Huzir Sulaiman (born 8 June 1973) is a Malaysian director and actor. He is the co-founder and Joint Artistic Director of Checkpoint Theatre. A critically acclaimed and award-winning playwright, his Collected Plays 1998-2012 was published in 2013. His plays have been translated into German, Japanese, Polish, Indonesian and Mandarin. His essays and commentary pieces have appeared in The Star, The Straits Times and The Huffington Post.
Theatre career
Sulaiman directing includes Thick Beats for Good Girls (2018), FRAGO (2017), The Good, the Bad and the Sholay (2015), Interrogating the Interrogators: Selected Plays of Chong Tze Chien (2015); #UnicornMoment (2014); the 15th anniversary production of Atomic Jaya (2013); City Night Songs (2012); and The Good, the Bad and the Sholay (2011), for which he was nominated for Best Director in the 2012 Life! Theatre Awards. Huzir was educated at Princeton University, where he won the Bain-Swiggett Poetry Prize and is a Yale World Fellow.[1]
He also heads Studio Wong Huzir, a creative consultancy.
For a short time in the early part of the 1990s, he hosted an afternoon talk show on WOW FM, a now-defunct Malaysian radio station. He also had a brief television stint starring as Bendul, a Malaysian version of Mr Bean, popularized by Rowan Atkinson.[2]
In the 1990s, Huzir also spent a year writing sketches with the Instant Café Theatre Company before starting the Straits Theatre Company in 1996. He began writing plays in 1997.[3] He also dabbled in film writing, writing the screenplay for the Malaysian film Dukun.[4]
He also contributed articles to The Star and The Huffington Post, and involved himself in the publishing of the online magazine POSKOD.SG.
Personal life
Sulaiman's father was Haji Sulaiman Abdullah (1946-2023), who was born G. Srinivasan Iyer, a Tamil Brahmin who later converted to Islam.[5] Sulaiman was a veteran lawyer who served as Malaysian Bar Council president. His mother was law professor Hajjah Mehrun Siraj (1945-2021), a Commissioner with the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia,[6] daughter of women's rights activist Khatijun Nissa Siraj (1925-2023).[7]
Sulaiman married Claire Wong, a lawyer, actor and director, in 2004.[8] Sulaiman is a permanent resident in Singapore.[8]
A commission of the Singapore Arts Festival 2007, it opened at the Drama Centre, Singapore on 13 June 2007. It was produced by Checkpoint Theatre. It debuted in Australia on 9 February 2012 at La Mama Theatre, Melbourne.
2011
The Good, the Bad and the Sholay
Written by Shiv Tandan and co-directed with Huzir Sulaiman, it first premiered at the NUS Arts Festival 2011 as a NUS Stage and Checkpoint Theatre production. It was nominated for Best Original Script, Best Director and Production of the Year at the Straits Times Life! Theatre Award.
Co-directed with Claire Wong. Presented by Checkpoint Theatre and Playwriting Australia, in conjunction with the National Play Festival, and with support from the Singapore International Foundation.
Directed and dramaturge. Written and performed by Pooja Nansi and Jessica Bellamy. It was held at the Drama Centre Black Box.
2020
Two Songs and a Story
Created, directed and dramaturge. Co-directed with Joel Lim.
2021
The Music of Checkpoint Theatre
Co-directed with James Khoo.
Vulnerable
Directed and dramaturge. An 8-part podcast is available for listening on Spotify, SoundCloud, and YouTube. Two new episodes released every two days from 17 June.
Session Zero
Directed and dramaturge.
2022
Chamber Readings: The Weight of Silk on Skin by Huzir Sulaiman
Directed and playwright.
2023
Brown Boys Don't Tell Jokes
Written by Myle Yan Tay.
2023
Tender Submission
Co-directed with Chen Yingxuan. Written by Lucas Ho.
Plays
Theatre
Year
Title
Notes
1997
Lazy Hazy Crazy
This was Huzir's first full-length solo show after starting the Straits Theatre Company.[10]
1998
Atomic Jaya
First presented on 11 March 1998. It has been re-staged three times since in 2001, 2003, and 2013.
Directed by Huzir Sulaiman in 1999, it was produced again in 2004, directed by Krishen Jit.
Election Day
Directed by Krishen Jit. Directed in 2004 by Claire Wong at The Arts House, Singapore.
2000
Those Four Sisters Fernandez
Directed by Krishen Jit.
2002
Occupation
Directed by Huzir Sulaiman and Claire Wong.
Whatever That Is
Directed by Krishen Jit.
2003
They Will Be Grateful
Directed by Krishen Jit.
2004
Opiume: The Narrator's Tale
It was performed as part of Mark Chan's chamber opera, Opiume. It was commissioned by the Singapore Arts Festival and Hong Kong New Visions Festival in 2004.
2005
Colony of Singapore
Written in under National University of Singapore's (NUS) Art House Writing Fellowship.[11]
^Nabilah Said (8 September 2015). "Screen play". The Straits Times. Singapore Press Holdings Ltd. Archived from the original on 19 August 2016. Retrieved 19 August 2016. ...his previous film projects include Malaysian director Dain Said's horror film Dukun (2007)
