“Akan tiba masa bila manusia dah pupus, android akan pentaskan kembali teater ODISI ROMANSA.” – MAB189 via ig (Our synth sampler from Melaka)
“My take on Odisi Romansa: Not only human can experience love. Love trancends all. Love is the greatest form of energy gifted by God to every living matter on this plane.” – swhpadi via ig
“A deep meditation on longing and holding the memory of someone dear, with stellar production and writing.” – Afi Noor via ig
“Ciptaan yang ingin mengadaptasi penciptanya.” – amazingamin_ via ig
“The performance takes us through a journey that traverses the ancients and androids, the cosmic and comic – with notions of longing and light/years memory and recording.” – Mark Teh via fb
“The stage design was amazing, the full Malay writings reminds me how beautiful the language is.” – adeurlog via ig
“Di sebalik dunia futuristik dan absurditinya. Odisi Romansa sebenarnya mengingatkan bahawa cinta mungkin satu-satunya bahasa terakhir manusia.” – Fazleena Hishamuddin via ig
“Kalau Stereo Genmai (teater) adalah Ridhwan Saidi’s Ok Computer, then Odisi Romansa is his Kid A.” – Saat Omar via fb
“…untuk kembali menonton—mengalami persembahan yang sinematik, futuristik dan mencabar media serta ‘form’-nya adalah sesuatu yang menyegarkan.” – Adam Taufiq Suharto via ig
“Travelled into the future in a lyrical state and at unhurried speed with androids reflecting on longing…” – theshai via ig
“好看的太空科幻舞台劇；人家演起文謅謅的愛情戲碼顯得自然，不會太虛假的感覺。” – choonjootan via threads
“Certainly I think Ridhwan’s work is always worth going to, to puzzle the brain and make us have existential, surreal thoughts about the meaning of meaning. Not enough of our theatre tickles our brains so weirdly this way. Weird tickling is good.” – Jo Kukathas via fb
“Odisi Romansa terasa seperti perjalanan daripada mesin kepada makhluk; daripada sistem kepada hayat.” – Fasyali Fadzly, Odisi Romansa: Mendatar tapi menggetar, Titik Baca
“What I also appreciate is seeing how Malaysian theatre continues to evolve — blending performance, visual technology, puppetry and immersive storytelling into something bold and unapologetically original.” – Shamnirul via linkedin
“An immersive, creative, and intellectually stimulating space opera theatre show focusing on romance, distance, and longing between androids.” – Rahim Ramli via ig
“The art direction is so intricate but it’s the dialogue that has stayed with me.” – Nadira Ilana via ig
“‘Aku dicipta dari tanah, sedangkan engkau dicipta dari besi.’ TEATER NORMCORE: ODISI ROMANSA is the best play I have seen all year.” – Amir Muhammad via fb
“Odisi Romansa is the most beautiful, charming stage sci-fi I have ever experienced… So melancholic, so hopeful and a wonderful reminder of all the things we take for granted.” – Nadia Khan via ig
“A good discourse on humanity and life.” – Miza Aziz via ig
“At first it felt distant, rigid, almost emotionless and android-like to us. But slowly, from that distance, it became like a mirror reflecting back who we are as human beings.” – Lau Beh Chin, JinnD Productions via ig
“Apabila dua android manusia, berkorban kalbu dan atma, memeta manusia.” – sitiamanda_ via ig
“Bilamana di atas pentas, teknologi menjadi puitis.“ – Azrin Fauzi via fb
“At one point, an android remarks that unlike humans, “we do not sleep and we do not wear masks,” a deceptively simple line that lands with startling force. In a play obsessed with what separates humans from machines, it is often the smallest observations that resonate the loudest.“ – Bakchormeeboy, Ridhwan Saidi crafts a haunting, cosmic space drama about androids to remind us what it means to be human.
“Excellent storytelling, captivating visuals and an evocative soundtrack.” – Fatimah Aziz via ig
“Odisi Romansa, sebagai teater, secara synchronize menggabungkan mix-media, dan buatkan scenografinya menjadi lebih kaya secara imaginatif. Personally, ia dah pecahkan sempadan kreativiti teater tempatan sebenarnya.” – Beduk Logam via fb
“‘Odisi Romansa’, a gorgeous play.” – Shah via ig
“So surreal that it ended… I felt the story never left me as I drove home yesterday night.” – William Koong via ig (Our puppet-maker, who never attended rehearsals, after experiencing the play for the first time)
PRESS COVERAGE AND INTERVIEWS
Speculative sci-fi play ‘Odisi Romansa’ takes you on a space odyssey of emotion, by Hanis Maketab, The Star, 5 May 2026 | An odyssey of emotion. Borneo Bulletin, 16 June 2026
BFM 89.9 Front Row Teater Normcore: Odisi Romansa, Presenter: Juliet Jacobs, Producer: Juliet Jacobs. Guest: Lee Qi, Aliya Marissa, Cast Member
Arts of Malaysia: An interview with writer/director Ridhwan Saidi on Teater Normcore – Odisi Romansa, Bakchormeeboy
Reality can bite in surrealist theatre/Beyond the doomscroll: Why this sci-fi play is the reality check your feed needs, Subhadra Devan, The Sun, 10 May 2026
Ridhwan Saidi’s New Theatre ‘Odisi Romansa’ Makes Us Question Our Humanity, Ista Kyra, Eksentrika
Weekend for the arts: ‘Tekat’ exhibition, KL Fest – Spill The Ink!, Tagore Fest, The Star, 07 May 2026
Curtains up: local theatre highlights in May, Terence Toh @ FMT Lifestyle, 10 April 2026
Plan ahead with these upcoming events in Malaysia. The Sun, 21 April 2026.
Odisi Romansa unfolds in a future where humanity has vanished, leaving androids to inherit the debris of memory, love, and time.
From within a silent server facility, two androids, Y-002 and Z-001, attempt to simulate the human experience. As they navigate kerinduan (longing), their physical separation grows vast: one descends toward the primordial gravity of the Bima Sakti’s core, while the other embarks on a pilgrimage from a dying Earth toward a new sanctuary.
Drawing on Malay poetic and mythic forms, Odisi Romansa situates ancient sensibilities within futuristic speculation, listening for a heart that still beats inside the anachronistic machine.
Writing, Direction & Scenography by Ridhwan Saidi
Performed by Lee Qi, Aliya Marissa & Roshafiq Roslee
Semangat Graviti (Puppeteers): Irsyad Yahi, Aish Mirza, Gloria Mujan, Rashid Akhmal
Operator of Sound: Eff Hakim
Digital Technologist: FabU
Set Sculptor: William Koong
Set Construction: Liew Chee Heai
Wearables by Nurul Aizam
Sound Design: Joni Atari
Synth Samples: MAB 189
Voice Actor: Ozzy Nurin
Opening Film Cinematography: Izmer Hamdan
Produced by Nurul Aizam
Stage Manager: Fathi Shafie
Assistant Production Manager: Syqin Nasir
Production Interns: Aish Mirza & Gloria Mujan
Presented by Moka Mocha Ink & Ensembel Teater Kaos Nol
With support from ArtsFAS, Yayasan Hasanah
Space support for creation: The Godown KL
Additional Rehearsal Space (Final Rehearsal): KongsiKL
Projection support: Blackbody Emission
F&B Partners: O’Briens Irish Sandwich Bars
Moka Mocha Ink (est. 2011) is a Malaysian hybrid, interdisciplinary art initiative and think lab working across performance, publication, and cinema led by Nurul Aizam and Ridhwan Saidi.
Ensembel Teater Kaos Nol is an open collective founded by Ridhwan Saidi for theatre-making and artistic work, from book discussions to communal gatherings, based in Kuala Lumpur and Selangor.
Moka Mocha Ink 