BUKA - A New Platform For Solos

BUKA is a space to open up where solo voices share stories of identity, belonging, and emotional truths.

What happens when we allow ourselves to be seen without defences?

In 2026, let BUKA open the new year with new conversations, new perspectives, new voices, and new faces. This year’s series features three exciting solo pieces: two theatre monologues and one dance work, directed and performed by Syafiq Syazim, Yon Lynn, Nur Alyaa Afifah, Doro & Engku Armand, with a special voice appearance by Fatimah Abu Bakar. This new platform is produced by Hoe Hui Ting.

Everyone is warmly invited to join this BUKA space, to listen, to witness, and to be part of the BUKAness.

Date/Time:
23/1 (Fri)  8.30pm
24/1 (Sat) 3pm
24/1 (Sat) 8.30pm *post-show conversation
25/1 (Sun) 3pm
25/1 (Sun) 8.30pm *post-show conversation  

Venue: Five Arts Centre, 9th floor, GMBB KL

Ticket Price:  
RM50(Standard)
RM25 (Student/Senior Citizen/Person with disabilities)
Buy 5 free 1 (BUKA promo)

Kenapa Tak Tukar Nama? *Theatre
Director: Syafiq Syazim
Performer: Yon Lynn
Originally Devised By: Syafiq Syazim & Yiky Chew    

Relationships are built on love and faith. We marry for love, but do we change our name for faith? How do we deal with difficulties that present themselves due to bureaucracy, especially when one is pressed for time to get married? Follow Muslim convert Hoe Mei Ying as she navigates the complexity of identity and faith while struggling to answer the question everybody is asking, ‘Kenapa Tak Tukar Nama?’. 

Me Nari *Dance
Choreographer & Performer: Nur Alyaa Afifah
Third Eye: Aweef

'Me Nari' is an experimental dance piece that weaves together personal identity and exploring self expression through the declaration “I Dance”. Where “Me” represents self and “Nari” from “Menari” which signifies dance in Malay. “Me Nari” offers a thoughtful reflection on the journey of dance as both personal experience and shared experience. Navigating through personal passion and external judgement in a dancer’s journey. Through movement and presence, “Me Nari” creates a space where questions of belonging, understanding and artistic identity can unfold naturally.

And thus let us “Menari” how we want to without being perceived as such.

Denganmu Ibu (DEBU) *Theatre
Playwright & Performer: Doro
Director: Engku Armand
Ibu: Fatimah Abu Bakar (special voice appearance)

Denganmu Ibu, or DEBU, is a deeply personal solo performance about what a child leaves unsaid with their mother. It jumps between truthful recollections of real incidents, and imagined conversations with the writer's mother. It is confrontational, blunt, angry and even frightened sometimes, but it is also rooted in love and the hope for a better relationship. Above all, it's a plea for parents and children alike to do better by each other, and hold each other close in spite of all the tension we carry. 

BUKA full team list
Producer:
Hoe Hui Ting

Kenapa Tak Tukar Nama?
Director: Syafiq Syazim
Performer: Yonlynn
Originally Devised By: Syafiq Syazim & Yiky Chew
Stage Manager: Syada Anor

Me Nari
Choreographer& Performer: Nur Alyaa Afifah
Third Eye: Aweef
Stage Manager: Meshalini Muniandy

Denganmu Ibu (DEBU)
Playwright& Performer: Doro
Director: Engku Armand
Ibu: Fatimah Abu Bakar (special voice appearance)
Stage Manager: Michael Ng

Poster & Publicity Designer:
Jazzie Lee

Lighting/Multimedia Designer:
Syamsul Azhar 

Production Stage Management:
Meshalini Muniandy
Syada Anor
Michael Ng

Supported by Five Arts Centre
Technical Partner: Japan Foundation Kuala Lumpur