Young talents conquer stage with powerful plays<\/p>\n
I Wayan Juniartha, The Jakarta Post, Denpasar<\/p>\n
At the end of the performance, Cok Sawitri, the driving force
\nbehind the All-Bali Theater Festival, was so overwhelmed with joy
\nthat she jumped up from her chair and began yelling, betraying
\nher usual calm.<\/p>\n
A few meters away, another leading dramatist, Mas Ruscitadewi,
\nsat quietly, trying to hide her teary eyes.<\/p>\n
The rest of the spectators broke into wave after wave of
\nthunderous applause. Some of them stormed the stage, trying to be
\nthe first to congratulate the actors and director.<\/p>\n
The message was unanimous; this was a great performance.<\/p>\n
\"I am deeply touched. They managed to present an excellent
\nperformance. Considering their ages and the various obstacles
\nthey had to face in producing the play, it is quite an astounding
\nachievement,\" Mas Ruscitadewi said.<\/p>\n
The play she was referring to was Harga Vagina (The price
\nof the vagina), one of six plays performed during the seven-day
\nAll-Bali Theater Festival.<\/p>\n
\"It is arguably the best performance of the festival,\" theater
\nbuff Agus Sedana said.<\/p>\n
Harga Vagina was written and directed by 16-year-old Maliana.
\nAn 11th grader at private high school St. Joseph in Denpasar,
\nMaliana is a shy girl with a rebellious heart.<\/p>\n
\"At first I wanted to write about child abuse, but somehow I
\nended up writing a play about a prostitute,\" she said with a
\ngrin.<\/p>\n
\"The word for prostitute in Bahasa (Indonesia) is pelacur. The
\nword lacur in the Balinese language means poor. Initially, I
\nassumed that a prostitute was someone who was poor in moral and
\nethical values,\" she said.<\/p>\n
After weeks of research, reading books on the psychology of
\nstreet prostitutes and gathering first-hand stories from her male
\nfriends, Maliana discarded this initial assumption.<\/p>\n
\"They are the victims of either poverty or social injustices.
\nFrom the moral and ethical perspective, prostitutes are far
\nricher than politicians and bureaucrats who have not only sold
\ntheir country and constituents, but also their consciences.<\/p>\n
\"Prostitutes, at least the one I wrote about, still
\nhave their consciences intact,\" Maliana said.<\/p>\n
This transformation of thought and image -- from prostitutes
\nas women with poor morals to prostitutes as women with strong
\nconsciences -- is clearly reflected in Maimunah, the streetwise
\nprotagonist of Harga Vagina.<\/p>\n
Maimunah transforms from a sensual, pleasure-seeking
\nindividual into an intelligent woman who courageously questions
\nthe injustices the male-dominated world has inflicted upon her.<\/p>\n
Promising actress Rika Puspasari vividly portrays this
\ntransformation. In what can only be described as a compelling
\ntour de force, Rika seduces the spectators into a darkly sensuous
\nrealm of quick sex and mind-blowing pleasure. She demonstrates
\nvarious positions from the Kama Sutra and hilarious penis
\nresuscitation and enlargement techniques, repeatedly proclaiming
\nshe is nothing but a professional service provider with no
\nemotional attachment.<\/p>\n
Then, in a sudden transformation, Rika shows the other side of
\nMaimunah. In a moving narration, she discloses the hypocrisy of
\nher customers-- soldiers, government officials, students and
\nlaborers -- who literally fight for her services but vehemently
\ndeny her any official acknowledgement for her contributions to
\nsociety.<\/p>\n
Toward the end of the performance, Rika convincingly portrays
\nMaimunah as an activist who puts her vagina up for auction. It is
\nan effort to show how a prostitute's vagina, an item deeply
\nloathed by society, is the very thing that males in that society
\nyearn for.<\/p>\n
In the end, the vagina commands a very high price and Maimunah
\nis sent to jail for the murder of a high-ranking government
\nofficial. She did not kill the official. In fact, the official
\nwas killed by a fellow official in a fight over Maimunah's
\nvagina.<\/p>\n
In this age of whimsical soap operas and glamorous teenage
\nstarlets, it is rare to find a teenage girl who is not only brave
\nenough but also intelligent enough to write a dark play about
\nprostitution, poverty and a vagina auction.<\/p>\n
Maliana, however, is not a singular anomaly in Bali's
\ncontemporary theater realm. Thanks to the hard work of Cok
\nSawitri and her Kelompok Tulus Ngayah group, the island can boast
\na new generation of dramatists and actors who are not only
\nintelligent but also sensitive to the various social issues
\naround them.<\/p>\n
A few nights before the performance of Harga Vagina, 18-year-
\nold Anak Agung Eka Putri, in her directorial debut, amazed the
\naudience with an intelligent interpretation of Nyunyan...Nyunyen,
\na complex and difficult script on domestic violence, single-
\nparenthood and lesbianism, written by an equally young woman
\nwriter, Luh Arik Sariadi.<\/p>\n
\"Eka Putri's interpretation helped me to fully understand my
\nown script. Previously, I had no idea what my play was all about.
\nI wrote it almost unconsciously. Now I know that it reflects my
\npersonal suffering, physical and otherwise,\" Sariadi said.<\/p>\n
Through its various activities, from holding workshops on
\nscript writing and theater management, to providing generous
\ngrants to young theater companies, Kelompok Tulus Ngayah has
\nhelped bring about what might be Bali's golden age of modern
\ndrama.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/young-talents-conquer-stage-with-powerful-plays-1447893297",
"image": ""
},
"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
}