Pictures: Jinki Cambronero
Actress Dawn Cheong has travelled between Malaysia and Aotearoa for work for many years now, winning awards and attaining success in both countries. In Malaysia, she was the star of the soap I Eat KL – think Sex And The City but set in Kuala Lumpur – and several feature films. She even crossed over to Singapore to star in movies and TV shows there.
However, whenever she could, she’d return to Aotearoa, where she initially trained as an actress. It was her mother’s illness rather than stardom that drew her back to Malaysia.
“My mother had a stroke when I was 17 and had been in a wheelchair ever since because she was paralysed on her left side,” explains Dawn, 37. “She didn’t have the ability to move and had to be constantly looked after, just in case there was an accident or a fall.”
As time went on, caring for her mum required more and more from Dawn. “I needed to feed and bathe her, and make sure everything was running in the household. Towards her death, it was intense.”
Dawn’s mother passed away during COVID, which restricted her access to her mum in her time of need.
“I couldn’t visit her in the hospital,” she tells. “I had to sneak in! It was like a scene from James Bond. It was very spy-like.”
When her mother passed though, she knew where she wanted to be. “I’d finished my duty as a daughter and New Zealand was the first choice.”
Since returning to Aotearoa, Dawn has been busy on the acting scene. She has recently starred in Silo Theatre’s The First Prime-Time Asian Sitcom and had a plum role in Amah, an episode of TVNZ’s anthology series Motherhood.
Dawn is currently in rehearsals for Scenes From The Climate Era, presented in a first-ever collaboration between Auckland Theatre Company and Silo Theatre.
“It’s a warning, it’s a love letter to society, to politicians, to mobilise us to be a little bit more environmentally conscious,” she explains.
The differences between productions in New Zealand and Malaysia couldn’t be more stark, according to Dawn. Over here, being the star of a soap and multiple films means glamorous photoshoots and red carpets, and there is bureaucracy, red tape and structure.
Over in Malaysia, however? It’s a little bit more gritty, which she thinks is an accurate reflection of the city.
“It’s guerilla! You work if you can, when you can. People are going, ‘We’ll just film here! We’ve got five minutes, let’s go, let’s go, let’s go!’ People learn on the fly. They come from a place of being like, ‘We don’t know anything, so let’s try everything!’”
She describes their style as “rasa” or “spirit”.
She explains, “You forget sometimes to watch the skill because they’re so magnetic to watch. When you see an untrained, uninhibited human being on stage, being very present… It’s like watching a wildfire, as opposed to watching a fire in a fireplace.”
As well as Scenes From The Climate Era, Dawn is also writing a screenplay about herself and her mother, from her experience as a carer.
“I think it’s a relationship that a lot of people will understand,” she says. “A lot of people aren’t wealthy, so they can’t afford a full-time nurse. The family ends up taking care of the ones who need the most care.
“In Malaysia, the public services are not very good. They don’t help people who are poor or marginalised and that’s something that I want to address within the film.”
However, she describes herself as “deathly allergic” to realism.
“How much drama can someone take before they switch off?” she muses. “I’ve included elements of magic and the fantastical as well. It’s just easier to accept hard truths when it’s under the veil of magic.”
In the meantime, Dawn’s excited to get on Q Theatre’s Rangatira stage.
“I just thought it was the most beautiful space,” she enthuses. “I went and saw a show there once, and knew I wanted to perform there one day. We’re creating a chaotic world in there and that’s what’s exciting me the most!”
A space with a little bit of “rasa” of its own, perhaps.
Scenes From The Climate Era plays from 2-24 August at Q Theatre.
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