Experimental theatre

I haven't stepped into the University of Malaya for a very long time. If my memory serves me correctly, 1976 would have been the very last time that I was at the campus.

However, I had the occasion to visit the country's oldest and most prestigious university when my wife and I took our nephew down to Kuala Lumpur at the beginning of this month. He had been accepted into the university's accountancy programme for the next four years.

As far as I could see, the physical aspect of the place hasn't changed much after close to 40 years. We came across the Dewan Tunku Canselor and beside it, the experimental theatre.

The experimental theatre. Just saying this name brought back some memories of the film shows that had been screened here during those good old days. Shows that did not see the light of day in our public cinemas for one reason or another.

A notable film that I remember distinctly was Gimme Shelter, a 1970 music documentary of The Rolling Stones' tour at the Altamont concert in the United States. The concert was, of course, infamous for the fatal stabbing incident off-stage that was captured on film but I really cannot recall whether the scene was cut out from the film version I had watched at the experimental theatre.