'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)