'Cinta yang Serakah': Teater Koma's latest innovation
'Cinta yang Serakah': Teater Koma's latest innovation
By Oei Eng Goan
JAKARTA (JP): Cinta yang Serakah (Greedy Love) is something
new from Teater Koma, its 79th production which opens with an old
wheelchair-bound tycoon being attended to by a bunch of heartless
offspring and their spouses who eagerly look after his wealth but
not his health.
The play resembles Greedy, an American movie about a small
army of potential heirs who, according to one film review, "stoop
lower than a limbo dancer to pick the pelf of a stinking-rich"
wheelchair-bound Uncle Joe (played by Kirk Douglas).
Not until the play has run for a few minutes does playwright
and stage director N. Riantiarno, Teater Koma's group leader,
launch a coup de theatre -- a sudden dramatic change that seizes
the attention of the audience -- that rightly affirms Cinta yang
Serakah as his own original creation.
Riantiarno's tycoon character, unlike the Uncle Joe in Greedy,
is a completely vigorous, healthy man!
Other new things which Teater Koma fans may find in the
production currently being staged at TIM's Graha Bhakti Budaya
theater are the prevalence of serious dialog and a sparing use of
skits to criticize human greed and hypocrisy, as well as more
down-to-earth acting and character portrayals.
"It's time for the players of Teater Koma to perform in a
realistic manner, now that people have become tired of laughing
and skits (from this theatrical group)," Riantiarno told The
Jakarta Post after the dress rehearsal last week.
"In the vein of realism, we just show the bare facts of life,
just as the players lay bare their acting ability," he added.
Despite his great efforts to remain true to realistic drama,
the audience may still find the influence of Bertolt Brecht's
"epic theater" style, where members of the audience are left to
grapple with emotionless acting.
Cinta yang Serakah centers around the family of Triadi (played
wonderfully by Taufan S. Chandranegara), the owner of several
large companies who never hesitates to justify his means of
amassing more wealth.
Aware that his days are numbered, old Triadi plans to pass on
his wealth to his children so that his vast enterprises can
continue to operate. He discovers, much to his despair, that all
his children and their spouses -- except for the youngest,
unmarried son, Bayu Buana (Budi Ros) -- have conspired to replace
him as leader of the enterprises.
Triadi -- with the help of his butler, Kroso (Dudung Hadi),
and personal physician, Dr. Kartono (Edi Sutarto) -- tricks the
greedy children into showing their true colors, depriving them of
their inheritance rights.
To achieve his goal, Triadi pretends to be gravely ill and
suffering from a stroke that partly paralyzes him. Bayu, who
knows the secret game his father is playing, refuses his father's
offer to manage the business enterprises, saying that he'd rather
be the man he is and not the sort of person his father wishes him
to be.
"Besides, how can I enjoy your wealth which you have
accumulated through foul play and at the expense of the poor
people's suffering? Riches that you've garnered from felling
trees of the pristine forest? From setting up golf courses on the
poor people's plots which you have acquired at so cheap a price?"
Bayu retorts.
His remarks are an obvious commentary on collusion between
tycoons and officials, unfair business practices, and the
government's indifferent attitude towards the environmental
damage caused by deforestation and the country's ambitious
development plans.
The story continues with the return of Triadi's wife, Ayuning
(Ratna Riantiarno), from an overseas trip, both of whom are then
kidnapped by a group of abductors. As the identities of the
abductors are never revealed throughout the play, the kidnapping
can be regarded as the self-expiation of Triadi and Ayuning.
Another surprise emerges when the motherly Ayuning is revealed
to be a murderer, for it is she who insisted that the woman with
whom Triadi had had an affair have an abortion, which ended up
with her death.
The use of cliff-hangers in the story development of his play
is another element not commonly found in Teater Koma's earlier
productions.
A thumbs-up to Riantiarno, who proves that even the most basic
human qualities such as love and greed can become evocative
themes for solid theatrical performance if they are treated
artistically and professionally.