Jit Murad, celebrated Malaysian theatre stalwart, dies at 62

KUALA LUMPUR (THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK) - Jit Murad, a celebrated theatre actor-director-writer in the Malaysian arts scene, has died.

The news was confirmed by fellow Malaysian theatre veteran Jo Kukathas, who added that he died in his home in Kuala Lumpur on Saturday (Feb 12). He was 62. The cause of the death is not known.

In a performing arts career that spanned more than 30 years, the Alor Setar-born, Kuala Lumpur-raised Jit established himself as one of the best playwrights in the country, with his influential theatre works and scripts often resonating beyond the stage.

In 1989, Jit, whose real name is Aziz Mirzan Murad, co-founded Instant Cafe Theatre alongside theatre friends Jo Kukathas, Andrew Leci and Zahim Albakri. It was a local theatre company which went on to challenge and redefine theatremaking in Malaysia. It did comedy in theatres and serious plays in nightclubs. It did Shakespeare outdoors and political satire at government functions.

Jit was also part of a generation of young Malaysian theatremakers in the late 1980s who returned to Kuala Lumpur after studying abroad. In the United States, he studied Sociology and Urban Planning in Chicago, before obtaining a master's degree in 20th Century Art History in San Francisco.

He came home to a career in advertising when he was spotted and cast in Thor Kah Hoong's play Caught In The Middle.

Jit's acting credits through the 1990s were diverse and prolific, with appearances in A Midsummer Night's Dream, Romeo & Juliet, The Merchant Of Venice, Death Of A Salesman, Death & The Maiden, Black Comedy, An Actor's Nightmare, Art, As Is, Talking AIDS, Gross Indecency: The Three Trials Of Oscar Wilde and A Man For All Seasons.

As Instant Cafe Theatre grew from strength to strength, Jit also sharpened his skills as a playwright, actor and director, emerging as a prominent public intellectual with theatre shows examining contemporary society.

In 1992, he wrote his first play Gold Rain And Hailstones, which has gone on to be a celebrated work in the Malaysian theatre scene. The play examines the notion of home, belonging and identity; issues which have resonated time and again through various versions of the production, including a successful restaging in 2019.

In 1993, Jit helped start Dramalab (with Zahim Albakri), an offshoot of Instant Cafe Theatre, which encouraged new writing and introduced new theatre players.

Jit's other notable works include Storyteller (1996), based on South-east Asian spoken traditions, Visits (2002), a comedy reworked from a three-monologue effort from the early 1990s, and Spilt Gravy On Rice (2002), which won four awards at the inaugural Cameronian Arts Award 2003.

As a stand-up comedian in the mid-1990s, Jit was best known for selling out venues with his Renee Choy routine, a flamboyant character who was billed as "Malaysia's premier stand up hairdresser".

Jit was the middle child of a family of three. His father was former education director-general Tan Sri Murad Mohamed Noor, and he was the older brother to film director Na'a Murad.