SUSAN Full-Length World Premiere to Open at Hush The Theatre
Ian Skatu's play follows a woman on trial for allegedly killing two husbands, played by Ranessa.
Following its Best Script and Best Actress awards, the one-woman production SUSAN will make its full-length world debut, running for 9 nights only, from 3 to 13 September 2026 at Hush The Theatre, Petaling Jaya.
Worldwide, when a woman is killed, the most likely culprit is a partner or a family member. For murdered men, that holds true only about one in ten times. SUSAN is the exception. One actress. Three women. Three acts: One allegedly murders her two husbands (Act 1). One stands in court defending a client against the murder charge (Act 2). One steps in the boardroom to sell this serial killer docuseries (Act 3). She's on a journey of living into who she really is, one identity at a time - reconciling expectations and surprising even herself. This begs a bigger question: Do you care who she is? Or just what she did?
SUSAN started as a Whatsapp conversation between Ranessa and Ian Skatu, where Ranessa wanted to make a comeback in the theatre. That's when the 10-minute version was born. Skatu made this expansion of SUSAN carry a closer version of Ranessa's drive inside of it: the actress, law & finance student, and the entrepreneurial founder of the Women's Circle of Malaysia. All in one woman.
The script was workshopped in Malaysia and Singapore, in rooms filled with women from every walk of life. In its pre-production stage, Skatu worked together with dramaturg Sandee Chew, to shape the play: in the text and on the stage.
'Working on expanding the play is turning out to mirror the whirlwind journeys of the women in it: who we think we are, who we think we want to be, who we try to be, and who we end up becoming in the process.' - Sandee Chew (Dramaturg)
A 10-minute version of SUSAN premiered at Short+Sweet Malaysia at the Kuala Lumpur Performing Arts Centre (KLPAC), Southeast Asia's most prominent short-form theatre festivals - where it won Best Script (Ian Skatu) and Best Actress (Ranessa) . The full-length production is the next chapter of a story that has already proven it resonates.
For all its weight, director Tharwa Wajihah is clear about what audiences are walking into: "SUSAN is a splash of raging fun. It's a ride that will have all your attention. It ignites all your senses. You feel her. Whoever she is. Whatever she is." - Tharwa Wajihah (Director)
