From left: Engku Armand, Anne James, Sandee Chew and Omar Ali play different roles in 'Poly' (All photos: DPAC)
Akira Kurosawa’s award-winning 1950 film Rashomon underscores the point that people remember what they think they saw. As such, each may give a different account of the same event. So, who do we believe?
Ian Skatu is not giving any answers. Instead, his Poly, which premieres this week at the Damansara Performing Arts Centre in Petaling Jaya, presents three takes on what is “true”, leading the audience into “distorted realities where characters struggle with broken communication, blurred truths and the feeling of losing touch with what’s real”.
Polygraph unfolds around a murder case riddled with deception and shifting motives as a detective interrogates a suspect. Polygon is about a cult obsessed with material things and looking for a saviour. Polygamy focuses on love, deceit and anger as a cheating spouse searches for a way out.
Malaysian playwright Ian, now working in Singapore as an advertising strategist or, if you will, “entrepreneurial creative problem-solver”— wrote Polygraph after watching gothic horror TV drama series The Fall of the House of Usher on Netflix. “I was inspired by the interrogation room and how two people can be talking [about] truths, both of which may not be true.”
Poly is his first full-length script, after two 10-minute plays for Short+Sweet, and various roles in theatre. It marks Ian’s 10th year in the performing arts. “Work gives me the money and is about surviving, but theatre is what keeps me alive, whether I’m on the stage or off it. It evokes empathy and awareness, which help in my work.”
As a playwright, his place is offstage. But giving people an opportunity to perform delights him. “I know what actors like to play with. The four in Poly constantly say they’re having so much fun rehearsing.”
In his cast are Anne James, Omar Ali, Sandee Chew and Engku Armand. Except for Anne, who sits out the first part of the show, everyone else is in all of it. “Honestly, when she said yes [to the show], I cried a bit because I have a veteran bringing my words to life! Actually, if you want to talk about intergenerational theatre practitioners, this is it. Anne is like the OG and Armand, the youngest in the scene. In between are Sandee and Omar, who have been around for a while.”
Ian has scripted a cameo role for a special guest who changes in every performance during the run. Asked who it is, he would only say: “We have DJs, influencers, entertainment professionals.”
He remembers exactly when his theatre journey began: mid-2015, at London’s Apollo Victoria Theatre. “I was watching Wicked and getting goosebumps. I turned to my cousin and said, ‘When I go back to Malaysia, I need to be in theatre’.”
As for why, he adds: “Everything was so intricate. I could feel every emotion of the spectacle on stage, the suspension of disbelief and the whole magic of theatre. Since then, I’ve been trying to find a way in.”
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Back home in KL, music wedged the door open for him: Ian, who has been playing the piano since the age of four, began performing music, influenced by his father, Edwin Nathaniel of Aseana Percussion Unit. That soon led him to theatre, as a keyboardist for Short+Sweet, one of the country’s longest-running multi-genre festivals.
In 2017, Ian won the prize for innovation in musical theatre at the BOH Cameronian Arts Awards for co-creating, composing, musical directing and producing Mahsuri (And Other Peculiar Tales) with Liver & Lung.
He was named best actor for Lockdown (2021) and best music director for Mrs Paul (2024) at Short+Sweet. He composed music for Malaya Relived: Penang Riots, and produced and directed
The Retreat, Silk & String: The Truth About Bullying and The Human Exhibit: Mentalhealth.
Poly started from Wicked and has been a decade in the making, says Ian. Last year, he finally finished writing, was happy with it and thought, “Let’s make my dreams come true. I have scripts in my computer written a long time ago but still in development as I’m not quite done with them yet.”
Billed as “absurdist, surrealist”, the production is his attempt to explore post-modern theatre which, besides highlighting the fallibility of definite truth, has things that “kind of don’t make sense, but do in a way as well. The actors all speak at the same time and the audience picks who they want to listen to. There are things like breaking the fourth wall”.
Director Cheong Chua, whose Coyote (2022) he acted in, has contextualised Poly, bringing the relationships of the characters to life with backstories that lead up to where they are in the show. “I dare say the show is better than what I wrote. It’s shaping up in an interesting way I didn’t picture.”
Ian notes a scarcity of original work in local theatre and hopes to do something about that. “I’ve wanted to write a play for the longest time but didn’t know how. There’s this notion of having to do something perfect with a very emotional or funny story. Or, it has to be extreme.”
Based in Singapore now, he wants to break into the theatre scene there. “It’s a bit difficult because the industry is very ‘official’; they have boards and specific laws, and function like a proper business. You don’t see that in Malaysia.”
Writing and bringing stories to life is what he aims to focus on, given the confidence gained from Poly. He hopes to stage it in Singapore with a different cast one day. “If someone leaves the theatre feeling the way I did after Wicked, it will be a job done for me because I was a teacher as well.”
He taught musical theatre at a local college and would encourage students to explore its multiple facets. Besides acting, they can write, manage the stage, design costumes, handle lighting or production. “I want them to look at the spectacle, know what attracts them or can see themselves doing.”
Just like he was struck in a faraway theatre long ago.
'Poly' runs at DPAC from Feb 6 to 8 and 12 to 15 (8:30pm) and at 3pm on Feb 9 and 16. The latter is a relaxed show — with lower sound levels, relaxed lighting and exit access anytime — to accommodate the neurodiverse community. Tickets from cloudjoi.com.
This article first appeared on Feb 3, 2025 in The Edge Malaysia.
