'Belajar Berbicara' to be staged soon

'Belajar Berbicara' to be staged soon

JAKARTA (JP): What happens if three toddlers, nineteen
children and eleven adults, all of who can act, meet? An
intriguing theatrical performance takes place.

Be-be or Belajar Berbicara (Learning to Talk) is the title of
a play to be presented on May 12 and 13 by Bela Studio children's
theater at Erasmus Huis on Jl. H.R. Rasuna Said in South Jakarta.

Be-be tells of the difficulty children in a city like Jakarta
have in finding a good role model. Value changes in modern life,
from the influence of secular culture, confuse the children.
Thanks to nature, they learn to be wise. Children learn to
develop their senses from playing in the rain, from the earth,
from cats and mice.

"(Through the play) children learn how to work together and to
memorize. As they play their roles, they learn to place
themselves in other people's shoes. This is absolutely needed in
adult life," Max A.N. Gitz, first secretary of the Royal
Netherlands Embassy, said.

The embassy, as well as the Netherlands Cultural Center of
Erasmus Huis, support Bela Studio because they are concerned
about the lack of attention children's theaters get in Indonesia.

Deputy Director of Erasmus Huis David C. Korthals Altes
himself is acting in the play.

"Bela Studio is a great theatrical group. When I saw them, I
could not help playing with them. So I begged them, 'Please, let
me join you'," David told The Jakarta Post.

Established in 1987, Bela Studio has produced several plays,
including Nyamuk (Mosquito), which was performed last year, and
Di Antara Dua Dunia (Between Two Worlds), a musical staged in
January and February this year.

The director of the Be-be, Edi Suharyono, said he has no
problem dealing with the children.

"It is good if we can start when they are very young because
they have not been contaminated," he said.

"The bad thing is that with 40 people, who are mostly
children, our mobility is very slow. Especially if we have to
perform outside the city," he said.

He to is concerned about the lack of attention children's
theater groups receive. Suharyono pointed out that acting has
many positive results for the members. The children learn to
interact with other people, to identify with themselves, to shape
their sensitivity toward art and to organize things. (sim)