Contemporary theater
On a four-month trip from England around the world studying contemporary theater in India, Indonesia, Canada and the U.S., I was interested to read in The Jakarta Post, (Sunday, June 15) about the struggle for survival of traditional forms of theater here.
Growing tourism will help keep these alive into the next millennium and with Indonesia's rapidly developing economic wealth, I am sure that Indonesians will also demand more than what most television stations presently offer: a diet of soap that leaves a nasty taste in the mouth.
But what about non-traditional theater? I can only speak from very limited knowledge of the contemporary scene, but from what I have experienced already I would say that this aspect of Indonesian cultural life deserves support and success.
My own directorial work has been particularly with the work of Shakespeare, and having heard in the United Kingdom of the work done at Taman Ismail Marzuki, I was delighted a few days ago to be invited to watch a rehearsal of Theater Lembaga's presentation of Julius Caesar, one of Shakespeare's most powerful political plays, directed by Joseph Ginting and A Azuzan JG, to be staged in July at the Graha Bhakti Budaya building at TIM.
A month ago I saw Shakespeare's Hamlet performed in northern India and the aim of the production was obvious to ape a traditional British form of presentation -- that most Britons would now consider very old-fashioned. Like many of Shakespeare's plays Hamlet can be set in any time and any place, and gain new life and relevance from this transposition. One example is the recent screen enactment of Romeo and Juliet set in Miami Beach in the 1990s, a long way from Verona. This excellent interpretation was recently released in Indonesia. But the Indian version of Hamlet did not portray anything of India or the twentieth century, or the people of the time which I think it should have done.
On the other hand, Theater Lembaga's Julius Caesar benefits from a visually exciting and physical setting that seems to owe more to Eastern than Western theater traditions. The important crowd scenes are particularly dynamic, with superb groupings and brilliantly choreographed movement. The acting is more passionate than you will see in much Western theater, and as a non- Indonesian speaker I followed every nuance of their moods. The specially composed music heightens the action and themes of the play, and the contemporary Indonesian costumes help to intensify the personal and political messages of the play.
To me, as a Western practitioner, this production exemplifies what theater can -- and should -- do: take the traditions of the past and mold them to the needs of today and tomorrow. Shakespeare may have lived four centuries ago on a small offshore European island, but he is now a citizen of the world who can be used to help strengthen theater and other arts everywhere. It is not such a long jump from 1590s London to 1990s Jakarta. With work such as Theater Lembaga's, contemporary theater seems to be in safe hands. I urge your readers to see this production to experience what theater can teach us about ourselves and our society on the brink of the next millennium.
MICHAEL DAY
Director of Drama
Giggleswick, UK