Theatre stalwart Jit Murad was one of Malaysia's best playwrights

KUALA LUMPUR • Jit Murad, a celebrated theatre actor-director-writer in the Malaysian arts scene, has died. He was 62. The cause of 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 was 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.

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, before obtaining a master's degree in 20th-century art history.

He came home to a career in advertising and 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 productions such as A Midsummer Night's Dream, Romeo & Juliet, The Merchant Of Venice, Death Of A Salesman and Death & The Maiden.

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 become 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 Zahim Albakri start Dramalab, an offshoot of Instant Cafe Theatre, which encouraged new writing and introduced new theatre players.

His 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 his Renee Choy routine, a flamboyant character billed as "Malaysia's premier stand-up hairdresser".

Jit was the older brother of film director Na'a Murad. His father was former education director-general Tan Sri Murad Mohamed Noor.

THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK