Mendaki, which comes to the Voila! Festival next month, is a solo performance that has the tag ‘Resist erasure and reclaim identity’.
“Mendaki (formerly Siapa Yang Bawa Melayu Aku Pergi?) is Faizal Abdullah’s unflinching solo performance reclaiming his Muslim-Malay-Singaporean identity from colonial myths, state narratives and disappearing heritage.
Part performance-lecture, part cultural love letter, it slices through history, identity and language with wit, rage and unexpected tenderness.
Over the course of an hour, Faizal shifts between himself and his alter-egos, inviting you into a world where history is carefully curated, identity is state-regulated, and being Muslim-Malay in Singapore can sometimes feel like quiet rebellion.
From colonial treaties to National Service, from void deck weddings to National Day parades, personal history collides with political inheritance, and lost narratives are brought to life.
You’ll learn, laugh, and question what you know about the little red dot that is Singapore. Mendaki is an urgent act of memory and resistance; a bold stand for language, belonging and the refusal to disappear.”
Where: The Cockpit
When: 4 Nov & 8 Nov
Ticket link: https://www.voilafestival.co.uk/events/mendaki/
Faisal tells us more about Mendaki below:
Tell us a bit about your show. Where did the idea come from?
Mendaki means “to climb” in Malay, my mother tongue, and that’s exactly what this show is about. Climbing through identity, memory, and the emotional messiness of living between cultures.
It follows the questions that have shaped me; as a Malay person from Singapore, as a migrant in the UK, as someone whose existence doesn’t neatly fit into one box.
It’s the unofficial sequel to my first solo show, Siapa Yang Bawa Melayu Aku Pergi? (Who Took My Malay Away?), and the questions I’m asking now have shifted.
After seven years of living in London, my perspectives on race, identity and belonging have evolved.
Mendaki is what happens when you’re still navigating where and what home is. It’s personal, political, funny, and human.
Why should audiences come? One-line pitch!
It’s raw, it’s funny, it’s bold and unapologetically real – A Brown man in a White world,
Mendaki says out loud what others only dare to whisper.
What does being part of the Voila! Festival mean to you?
Voila! is more than a festival; it’s a platform for independent artists to be unfiltered, and take risks.
In a country that prides itself on multiculturalism but often sidelines the very voices that make it vibrant, Voila! puts those stories front and centre.
It’s a space where different languages, bodies, and lived experiences are not just welcomed, they’re celebrated.
In a Britain that’s still wrestling with immigration, multiculturalism, and identity – where right-wing marches grow louder, and where being Brown, Muslim, or ‘other’ is politicised, Voila! gives room for our stories to exist.
On our terms. In our languages. From our bodies.
And to share Mendaki at Voila is to take up space, unapologetically, and to stand in solidarity with a community of artists doing the same.
We still fight. And we still make.
How did you get started in the industry?
I’m from Singapore – born and raised. I started out acting in theatre, TV and film, before co-founding a collective called Hatch to direct and make new work.
In 2018, I moved to London to study Performance Making at Goldsmiths University, and I’ve been here ever since, finding new ways to tell stories that sit at the edges of cultures and identities.
I believe that if the boat’s already full or there is no boat to even jump onto, you build your own boat; create your own opportunity.
That’s the mindset that drives how, where, and why I create.
What’s next for Mendaki?
This is just the beginning. I don’t believe in a ‘final version’ per se; the work just keeps evolving.
And as I grow, so too will Mendaki; shifting in tone, form and feeling. I’d love to tour it, connect with new audiences, and keep building the show until it tells me it’s done.
Then I’ll make something new.