In an environment where speaking out on racial and religious issues has become taboo, one playwright has found her voice through storytelling.

In her latest play Sepanjang Hayat, Fa Abdul explored cultural expectations, faith, gender, family, honour and social inequality through the tensions within an ordinary kampung family. On the surface, it was a story about one Malay household, but the family soon stood in for something much larger, as its dialogues reflected the social realities of the wider Malaysian community.

The title, which translates roughly as “a lifetime”, hinted at the everyday life of ordinary people. Indeed, the play seemed to ask what happens to the things people carry for years without saying, whether out of duty, fear or habit, and whether breaking that silence might help heal past wounds.