
CULTURE
Saturday, 12 Feb 20225:20 PM MYT
Jit Murad, a respected thespian, had a long and celebrated career in the Malaysian performing arts scene, starting in the 1980s. Photo: Filepic
Jit Murad, a celebrated theatre actor-director-writer in the Malaysian arts scene, died earlier today.
The news was confirmed by fellow theatre veteran Jo Kukathas, who added that he died in his home in Kuala Lumpur. He was 62.
In a performing arts career that spanned more than 30 years, the Kuala Lumpur-born Jit established himself as one of the best playwrights in the country, with his influential theatre works and scripts often resonating beyond the stage.
In 1989, Jit co-founded Instant Cafe Theatre alongside theatre friends Jo Kukathas, Andrew Leci and Zahim Albakri. It was a local theatre company which went on to challenge and redefine theatremaking in Malaysia. It did comedy in theatres and serious plays in nightclubs. It did Shakespeare in the outdoors and political satire at government functions.
Jit was part of a generation of young Malaysian theatremakers in the late 1980s who returned to Kuala Lumpur after studying abroad.
His acting credits in the early days and late 1990s were diverse and prolific, with appearances in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Romeo & Juliet, The Merchant Of Venice, Death Of A Salesman, Death & The Maiden, Black Comedy, An Actor’s Nightmare, Art, As Is, Talking AIDS, Gross Indecency: The Three Trials Of Oscar Wilde and A Man For All Seasons.
As Instant Cafe Theatre grew from strength to strength, Jit also sharpened his skills as a playwright, actor and director, emerging as a prominent public intellectual with theatre shows examining contemporary society.
In 1992, he wrote his first play Gold Rain And Hailstones, which has gone on to be a celebrated work in the Malaysian theatre scene. The play examines the notion of home, belonging and identity, issues which have resonated time and again through various versions of the production, including a successful restaging in 2019.
In 1993, Jit helped start Dramalab (with Zahim Albakri), an offshoot of Instant Cafe Theatre, which encouraged new writing and introduced new theatre players.
Jit’s other notable works include Storyteller (1996), based on South-East Asian spoken traditions, Visits (2002), a comedy reworked from a three-monologue effort from the early 1990s, and Spilt Gravy On Rice (2002), which won four awards at the inaugural Cameronian Arts Award 2003.
On social media, there has been a flood of tributes to Jit.
Credit: The Star |
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Post time 12-2-2022 06:10 PM
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