JP/3/PUSPA
Teater Keliling strives for recognition in Jakarta
By Yusuf Susilo Hartono
JAKARTA (JP): Luck hasn't smiled yet on Teater Keliling (Mobile theater), Jakarta's seasoned mobile theater group. Despite its popularity in the provinces and abroad, in its birthplace it tends to be sidelined and overlooked.
When the National Gallery recently held a JakArt@2001 theater costume display to mark Jakarta's anniversary, for instance, it wasn't invited. Nor was it included when the Jakarta Arts Council published its theater book several years back.
"We're just brushed aside and forgotten," said stage director Rudolf Puspa, one of the troupe's founders, in a trembling voice and tearful eyes. "We do exist and have been performing for 27 years, in fact. We're recognized overseas, and known in most regions across the country. So why does Jakarta fail to acknowledge us?", he queried in a bitter and emotional tone.
Based in Taman Modern, Cakung, East Jakarta, Teater Keliling has joined various international arts and drama festivals and performances, in Perth-Australia (1979), Singapore (1981), Romania (1994), Cairo (1994, 1996), Lahore-Pakistan (1996), Bangkok (1997) and South Korea (1997).
The emotional mood prevailed, reflected in mixed feelings -- optimism when reminiscing about brilliant performances in the regions and abroad, disappointment when speaking of the vain attempt to win over Jakarta audiences -- as the Solo-born Javanese artist talked with The Jakarta Post following his group's show, Badak-badak (Rhinos), at the Jakarta Playhouse.
The play, with two performances, was the theater's 1,225th performance since its founding in Jakarta on Feb. 13, 1974. Quantitatively, Teater Keliling scores the highest record in number of performances. In the latest show, it cooperated with a nonprofit organization, Asia Works Jakarta. It was a full house with a seating capacity of 450 on the first day, with only around 25 percent of seats filled on the second.
His wife, Dery Syrna, a Jakarta-born woman of West and South Sumatran descent, as theater manager, shared the feelings of Rudolf Puspa or Rudi. Dery, an architecture graduate of Jakarta's Trisakti University, along with Rudi, has never given up. They and their troupe strive to capture an audience in Jakarta, amid the increasingly tougher life due to misdirected reforms, soaring prices and growing necessity of taking side jobs to support their theater.
To prevail among Jakarta's theater-goers has become their ultimate obsession, in the present and future. Therefore, they are considering various suggestions, such as the idea of staging mobile plays at malls, plazas, schools and universities with appealing stories. By "introducing" Teater Keliling to Jakartans, they hope to at least turn local drama fans into a loyal audience, before staging major shows at the city's prestigious playhouses.
Rudi, is also aware of the need to put the management in order. Poor management is the general shortcoming of theatrical troupes in Indonesia with Teater Koma being the only exception, perhaps.
Had its management been better, Teater Keliling may have got a place in the book about theater published by the Jakarta Arts Council or been invited to take part in the exhibition on theatrical costumes held at the National Gallery.
In conjunction with the 30th anniversary of Teater Keliling, Rudi has also been advised to prepare grand and memorable events, for example the issuance of a book 30 Years of Teater Keliling, an exhibition of posters, clippings and costumes related to its performances.
Everybody that was once involved in Teater Keliling as well as its fans must be invited to participate in these anniversary activities. With the publication of the book, for example, Teater Keliling will always be remembered among theater buffs.
Question: Teater Keliling was set up three years earlier than Teater Koma but why does it seem to have been forgotten in Jakarta?
Answer: This may be attributable to our own practice of using a local organizing committee each time we perform in the regions. We only come and perform and don't bother about how to attract people to attend our performances. When we performed abroad, the audience was already waiting for us to perform. In short, we have never attempted to invite an audience.
In 1997 we decided to perform at the Jakarta Arts House and had to take care of everything related to our performance. We usually establish cooperation with one institution and every time we would have a new audience, which is one of the reasons why, until now, we have not been able to foster our own loyal audience.
If we perform in the regions, the local media will give us wide publicity but in Jakarta, unfortunately, we don't seem to steal the attention of the mass media. We don't know what has gone amiss.
Uki Bayu Sejati, a reporter and theatrical practitioner, advised us to introduce ourselves to present-day reporters, who are actually unaware of our activities, or even of our existence. This situation, I believe, explains why the Jakarta community, particularly the arts bureaucrats, are unaware of our existence.
Your strategy of taking control of the regions first before Jakarta has failed. Why did you try this approach?
When Teater Keliling was set up some 27 years ago, I had lived in Jakarta for only a short period. Before coming to Jakarta, I was actively involved in theatrical activities in Solo. As there were quite a lot of theatrical groups in Jakarta when Teater Keliling was formed, we opted for mobile theatrical performances.
We are now the only modern theatrical group which has moved from one place to another until now. Wherever we perform, we usually receive a huge applause from ordinary locals as well as local government officials.
It was really very touching, when, during our performance in Sumatra recently, someone in the audience greeted us warmly saying that he first saw our performance in Kalimantan. People in the regions usually ask us to return quite often. In Aceh for example, our fans have requested us to return there every quarter.
Will you find it difficult to give your best performance at the Jakarta Arts House with all its sophisticated equipment while all these years you have performed on just any stage, often below standard, in the regions?
I don't think so. Everywhere we go, we try to do our best. When we performed Mega-mega (Clouds), a play by Arifin C. Noer, in Malaysia, we enjoyed a standing ovation. This performance introduced a new direction to Malaysia's modern drama. Well, before we performed this play in Malaysia, we had performed it at home over 200 times.
The play is our masterpiece. To tell you the truth, performing in the region or in Jakarta is just the same to me. I can manage both equally well.
As you have said, you have benefited considerably with your mobile performances but then there is also a disadvantage as you still cannot be popular among the people in Jakarta. In connection with the New Order and the reform movement, what experiences can you share with us?
When we were touring in the regions performing plays during the New Order era, we saw a lot of examples of ignorance. Then when Habibie became president, people in the regions hoped to have children as smart as the president. In the present reform era, everyone dares to speak up and criticize while street rallies are commonplace.
What about the theatrical world?
Well, the theatrical world is just like the media, newspapers or television. In such a situation, Teater Keliling tries to stick to aesthetic values and to the principle that the theater is a medium for cultural dialog. Of course, we do not set aside the entertainment value of the theater.
While Western style freedom and democracy are given value in Indonesia today, you perform "Rhinoceros", which is inspired by a short story by Eugene Ionesco. What's your motivation?
I just want to say this: in the past everything used to be uniform and regular, but now everything is free and democratic. However, in both situations, the essence is the same. Everyone forces their wishes upon others. They never take other people into consideration.
So, take note of these words in the play: "I just know that I am right and must be right." In the play these words are spoken by a woman because today it is a woman that is being praised. Yet, everything seems to be the same in every aspect of life. A woman, a man or even the powers-that-be will reveal the same thing when exposed: all are rhinos.