A cosmopolitan city like London may be diverse enough to welcome people of all races and backgrounds from Europe, America and Asia, but what happens when a lesser known ethnic group shows up? How then do they claim space and establish their own identity, when their very existence remains virtually unknown by the majority of the population?

For Singaporean Malay theatremaker Faizal Abdullah, that comes in the form of education via lecture-performance, specifically, his show Siapa Yang Bawa Melayu Aku Pergi? (Who Took My Malay Away?). A solo performance by Faizal himself, Siapa Yang Bawa Melayu Aku Pergi? takes inspiration from his reflections on living in London as a Malay person who was born, raised and educated in Singapore. Combining academia and memoir, the show ultimately explores what it means to be Malay and what it means to be Malay in Singapore.

“It started off with me doing a project at Goldsmiths for a module, and I was thinking a lot about our place in London,” says Faizal, who will again be performing the work. “Coming here in our 30s, we had a more developed identity than say, if we were in our 20s, which might have led to us developing an accent. We were very aware of our ethnicity, and people would often ask where I’m from. When I say Singapore, they look very confused and ask if I can speak Chinese, because they thought Singapore was a homogenous, Chinese nation.”

“When I mention that I speak Malay, they think I’m from Malaysia instead, and you end up having. to explain the racial diversity in Singapore. We even had a Malaysian university student who thought we were Malaysians who lived in Singapore and felt like we were losing our Malaysian identity, after which we decided to send her a text explaining her mistake,” he continues. “So this show is about being able to reconnect with your cultural roots, being a Singaporean Malay, and finding your place in another country.”

In the performance, Faizal begins by attempting to reconnect with his culture, specifically via the disappearing traditional writing and reading system of the Malay Language, Jawi. But beyond simply getting in touch with the language, Faizal then dives deeper into ideas of lost culture, customs, heritage and self. “There was a time recently where I started to miss the authentic taste of certain Malay dishes that you just can’t buy in London, so I ended up texting my mum to pass me a recipe so I could try cooking it myself here,” says Faizal.

While this may seem like a completely foreign idea to the people of London, the show has seen moderate success in its recent run at the 2023 VAULT Festival, and is preparing to go on tour, starting with a major venue – a two week run at Summerhall at the 2023 Edinburgh Festival Fringe this August.

“We were taking things step by step, as we weren’t sure how people would react to the show, especially since the lecture-performance style can get quite heavy,” says Faizal. “But people reacted quite well at VAULT Festival, and it gave us the confidence to plan to take it further. We came across the application for Summerhall, applied for it, and when it was successful, we decided it would do well as an extra pit stop before going on tour.”

“At first, even for VAULT, we were afraid that we wouldn’t be able to sell 4 shows. Yet people came, and some people even came up to Faizal after the show to tell him they felt inspired by it, with some finding parallels in how the Welsh language was disappearing,” says Nur Khairiyah (Khai), who is producing the show and also Faizal’s wife. “The point of our show isn’t to give solutions but to provoke a conversation. And now that we’re getting a chance to bring this to Edinburgh, it’s a chance to tell such cultural stories there, to collaborate with more members of the Malay diaspora, and reach out to them through focus groups.”

A theatremaker’s life isn’t easy, and as much as heading up to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe ticks a box off their bucket list, both Faizal and Khai are well-aware of the financial loss they would make in the process. “If we wanted to be rich, then we’re in the wrong business,” says Faizal. “What falls on us then is the responsibility to make sure that we still manage to take care of the people who put their trust in us and collaborate, to pay them a fair fee, and to make ends meet, whether approaching venues for discounted rehearsal spaces, or establishing your name as someone who ensures the well-being of their team.”

As such, the two of them have set up a crowdfunding campaign to help ease the expenses in the lead-up to the show, one that they believe would also help spread. the word about the show and inform the curious about what they stand for and what the show means. “The purpose of our crowdfunding is to use it to spread the word and explain our practice, to tell others about us, about Hatch Theatrics, and why we’re doing this,” says Khai. “I hope it’s a story that inspires other minorities, whether in Singapore or elsewhere, to go ‘oh, I can do this too’, or even for people who just want to know they were a part of this, and contributed to such a show going up to Edinburgh.”

“It’s an emotional experience for us to reach this point. I think coming to London, we’ve gotten closer to what we’ve aimed for in our craft than ever before, and we’re still putting our own money into it, producing these small scale black box shows, but every production we put on is precious and means so much to us, precisely because it’s not easy to put up, so we have to make sure we’re proud of what we put onstage, and keep pushing on,” says Khai.

“It’s hard sometimes being here without family; my brother came here for work for a week, and I can still remember him sitting on the couch in our flat. But even if they’re not here, I know we’re working hard, and that we have their blessings, and they’re proud of what we’re doing regardless,” she adds. “And looking at the support garnered so far, we’re very happy – we even saw a booking made for some tickets already, literally months before we premiere in August, so we know that we must be doing something right and connecting with people who want to know more.”

“At this point, it’s most important to keep the momentum going, and to further the conversations we’re provoking. I hope our crowdfunding campaign and focus groups manage to reach more people, to bring them into the conversation, and to create new networks,” says Faizal. “At the end of the day, this is about funding a dream, and to propel a belief. To support us, and show that we can succeed and let our stories be heard.”

Siapa Yang Bawa Melayu Aku Pergi? (Who Took My Malay Away?) plays from 2nd to 13th August 2023 at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Tickets and more information available here

The show will also play from 26th to 29th July 2023 at Applecart Arts, The Passmore Edwards Library, 207 Plashet Grove, London E6 1BX, as part of the Brown Jaga Brown Festival. More information available here

Help fund Khai and Faizal here