GKJ survives raging engine of development

By Ida Indawati Khouw

Gedung Kesenian Jakarta has a long history and is the oldest playhouse that still exists in the city. This is the 45th article on old and protected buildings in Jakarta, appearing in The Jakarta Post's Save Old Batavia column.

JAKARTA (JP): Batavia folks in olden times already had the luxury of enjoying world-class art performances thanks to the availability of venues.

Event organizers kept their eyes on what was happening in the West. Often, arts and theater presented in Batavia were those which were being shown and performed in Europe.

Such old art buildings are rare now. The only remaining building is Gedung Kesenian Jakarta (the Jakarta Playhouse, better known as GKJ) located near the hectic Pasar Baru shopping arcade in Central Jakarta.

Other old buildings are in ruin or have been demolished to make way for modern projects.

One which has been badly damaged is the Bataviasche Kunstkring building or arts society building, which was built in 1913. Now known as the "immigration building" in Menteng area, Central Jakarta, it became a center of controversy when it was being demolished for a development project. The protests were able to prevent its complete destruction.

The Harmonie, built in 1810, had an even more tragic story. It was demolished to make way for the development of a street now known as Jl. Majapahit. According to Batavia as a Commercial, Industrial and Residential Center, it was the "oldest European club house".

The Concordia club house for military members at Lapangan Banteng area in Central Jakarta also had the same fate: being destroyed for a development project.

Comedy building

Gedung Kesenian Jakarta, was built specially for the performing arts. The 179-year-old playhouse underwent renovation in 1987 that cost about Rp 3 billion.

In the Dutch colonial era, the building was called Stadtsschouwburg (Municipal Theater) but also was known as Comediegebouw (Comedy Building). The original project construction was handled by noted Chinese developer, Lie Atje, (others name him Lie A Cie or Lie Atjie).

He completed the work within 14 months at 67,707 guilders.

The building's materials were taken from the ruins of three buildings in the old walled city of Batavia (Kota area in present day West Jakarta), namely a penitentiary, a school building and a Chinese hospital, according to the book Tracing the Path of Discovery, the 10th Anniversary of GKJ 1987-1997.

At that time many buildings in Kota area were being demolished, due to deteriorating health conditions, and the ruins were used to build other buildings in the new city of Weltevreden (now Central Jakarta).

Experts are still debating on the original architectural style of the building. Some say that it is the Empire style which was a trend in the city at that time, while others think it is more the Neo Greek or Neo Italian Renaissance styles.

The striking feature of the white theater building is its big pillars which were connected by curved cornices. But its two beautiful goddess statues standing on the porch have disappeared.

No one knows the whereabouts of the two white sculptures, which, according to an authority on old buildings, Sudarmadji Damais, were statues of Thalia (goddess of comedy) and Melpomene (goddess of tragedy).

"It was common at the time that the entrance of a playhouse was decorated with the goddesses," said Sudarmadji.

In general, the present shape of the building is the same as when it was constructed in 1821.

But unlike ornaments at other old buildings, which were beautifully and neatly carved, those in the main oval room are very coarse.

Replicas

Architect for the renovation project, Martono Yuwono, said that the ornaments were not original, "Those are replicas because most of the original ones have been damaged," he said.

Renovating the theater in the middle of the crowded Pasar Baru area was no easy job as related by Martono, who supervised the renovation project between Jan. 2, 1986 and Aug. 8, 1987.

He said that workers had a hard time trying to reduce the noise level to the tolerable limit of 15 decibels.

"The present Pasar Baru area is not ideal for the site of an arts building because the noise level of the surrounding area is now about 120 decibels," he said.

Efforts have been made to reduce the noise by fixing sound- proofing material on the walls and ceilings of the main hall and also beneath the roof-tiles.

"It was too expensive to import sound-proof tiles so what we did was to provide the tiles with sound-proof material like glass wool. The noise level can be reduced to 20 to 30 decibels," he said.

That is why the audience only faintly hear the sounds of bus honking during the day.

Of course noise was no problem at the time when it was first constructed.

"The area was still quiet. The mode of transportation in the area was andong, the horse-drawn cart, and there was no problem with noise," Martono said.

British occupation

The origin of the theater's history dates back to the British occupation between 1811 and 1816.

"British troops were surprised to find that the city had no arts building," the book published in commemoration of the building's 10 years anniversary says.

The book says that in 1812 the British troops founded a theater group and built a simple theater building at Pasar Baru area. The British called it "theater building of Weltevreden" but Dutch jokingly called it "bamboo theater".

Plays written by famous British writers like Shakespeare were performed by amateur actors, the British soldiers.

The commemoration book also says that the humble building was handed over to the Dutch when the British were defeated in 1816.

One year later, drama lovers in Batavia united and formed a theater society under the name of Ut Desint. "Thanks to the society and government support, a permanent and ideal theater building was built and officially inaugurated on Dec. 7, 1821," the book says.

Shakespeare's Othello was performed during the inauguration.

Developing

Enthusiasm for the theater grew over time and world renowned plays were performed there.

"It turned out that Batavia followed the international developing arts and that the city belonged to the worldwide community," Sudarmadji said.

In the early years of its development, in 1822, famous Russian dancer Ana Pavlova also performed in the building.

And in 1833, a theater company from France played there. It was noted as the first foreign theater company to perform in the city.

In addition to theater performances at Stadtsschouwburg, classical music, dance, opera and Javanese puppet shows (wayang) were also enjoyed.

It was during the era of Japanese occupation, between 1942 and 1945, that the building suffered damage -- with ornaments and equipment missing -- because it was used as a military barrack.

However, it was also during the era that the Japanese authority opened a bigger opportunity for indigenous theater groups to play there, which initiated the birth of Indonesian figures of arts.

During the struggle for independence, the building was the "base camp" of young Indonesian artists, like Usmar Ismail, Cornel Simanjuntak, Rosihan Anwar and others preparing for independence day (on Aug. 17, 1945) by establishing a group called Seniman Merdeka (Free Artists).

The theater was also historic as the place where the Central Indonesian National Committee (KNIP), the parliament, held its first congress.