"Thirty, Flirty, and Trying": Actress Mia Sabrina Mahadir directs all-female show on embracing your 30s

What was your first exposure to acting and performing arts? 

My first love has always been communications, events, and working behind the scenes in television–never acting. But in college, I joined a theatre workshop, and that's when I really got into it. I started taking up more workshops to get better at it. After graduation, I worked for a while in the corporate world before I got an offer for an acting role in a crime thriller by Astro. That's when I decided to take a chance with on screen-acting. So far, I've had six years of full-time acting.

Read more: Shafeeq Shajahan on the joys and challenges of being in theatre

What was it like transitioning from that into acting for the theatre?

With acting on screen, you have to pay attention to where the cameras are–so you’re performing for the camera. On stage, you’re performing to an audience, you hear their laughter and clapping. The latter was exhilarating. Only later did I find out that I was actually really bad at it (laughs). One year, I participated in the Short + Sweet Festival, which involved a workshop-turned-competition. Only the good performances were selected for the final round. I was in two shows and neither made it to the final round.

That was when I thought, 'Oh... maybe I suck.' And I did. But eventually I became better over time. I was always curious about how other people in theatre made it work and I was determined to improve. So in 2016, I did a four-month theatre acting workshop and it finally clicked for me.

Today, you're Theatresauce's only female director at the helm of your first full length direction. What gave you the idea for Saturn Return?

When I participated in Theatresauce's Emerging Directors Lab, I realised I was interested in talking about female stories and Malay issues. Many of the pieces I did for the Emerging Directors Lab were about my struggle as a modern Malay, and the struggle with the identity of being Muslim while keeping my modernity. After I graduated from this programme, the producer recommended we propose ideas for the 2023 show season. I turned 29 last year, and I was going through a lot in my life at that point.

I was always into astrology, but only recently I found out about Saturn Return and how it happens when you're 29 and a half. I thought it was interesting, and explains why some people act the way they do when they turn 30. I myself was about to turn 30, and I didn't know how I was going to react, what was going to happen. I thought, that’s what the show should be about—all of the changes and the decisions we have to make going into our 30s.

What should audiences expect from Saturn Return?

It’s a devised performance, so it is something we have created on the spot together. What I can say is you will see six girls at a sleepover, growing from ten years old until 30. That’s the spine of the show. Some themes we’re exploring are sexuality, spirituality, relationships, motherhood, as well as death. 

What do you think makes this production so unique?

From my experience as an actress, so many kinds of characters written for women are usually for younger ones or much older. Lots of shows focus on women, but the kind of roles we see either lean towards young girls in a coming-of-age kind of story or women who are mothers. I felt that there was a gap somewhere.  Rarely do we see this group of modern women who are single, enjoying their careers, having fun with their cats, living alone, living their best life or at least having other kinds of problems than just relationships.

They're not always stuck asking 'When am I going to get married?' Personally, I’m thinking about other things. I’m thinking about who God is and where God is. I'm wondering what I am going to do when I’m 60, whether I'll still be making art at that age. These are the issues I think about, yet I keep seeing roles written for women that are usually about love or family. I find it hard to relate to that.

What's one message you would want to share with young people watching this show? 

The first person you should listen to is yourself. There are always outside voices who will say anything and everything. But when you’re lost, take some time off, and you'll hear what you want for yourself.

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