Tribute: Malaysian performing arts industry mourns actor, writer and playwright Jit Murad
“Jit was a couple of years my senior at the Victoria Institution and he was already a live-wire then, becoming Freshie King in Lower Six while I would go on to win that same title two years later. His brother Na’a, a couple of years my junior, is also a gifted and witty writer and actor and a friend of mine. His gracious, elegant and intelligent mother, Puan Sri Azizah (wife of former Malaysian director-general of education, Tan Sri Murad Mohamed Noor), was my Bahasa teacher and I used to go to their sprawling house in Damansara Heights for tuition classes.
Fast forward several years, I returned to KL after further studies in the UK and was keen to get involved in local theatre. I met English stockbroker Andrew Leci, who was also keen on the same. We teamed up with the Liberal Arts Society to put on Romeo and Juliet, with Andrew as director and starring Zahim Albakri as Romeo, Hayati Mokhtar as Juliet, Jit as Benvolio, Jo Kukathas as Mercutio, Sukania Venugopal as Lady Capulet, Iqbal Sheikh as the Nurse and myself as Lord Capulet. From this production, the Instant Café Theatre Company was born, with many of us becoming founder-members.
The cast of ‘The Storyteller’, a groundbreaking musical written by Jit with music by Saidah Rastam
From left: Sean Ghazi, Chacko Vadaketh, Shantini Venugopal, Deborah Michael, Randy Gocke and Jit
Our first show was held upstairs of Bon Ton, in Jalan Kia Peng. Thanks must go to Narelle McMurtrie for making that happen all within her magical restaurant set in a home. I remember us having to change on the balcony! Jit played a variety of characters and I recall cracking up every time he played Puan Siti, a pontificating government clerk, complete with a tudung fashioned out of a Bon Ton napkin. Jit was wickedly funny … a great mimic. Rene Choy, his campy Sungei Wang hairdresser alter ego, was born during an ICT show and went on to become one of his much-loved stand-up comedy personas. Jit shone a mirror on Malaysia and Malaysians in all our stunning variety and diversity and made us laugh at ourselves, but in a way that made us love ourselves — and each other — more. Much the same way Lat does with his cartoons, but with a lot more bite, for sure!
Jit’s plays were astonishing: poetic yet so funny and real. It was Middle-Class Malaysia, but from a Malay perspective. Another work, The Storyteller, in which I played the Ketua Kampung, was set in Kampung Tak Mandi. It was a unique celebration of rural Malaysia, accompanied by wonderfully exhilarating music by Saidah Rastam. But Jit was also a superbly riveting actor. He played Oscar Wilde in Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde, which was performed in a nightclub and directed by Rey Buono. Written by Moises Kaufman from transcripts of the trials and other materials, I thought it a tour de force of dazzling dialogue.
And if being a playwright and actor was not enough, Jit could also sing beautifully. I dare say no one could sing Sondheim like he could. Sadly, things kind of fell apart for Jit. Who knows what else he might have written or performed if things had been different? But he has already left us a precious and rich legacy in his works. Thank you for the memories, Jit. Rest in peace.”