Moral values in sexuality separated from reality?<\/p>\n
Asip A. Hasani, The Jakarta Post, Yogyakarta<\/p>\n
Clad in a feminine dress, a young man cries as he walks around
\nhis mother's dead body.<\/p>\n
\"Who forced me to be born in this world?\" he yelled. \"Mother,
\nlet me be back into your womb or take me back to my youth...
\nforgive me mother, I grew up to be someone you did not expect me
\nto be,\" he shouted before taking his mother's bra off from inside
\nher dress and donning it himself.<\/p>\n
Suddenly, a man's voice called him, \"Mbak (Sister)!\". The
\nyoung man responded to the voice by performing an erotic dance to
\nthe accompaniment of traditional percussion kendang. His
\nenergetic dance showed how he cried in his heart although trying
\nto keep on moving while holding a whip in his right hand and a
\nJavanese weapon, the kris, in his left hand.<\/p>\n
The scene marked the climax of a drama titled Thekmu Thukno
\nThekku staged by Teater Gardanalla theater group at the
\nauditorium of Yogyakarta's Indonesia-French Institute (LIP) on
\nFriday and Saturday last week. The words Thekmu Thokno Thekku are
\na Javanese euphemism, meaning a request for sexual intercourse.<\/p>\n
During the performance, with minimal lighting effects, young
\npainter Edo Pillu was painting on a wide canvas, creating a
\nunique background of the stage.<\/p>\n
Watching the play might incite laughter just like when the
\naudience was witnessing actor Joned Suryatmoko, who is also the
\nplay's director, dancing in female-like movements.<\/p>\n
But at the same time, one could also catch the strong message.
\nIn the climax, the young man was not simply dancing in erotic
\nmovements, but the audience could also witness his grief and
\nanger through his angry expression or watching him dancing with
\ntears in his eyes.<\/p>\n
The play, according to Joned, portrayed the protest of
\ntransvestites and gays against the prevailing social norms and
\nmoral values that in reality alienate them because of their
\nsexual behavior and denounce them as the poison of people.<\/p>\n
The play's story tells of an anonymous young gay man who was
\nborn to parents who had an unhappy marriage. His parents were the
\nvictims of his grandparents' ambition, as they forced them to get
\nmarried. His father, who was always with other women, never loved
\nhis mother.<\/p>\n
The young man witnessed all the sorrowful experiences that his
\nmother endured, growing up without a father whom he could
\nconsider as a role model to help him shape his masculine side. He
\nonly knew his mother, who lived her unhappy life.<\/p>\n
\"I never chose to be like this... I will kill my father if
\nthat's the only way to bury my past,\" he shouted in tears while
\nraising the kris in his left hand, expressing a mixed feeling of
\nhis deep longing for his father and hatred against him at the
\nsame time.<\/p>\n
The play's dance, which took the better part of an hour, had
\nstrong influences from contemporary Japanese Butoh dances.<\/p>\n
Scenes of sexual intercourse, both homosexual and heterosexual
\nones, were done in a straight manner, yet no sense of pornography
\nwas seen.<\/p>\n
In general, the play's stage layout and the dance's
\nchoreography seemed to require another touch to make them
\nsweeter.<\/p>\n
The play's climax could works well to send the strongest
\nmessage, showing deep empathy for the play's director-script
\nwriter Joned Suryatmoko as well as other players who are mostly
\nuniversity students from various universities in Yogyakarta.<\/p>\n
The actors' young age may correlate to the content of the
\nplay, and they might also represent the young generation who
\nprobably can no longer accept the present norm and traditional
\nmoral values.<\/p>\n
\"In Yogyakarta alone, there some 300 transvestites, 200 gays,
\nand hundreds of prostitutes. This is our social reality,\" Joned
\nsaid in an interview.<\/p>\n
Through the play, Joned wants to raise the question in the
\npublic forum, \"What if moral values in sexuality are separated
\nfrom reality?\"<\/p>\n
Teater Gardanella is scheduled to stage Thekmu Thokno Thekku
\nat Teater Utan Kayu in East Jakarta on May 17 and 18; in
\nSurakarta's Cultural Center in Surakarta, Central Java on May 22;
\nSoka Gallery in Denpasar, Bali on May 30 and on May 31 at the Art
\nCenter Denpasar; and again at LIP in Yogyakarta on June 12.<\/p>",
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