Sex, Stage & State - Tapa dura

A provocative collection of plays and works for the stage as produced by Kuali Works, the all-women Malaysian arts group, founded in 1994 by Ann Lee, Karen Quah, Goh Soon Siew, Anita Zafina bte Mat Fadzil, and Shahimah (Charmaine W) Idris. The seven works include 'Tarap Man' by Ann Lee, winner of Boh Cameronian arts award for Best Original Script (2007) about a young boy who may have been wrongly imprisoned for 50 years and a journalist who must find out the truth; 'From Table Mountain to Teluk Intan' by Shahimah (Charmaine W) Idris, with Ann Lee, Sue Ingleton and Jo Kukathas - based on the true story of a 'coloured' woman who leaves apartheid for a better life and finds herself on the right side of the 'race' tracks - also performed at the New York International Fringe festival; and 'Hang Li Poh: Melakan Princess' by Ann Lee - a re-telling in eight versions of the legendary Ming Dynasty princess given as a gift to the Sultan of Melaka (Malacca) - also performed at the Asian Monodrama Festival.