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| Gardner & Wife presents fun theatre for Malaysian audiences,
ranging from classic farce comedies to quirky, off-Broadway musicals,
audience winning fringe acts and award-winning West End plays. However,
every show is subjected to our simple criteria: Will it bring new
audiences to the theatre and will they enjoy themselves when they
get there?! |
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| Chae Lian (Producer) |
 Chae Lian initially trained as a performer, first at La Salle-SIA College of the Arts in Singapore, and later in the USA, receiving her Honours degree in Drama (Acting) from Carnegie Mellon University. Returning to Malaysia, she spent two years as a Malaysian TV series regular in Ramona Rahman's sitcom Life's A Pitch! and Othman Hafsham 's sitcom All Mixed Up with Joanna Bessey, Rashid Salleh and Manesh Nesaratnam.
In 2000, she started work as a theatre producer under the guidance of producer-director Dato' Faridah Merican. The production was an adaptation of the 1892 British farce, CHARLEY'S AUNTIE!, now re-set in Malaysia circa 1965. One of the first shows in Malaysia to run for three weeks, the comedy at The Actors Studio Theatre was a sell-out success. Shortly afterwards, she co-founded Gardner & Wife Theatre with Richard in 2001 and over the last eight years, they have developed it into Malaysia's busiest commercial theatre company. Chae Lian has produced over 20 local and international productions, developing extensive experience in dealing with multiple government agencies with regards to censorship, permits, taxes and immigration matters. However, she much prefers managing audience development, media relations, and marketing!
In 2006, Chae Lian became the first South-East Asian recipient of the Fellowship Programme in Arts Management at the John F Kennedy Centre for Performing Arts, the national institution for arts and culture of the United States of America. She is currently in Washington DC for her 10-month residency and will return to Kuala Lumpur in June 2007. |
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| Richard Harding Gardner (Director) |
| Richard started life as a professional actor, combining his two
passions of travelling and theatre by working in the theatre in
London, Madrid, Nairobi, Johannesburg, Houston and Los Angeles.
Relocating to Los Angeles, he started writing and directing among
other things, the stage play Pacific Palisades, episodes
of Fox TV's Small Wonder, and the film Sherlock:
Undercover Dog for Columbia-Tri-Star.
Here in Malaysia, he has directed the stage productions of the
Alan Ayckbourn play RELATIVELY SPEAKING,
the musical comedies NUNSENSE and A
FUNNY THING HAPPENED ON THE WAY TO THE FORUM, as well as
writing and directing both productions of CHARLEY'S AUNTIE! In Singapore, he directed SYLVIA.
He has also written and directed several episodes of the RTM sitcom All Mixed Up!
Although Richard has had to learn many new, non-theatre skills such as HTML, list management, graphics and video editing, his real interest is seeking out the pre-famous and the quirky, and persuading them to come to Malaysia! Among his and Chae Lian's "finds" are PLUCK, GAMARJOBAT, MENOPAUSE THE MUSICAL and STONES IN HIS POCKETS with its West End cast!
Richard was born in England, trained as an actor at The
Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art, and educated in the
U.S. with a degree in Philosophy from the University
of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). In earlier years, he was a
member of British Actors' Equity
Association, American
Actors' Equity Association, Screen
Actors Guild, British Academy
of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA), the
Writers Guild of America, west (WGAw) and the Film Workers' Association of Malaysia - Persatuan Pekerja-Pekerja
Filem Malaysia (PPFM). |
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