‘Tali Tukang Gantung’ (‘The Hangman’s Rope’) unfolds in the long, suspended moment between life and death.
In this chilling liminal space, the gallows is not merely an instrument of punishment, but a symbol of finality: sanctioned, deliberate, and irreversible.
Shaped by true stories from the country’s criminal justice system, the experimental play shifts focus away from statistics to the human costs they conceal. It asks a haunting question: when justice demands a life in return, what does it truly achieve? And who ultimately pays the price?
According to writer-director Effa Qamariani, the play is part of the artistic campaigning for the Malaysian Centre for Constitutionalism and Human Rights (MCCHR), which was part of their anti-death penalty advocacy.
She explained that arts-based initiatives allowed them to reach audiences beyond policy and legal spaces, and to engage people both emotionally and intellectually.
“Instead of debating the death penalty in abstract terms, we wanted to explore its human and moral weight. What it does to the people caught within the system, and what it asks society to quietly accept,” Effa said.
“The play also confronts complicity, reminding us that injustice allowed to happen to one person ultimately threatens everyone. We cannot afford to remain indifferent until it happens to us.”
According to Effa, the play’s script was shaped from interviews with lawyers, academics, prison officials, former inmates, and others directly involved in the capital punishment system.
Themes explored in the play include flaws in the criminal justice system, power imbalances, the vulnerabilities of death row inmates, the psychological toll of prolonged uncertainty, language barriers, trials built on assumptions, and the quiet violence caused by poverty, gendered harm, and unequal access to legal representation.
Why a one-person play? To Effa, this form felt truer to the experience, reflecting how death row inmates are among the most isolated and invisible people in society.
The play is carried by narrator Deena Dakshini, who takes audiences behind closed doors, and into the stories most people would normally have no access to.
“Instead of a single character, I embody many voices drawn from real interviews, legal cases, and lived experiences.
“What audiences watch is a shifting, human landscape of a justice system not as an abstract institution, but as a system that affects real lives,” Deena said.
The play’s opening show will feature a 60-minute panel discussion, while the closing show will feature a candlelight vigil.
“This vigil will not be for a specific person. But we will remember the people who have devoted their lives and work advocating for the abolition of the death penalty like Singaporean lawyer M Ravi, who recently passed,” Effa said.
Producer Janice Ananthan, project officer at the Anti-Death Penalty Asia Network, noted that Malaysia occupied a unique position in its approach to the death penalty.
While the country has taken significant steps, most notably the abolition of the mandatory death penalty and a moratorium on executions since 2017, she stressed the work was far from complete.
In her view, true progress required full abolition, alongside stronger safeguards to ensure the justice system is fair, transparent, and accountable to all.
“Whether you’re for abolition, unsure, against, or just curious, this play gives a chance to hear real stories and reflect on the human side of the lives, the families, and the people behind the headlines. It’s not about telling anyone what to think, but about opening a space to feel, question, and understand,” she said.
“If the performance encourages even one person to see the death penalty not as a concept, but as a lived reality with irreversible consequences, then it has done its work,” Deena concluded.
Play: Tali Tukang Gantung
Venue: Five Arts Centre, 9th Floor, GMBB, 2, Jalan Robertson, Bukit Bintang, 50150 Kuala Lumpur, Wilayah Persekutuan Kuala Lumpur
Date & time: Jan 17 & Jan 18; 3pm & 8pm
Ticket prices: Minimum contribution of RM5
More information and ticket purchases can be found on Cloudjoi.