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***Festival aims to showcase the diversity of local talent.*** At 25 years old, Syazni Bakar had an opportunity of a lifetime taking part in the Asian Youth Theatre Festival (AYTF). ![](https://media.everythingbrunei.com/public/Tfra1iw9decZT7wsF3oLG-MD5DoAGWB2tzBwaIggt5b.jpeg) Syazni Bakar in the technical booth. PHOTO: NATIONAL THEATRE FESTIVAL BRUNEI It was an event that gathered performance artistes from across the continent, and as a theatre performer from a small country like the Sultanate, the stage of performance arts suddenly became bigger, with endless possibilities. “That was in 2018, and a lot of the theatre shows in Brunei at the time were very conventional; musical and English plays,” he said. “During the AYTF, I got to observe different styles of theatre, from the postmodern, the abstract to the contemporary. They piqued my interest and it made me wonder if such a thing could be done in Brunei,” said the now 30-year-old. Syazni is the Festival Director for the National Theatre Festival Brunei, the first theatre festival in the Sultanate aimed at connecting local dramatists and performing artistes across the country by hosting performances, productions, dialogues and workshops. ![](https://media.everythingbrunei.com/public/2fS725uRyQIz30r9m12TB-prAy7jea6fTQc-eNUx6Gp.jpeg) A performance during the festival. PHOTO: NATIONAL THEATRE FESTIVAL BRUNEI Now in its third iteration, the festival is back and hoping to go beyond conventional drama productions. With eight groups and 16 performances, this year’s festival will introduce new performance artistes including musicians and classical dancers. “The idea was to gather the local (theatre) community and allow the public to familiarise themselves with local talent because we know Bruneians enjoy stage shows, but they are just unaware that the performances exist.” No stranger to the theatre, the festival director has been a part of the local theatre scene since 2010, after joining the Students’ Extracurricular and Educational Dramatic Society (SEEDS). From performing in several productions as a student to becoming a coach for the ensuing batches of SEEDS actors, Syazni, whether in front of or behind the curtains, loves the stage and the life it brings to performers and audiences alike. After being immersed in conventional forms of theatre for so long, he shared how the AYTF format felt like a jolt of excitement that the local scene needed and it provided the perfect platform to breathe life into what is still considered very niche in the country. “I wanted to show the Bruneian public the diversity of our local talent, so when the ball for the first festival started rolling, we started with a few of our theatre friends and then reached out to the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports. “Through the ministry, we were introduced to more theatre groups. So from initially thinking there were only a handful of us (theatre troupes) to finding out that there are a lot more of us than expected, it was just that most were inactive.” One group of note, which will be performing in this year’s festival is Kumpulan PUTRA Seni, a theatre group established in the 1980s by five art lovers who studied at Sultan Omar ‘Ali Saifuddien College (SOAS). “They have been around for decades and what is special about them is that they are a Malay group, but their performances often skew towards the postmodern, which is not something you see often in Brunei as people are more aware of the English theatre performances.” Ultimately, Syazni, who also works in the creative industry, wants the festival to be a lynchpin of the local theatre community; one that can encourage discovery among artists and ensure that the curtains continue to rise in the Sultanate. Throughout the first two iterations, the festival sold over 1,500 tickets which is an impressive feat for a grassroots initiative, but a financial hurdle nonetheless for any budding thespian. This remains an issue when organising the annual theatre festival, as most performers are unfortunately part-timers, and may have difficulty in meeting the festival’s deadlines due to other commitments. Syazni continued that despite the issue, at least for local artistes, the stage is still king, as the thirst to perform is still alive and well in Brunei. “We still get enquiries from local theatre groups to collaborate and join the festival,” he said, adding that it is enough of a reason to keep progressing the community and industry forward. “When it comes to theatre, whenever a show ends, there is this feeling – it’s not so much satisfaction but maybe accomplishment. It’s a lot of energy that gets bounced off, from the stage to the audience and vice versa. “It’s exhilarating, because no shows will be the same. You can have one night that is perfect and then the second night, there’ll be a missed line and a missed cue. That’s what is interesting about theatre. “In films or TV, these moments would’ve been edited out, but in theatre everything is live, and things happen quickly, between the different areas of the stage, between actors, the costumes, the set, the props, it’s a lot. “It depends on how fast you can think really, once you’re under the stage lights, because the audience will only see and know what is on the stage, they don’t see everything that goes on behind the curtains.” – Wardi Wasli ![](https://media.everythingbrunei.com/public/SypNj2n90zZ83CC1UP6pf-rCEp12oqcUk42EGv0JYcm.jpeg) The opening ceremony of National Theatre Festival Brunei 2021. PHOTO: NATIONAL THEATRE FESTIVAL BRUNEI

Segala Brunei→banar banar semua ada bah!⤴︎

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