12th day of Ramadan

Michelle (UN)

The stage

Prayer room

Saudi dates and juice pembuka puasa

Some guests at the private function

His Excellency,Cathy (the performer) and Mary Thornton (President of MANZA)

No tazkirah tonite.Harap maklum.

Ustaz Rashid came with his tahfiz kids.Dia buat tazkirah in between teraweh 8 tu.Nik ckp semua nangis.I missed it.

I went to see a performance by a well-known NZ actress of works by Katherine Mansfield at NZ High Commissioner's home at Jln Langgak Golf.David siapkan satu bilik solat khas and kami dihidangkan dgn dates dari Saudi dan minuman jus for berbuka.After that NZ roast lamb,dll.Bagus yah? The Kiwis have always been tolerant of diversities.Protocol kurang atau takda langsung.David setuju to help me get a NZ film for the festival.Alhamdulillah.

I also met Michelle yg cantik jelita from the Carribean.Dia baru sampai..wakil UNESCO yang baru.We clicked...fun talking with her.Cerdik.Trained as a Trade Lawyer.I also met other people from other Embassies..US, Australia, UK.Some NZ alums from Colombo Plan.

The performance was mesmerising.Cathy Downes the actress ni ada two theatre companies in London and Amsterdam.She was performing in Spore but David said it would be a shame if she didn't do it in KL so he brought her over.I felt lucky to catch it. Mmg mengetop.

Balik rumah almost midnite.Nik suruh buat juga teraweh.Rugi tak kejar pahala, he said.
So I did.

Katherine Mansfield

I have always read her as a madwoman (a creative madwoman like Virginia Woolf,Sylvia Plath, etc) but had loved her Doll's House so much (English bridging course at Waikato).Last night showed a livelier, madder (in a nice way) Katherine Mansfield.She found NZ such a boring place and had this burning desire to leave it and live in London.But a woman could not be so mobile those days.However, she was allowed to go on one condition - only for a year - by her parents.At 19, she sailed on a ship, never to return to NZ.She found her freedom there, mingling with the likes of Picasso, DH Lawrence, Virginia Woolf.The audience went ooh and aah on this.

The most touching scene was at the news of the death of her brother (it was the world war) ...the grenade he was demonstrating to his friends exploded in his hand.At his death scene, he said..lift up my head Katherine,I can't breathe ( this was related to her by her brother's friend). Like Woolf, she was also suicidal but lived to write stories, in memory of the dead brother.

I miss lah performances like this.Like Mansfield, I dream of London.Leicester Square.My West End.My wakaka.

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