Asian artists present version of 'King Lear'

JAKARTA (JP): A unique drama featuring artists from six Asian countries will present William Shakespeare's King Lear to audiences in Jakarta for three days starting Friday, the Japan Cultural Center's director general Kazuma Nishida, who is sponsoring the play, said on Monday.

The play, entitled Lear and performed by artists from Indonesia, China, Japan, Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore, will be performed at Teater Tanah Airku at Taman Mini Indonesia Indah in East Jakarta.

"The production of this play is very special in many ways because it is Asian-initiated and Asian-funded and also because it combines the traditional and the contemporary," said 35 year- old Ong Ken Sen, who directs the two hour-long drama.

Some dialogs in the play will be spoken in Chinese, Japanese, Bahasa Indonesia and other languages of Asian countries from where the actors come. But the greater part of the performance will be presented in dance and gesture.

Dances in the play are partly inspired by the Minangkabau martial arts movements, thanks to the participation of Indonesian choreographer Boi Sakti, and gestures inspired by Noh actor Naohiko Umewaka of Japan.

Another Indonesian artist, Rahayu Supanggah, enlivens the play with his traditional Javanese gamelan.

Shakespeare's King Lear is about the wrongdoings of children and parents. In the original story, Lear has two evil-hearted daughters, Goneril and Regan, and one ministering angel, Cordelia.

The old King Lear divides his kingdom between his daughters according to their expressions of affection for him. Lear finds that the two who say the most are heartless and that Cordelia, relatively silent and therefore disinherited, cares for and succors him.

The play also deals with another man, the Earl of Gloucester, who also misunderstands the true nature of his two sons, the wicked Edmund and faithful Edgar. The moral message of the play is that one suffers because of one's pride and misjudgement.

Three years in preparation, the play features 17 actors and actresses, including renowned Beijing Opera actor Jiang Qihu, Thai traditional dancer Peeramond Chomdvarat and Japanese actress Hairi Katagiri.

Before coming to Indonesia, Lear has been performed in Japan, Hong Kong, and Singapore. Despite requests from European countries, it will be performed in Australia in August.

According to Ratna Riantiarno, the associate producer of the drama, 95 percent of the tickets, prices of which range from Rp 10,000 to Rp 40,000 have been sold out.

It will be the first international performance to be staged at Teater Tanah Airku, she added. (ego)