The Swimming Instructor

KH was in town again for a company trip to Cameron, so we arranged a date at KLPAC. "The Swimming Instructor" was playing and he wanted very much for me to see it (ever since we saw the promotional postcard at Rhythmic Roots). He had watched it before in Singapore and found it good. And so, I bought two tickets for Wednesday night at KLPAC's Pentas 2. It had been a busy week for me. Everyone was rushing to complete a big proposal for a local bank and the instruction from the Gods in management was-- "Make sure we're shortlisted". Bah. My General Manager was in that day going through the document with us, and I was dreading that I couldn't leave work on time. Lucky for me, he only had time to review the main module, so I managed to escape. KH met me at KL Sentral at 6:00pm and we later drove to KLPAC.

I was worrying about the traffic, but it was suprisingly OK. Even had ample time to have our dinner at the 1-Stop Cafe at Jalan Ipoh. We had Hokkien Mee, Meat & Brinjal Mee (the minced meat tasted like my mother's cooking!), taufu fa, pumpkin paste and loh bak. It was all quite good. 'Artisanal' noodles I suspect. A very home-y taste. After having our fill, KH surprised me with a ring and a Suneo keychain (bonk!). So sweet of him. :). He received negative feedback about the ring, so when I told him I liked it, he was quite relieved. Red on stainless steel is quite uncommon. But then, I like weird. :).



Since it was a mid-week night, KLPAC was quite quiet. We loitered around, looking at some naive art by Numpueng. Bumped into Ry's "maid" and one of the cast from "I Have a Date with Spring". By 8:20pm, the doors were open. A simple stage-- one corner of a swimming pool, 2 deck chairs and a table. With that, they played out the love triangle between Dave, Guan and Jan. Michael Chen plays Guan, the title character. His pictures really don't do him justice. Much cuter in person. And he has a great smile on an even greater body. :P. Niki Cheong (Bangsar Boy) plays the part of a jumpy and nervous advertising agency director. He played the part quite well, but he made a few mistakes along the way. And Davina Goh is the flirty and spoilt rich brat. Reminds me a bit of the sister from "Ah Steve".

90 minutes of sexual innuendos. 90 minutes of skin. Wet skin. 90 minutes of nylon and spandex. 90 minutes of womanly curves. 90 minutes of rippling muscles. According to KH, the play changes with each staging. According to KH, the story is more light-hearted, and more openly-gay. The ending was changed in addition to other tweaks in the plot. It was entertaining. At the end of the show, we shuffled back to the car. The dark and quiet parking lot tempted us to be cheeky and we had our short time together. After that, I drove KH home. I was drained from work and the exhilaration of seeing KH again...



P.S.: I think Niki was having a semi-hard on at one point of the play. :P