Drama bridges RI-Japan cultural gap

Drama bridges RI-Japan cultural gap

By Bakdi Soemanto

YOGYAKARTA (JP): A play was performed on two consecutive days
here last week at the Hidang Kesenian arts center, which once
housed a Yogyakartan nobleman. The performance took place in the
center's pendhapa (hall) over two days, Dec. 6 and Dec. 7, in the
area of Nataprajan.

It was a unique production in the way it was presented. The
actors were from Yogyakarta's Indonesian Institute of the Arts
and from the Boat Theater of Japan. They spoke Indonesian and
Japanese at the same time but strangely seemed to understand each
other.

The story of the play revolves around two knights from
different tribes at war. Karna, who sides with Korawa, is matched
against his younger brother Arjuna from Pandhawa in the Kurusetra
battlefield to execute the scenario planned by the gods.

They were both Kunti's sons but from different fathers. Karna
was the son of Surya, the god of the sun, while Arjuna's father
was Pandhu, who formerly reigned Hastina, now owned by the
Korawas.

The battle of the Bharatayudha is a war between two tribes who
have the same ancestor, Bharata. Despite the Mahabharata's touch,
the production is a new interpretation of an old story with which
Yogyakartans are familiar.

The opening scene is a main road on which foreign tourists and
townspeople are taking walks. The god Surya (Fajar Suharno) is
riding a becak and enjoying the lovely evening when a car
suddenly hits him. He is not hurt but the becak driver is wounded
seriously. Surya, in his monolog, says that he is going to go to
Nataprajan to see the production of Karna Tandang (Death of
Karna).

Surya is a supernatural being that can communicate with the
wandering soul of a Japanese soldier (Chomasa Tamayose) who died
during the war for Indonesian independence.

Both Surya and the Japanese soldier have the same purpose.
When they arrive in Nataprajan, Kunti (Yudi Aryani) decides to
see Karna, who was thrown in a river as a baby for being a
disgrace to the family.

As it is told in the Mahabharata, when Kunti was washing
herself in the bathroom, she said a spell by mistake which
invites the god Surya to make love to her and she gets pregnant.
The priest, Druwoso, helps her to have a baby through one of her
ears to keep her virginity intact, which is why the baby was
named Karna (sanskrit for "ear").

Taken care of by a coachman who found the baby on a river
bank, Karna becomes a handsome and smart boy. When he is 12 years
old, the stepfather takes him to the palace of Hastina, where he
is trained to be a warrior. He is then appointed supreme
commander of Hastina's troops.

Realizing that both of her sons are going to fight against
each other in battle, Kunti wants to stop them. Karna (Bambang
Pudjasworo) pays no attention to what Kunti is saying. Insisting
that nothing can be done, Karna asks permission to leave and die,
for he knows that he will be defeated by Arjuna for the sake of
the Pandhawas' victory.

On the battlefield, Karna is hit by the magic arrow of Arjuna
(Ben Suharto) and dies.

Before he falls down to the ground, the wandering soul of the
Japanese soldier enters Karna's dead body and starts talking
about his past experiences.

Not only does he regret what happened during the Japanese
occupation of Indonesia, he says that he misses his family, whom
he never met because he was transplanted from his country to a
destination for a purpose he had never known.

Karna says that everybody everywhere is in danger. According
to him, the war exists in forms that no one can do anything
about. Man is seemingly doomed to annihilate himself from within
as he is unconsciously enslaved by his own mysterious
destructiveness.

Surya comes over to ask the Japanese soldier's soul to leave
Karna's body. The soul leaves the body and the actor recovers.

The production was truly beautiful for the modesty of the
directing, costume designs and dialog. It created a wonderful
feeling of peace and serenity in its dramatic rhythm from
beginning till end. It reminded me of the Mahabharata movie
directed by Peter Brook, whose message was basically to build a
new world.

Director Takuo Endo, assisted by Ben Suharto, successfully
bridged the cultural gap between Indonesia and Japan in terms of
language and costume. The music highlights the views of the two
worlds which come together in the spirit of brotherhood and
mutual understanding.

Combining reality and myth beckons people to think of life's
mysteries as reflected by old buildings erected hundreds of years
ago.

Some scenes needed to be polished, in terms of dialog and
acting, but this was one of the best productions that Yogyakarta
has ever had. The Japan Foundation, which financed it, must be
very proud.