Rumor & Lady Swettenham (Kuala Lumpur)
Synopsis - Rumor
She had heard rumours about her grandmother's past. They said that besides being an actress, she was also a landlady, renting out rooms of her large apartment to 'ladies of the night'. It was also said that she would take her young daughters with her on tour, into the promiscuous world of the theatre. Perhaps they were just rumours'
Synopsis - Lady Swetthenham
The play opens with Sydney Swettenham, wife of the Resident General of Malaya and later, Governor of Singapore, reminiscing her youth while in an asylum in London in 1938.
She recalls the heady days of the summer of 1877 when she was wooed by Frank Swettenham, their subsequent marriage in February 1878 and arrival in Singapore in May of the same year.
Sydney's recollection of her life in Malaya and Singapore and her marital misery do not follow any chronological order. Already 80 years old at the time of her divorce, the fiesty lady pours vitriol on her much respected husband's reputation and the society she found herself in.
The young Sydney, while an accomplished pianist and popular in Perak and Selangor for her 'theatricals' is best remembered as the architect of the Taiping Lake Gardens which still stands in its original pristine glory and is still a popular park in Perak today.