Malaysia bans acclaimed play 'The Vagina Monologues'

Asian Economic News, Feb 11, 2002

KUALA LUMPUR, Feb. 7 Kyodo

The critically acclaimed feminist play ''The Vagina Monologues'' has been banned in Malaysia after a sell-out five-day show, The New Straits Times reported Thursday.

The play, staged in more than 20 countries since debuting in New York in the mid-1990s, was supposed to kick off a four-day rerun from Thursday after a successful debut from Jan. 23 to 27 in Kuala Lumpur, according to the report.

However, the Actors Studio Theater and the Five Arts Center, two local theater groups that jointly organized the show, were suddenly slapped with an order from the Kuala Lumpur City Hall to cancel the shows ''due to public complaints.''

''The Vagina Monologues,'' written by American Eve Ensler and drawing on more than 200 interviews with women, has been described by critics as poetic, funny and provocative for its portrayal of various women's issues such as rape and violence against women.

But it also contains an explicit narrative regarding the subject matter.

The daily quoted Five Arts Center executive producer Marion D' Cruz as saying the organizers completed all the necessary paperwork to get a permit to stage the show, which is performed by local artists Joanna Bessey, Jerrica Lai and Renuka Veerasingam.

They even put up a notice at the entrance warning of adult content.

The city hall, she said, did not specify exactly what the complaints were about so they would have to write to the authorities to find out.

''We choose the subject matter because it is meaningful and important to society,'' D' Cruz said. ''These are stories about women rising from various situations and obstacles in their lives.''