Betawi theater groups face hard times

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

What is the connection between the Betawi (native Jakartan) folk theater lenong and English playwright William Shakespeare?

You may thing that question is a joke, that there could be no possible connection between the two. Well, there is.

Unbeknownst to many people, before the 1980s lenong theater groups would occasionally adapt Shakespeare plays. During this period, native Jakartans were treated to versions of Shakespeare's Hamlet or Romeo and Juliet, which were played lenong theater-style; on the ground surrounded by audience members who also sat on the ground.

Lenong theater is one of the most popular forms of Betawi theater in the country today.

Television viewers probably still remember the comedy Lenong Rumpi, which was aired by RCTI, and Lenong Bocah on TPI in the early 1990s.

While most Jakartans are probably familiar with the television-version of lenong theater, only some are likely to have seen a live lenong theater performance, which lasts the whole night.

It is quite common for your casual observer of Betawi theater to mix up lenong with another type of Betawi theater, topeng, according to Betawi cultural observer S.M. Ardan.

Bokir, Nasir or Mandra are all known as lenong artists, when in point of fact they are topeng artists, according to Ardan.

Lenong theater performances are accompanied by a gambang kromong orchestra, while the topeng is accompanied by a gamelan orchestra, like the one that accompanies the topeng dance in Cirebon, West Java.

Unlike a gamelan orchestra, a gambang kromong orchestra explores the use of stringed musical instruments.

Since the death several years ago of Ibu Siti, who used to perform at the Taman Ismail Marzuki arts center, there are no well known lenong artists left in the city.

Bokir explained that lenong and topeng were both types of Betawi theater, but with several differences between them.

Lenong theater involves artists more from the center of Jakarta, while artists in the topeng theater come from the city's outskirts, such as Bekasi, Tangerang or Bogor.

Lenong artists have different accents from topeng artists. A lenong artist says lu (you), gue (I), ape (what) and kenape (why), while a topeng artist says luh (you), guah (I), apah (what) and ngapah (why).

Topeng features dramas, while lenong is more about action. Both are humorous. So viewers should not expect a lenong version of Romeo and Juliet to be serious, but more comedy and action.

A lenong theater performance opens with a song, while topeng begins with a dance.

Lenong artists, as in other folks theater traditions, never use a script. It all depends on the artists' improvisations, Ardan said.

Lenong first emerged in the 19th century, and was influenced greatly by Chinese culture, especially the music of the gambang kromong.

"In the past, Chinese people acted as cukong (bosses) who financed the plays. Some of them even became lenong artists," Bokir said.

This Betawi theater tradition was also influenced by Persian theater, which is filled with a lot of humor.

Before the 1960s, lenong performances took place without a stage, with performers and audiences sitting on the ground. Lenong groups would travel from place to place, giving performances whenever enough people had gathered and the artists had collected money from the spectators.

Later, lenong theater groups began to use stages and auditoriums as public spaces in the city began to disappear before the relentless onslaught of new construction.

Now, lenong groups only perform when hired, usually for weddings and circumcision parties.

There are about 40 lenong and topeng groups in the city. Each group consists of about 30 people, though artists often belong to more than one group.

"A group performs an average of six or eight times a month, making about Rp 500,000 (US$55) per performance," Ardan said.

In order to survive, many of the artists hold down day jobs, such as doing construction or running small food stalls.

The development of lenong theater is always up and down, according to Ardan.

"Lenong theater groups are not good at adapting to speedy developments in Jakarta. They just keep on acting until one night modern people don't have the time to watch a full play," commented Ardan, a Betawi who was born on Feb. 2, 1932.

Another factor is that the current administration pays little attention to the folk arts here, he added.

In 1968, the Taman Ismail Marzuki arts center provided space for traditional lenong theater performances.

"But now the open space for the folk performances is damaged, and the administration has done nothing to restore it. Ironically, it instead chose to use money to erect a monument at the gates (to the arts center)," he remarked.

Providing the space for lenong theater groups to perform would be a way to preserve the local culture, Ardan said.

Traditionally, the children of lenong artists follow their parents into the profession. However, this tradition could end if the young generations do not believe that they can make a decent living in the theater.

"Just give them (lenong artists) the opportunity to perform so they can improve their welfare. If they see the older artists are making a good living, the young generation of lenong artists will gravitate toward the profession," he said.