RUMAH has decided to take a brief break & use the time to look at what/who/why/where/how else can we celebrate and create conversations amongst the Asian Diaspora Community. This break is not forever,RUMAH will be back sooner rather than later. In the meantime take care of yourself and your energy. Celebrate you, your small and big wins everyday.
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A night of new 'DIGITAL'
works explored by emerging &
mid-career Asian diaspora artists
in partnership with Omnibus Theatre.
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A grey cat walks towards a pine tree on Kilburn High Road.
The cat sees itself under the pine tree.
Nine worlds merge.
Under the same pine tree on Dongfeng Road.
The cat changes its form nine times.
Nine worlds, one home.
You may have heard that one cat has nine lives. But what if, instead, nine cats shared one life? Walking Cats is an autobiographical digital performance exploring identity and home, taking you on an intimate journey using “lego” puppetry and paper animation under the microscope.
Using patterns and symbolism to switch between memory and reality, the show investigates nostalgia and otherness between Dongfeng Town and London in delicate miniature form. Sharing the heartbeat with the nine cats, the performer Zhaolin Zhou (Ants Theatre) narrates the walking cats’ story operating toys and papers with affectionate memories of family, childhood, hometown and connections in a time of isolation during the lockdown. Immersed in visual storytelling, the audience are invited to feel the heartbeat of the cats and papers on the screen and of the performer behind the screen.
Brown Belly is about Muk.
Muk is a gay man.
Muk is a brown gay man.
Muk is a fat brown gay man.
Through lockdown, Muk listens to Lizzo, reads body positive blogs and finally starts to believe the words in Christina Aguilera's 'Beautiful'. One night out to the clubs and all that goes down the drain.
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In a community that is largely deemed to be accepting of all, Brown Belly seeks to bring light to the divides that exist within the gay community. Specifically, Brown Belly looks at the concept of ‘tribes’ (twink, jock, bears etc) in the community and how a big brown-skinned person fits into it.
With a healthy amount of karaoke, cake eating and drinking, Muk starts to explore his intersectional identity and starts to look back on his experience within the queer community as a fat brown man.
He starts to realise that even though he takes up physical space, he’s often left invisible.
No one knows more about body hair and removing it than Asian women. In this scratch, we'll scratch the surface of a billion-dollar industry profiting from body hair shame.
This is a British Asian woman's unlikely journey to
hairy self-love. Rad takes us on a voyage through a series of hilarious and heart-breaking anecdotes that she calls 'hairy milestones' along with a live-recorded soundscape made from.....
you guessed it.....
Depilatory Devices.
Some of these instruments of pili extraction may look familiar while others will give you goosebumps.
The audience is invited to join in on games, quizzes, and sharing their own hairy milestones.
Made with forever gratitude to all the hairy hippies she has met along the way....and Frieda Kahlo.
SPECIAL GUEST
SAYANG is a Malaysian British DJ, sound artist + activist who uses sound to explore gender, queerness, race + identity.
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Making music for dancefloors + deep thinking, they're going to be treating us to an experimental and playful mashup of (abstract+literal) sounds and sights that express self expression, love and longing for their home.
Expect cheesy Malay pop processed through Sayang's signature rough and raw sounds, nods to film + TV soundtracks, lots of food (sedap!) and
original Sayang edits
throughout the night!
Main-Main means ‘Playing’ in the Malay language. RUMAH wants to encourage artists to use this platform to play, something that artists often neglect even during the pandemic. There's always that pressure to not make mistakes and present a finish but rushed 'product'. Even while playing, RUMAH believes in taking a supportive approach, making sure all artists are supported throughout the process.
For this online edition, Main-Main is taking over Omnibus Theatre Engine Room.
Dynamic and talented theatre-makers and writers present daring, new work in the first stages of development. Give feedback, offer ideas and be a part of the next generation of innovative and engaging theatre. Engine Room puts you, the audience, at the heart of the creative process. Be part of the conversation.