'Kondom' shows us how fragile we are
'Kondom' shows us how fragile we are
Slamet Susanto, The Jakarta Post/Yogyakarta
A puppeteer strummed a guitar and danced around on the stage.
Why not?
On Friday night, puppeteer Slamet Gundono did just that. Even more startling, for traditionalists, the notoriously contemporary puppeteer did not dress like a normal dalang, or puppet master, in traditional Javanese clothes. That night, barefooted, Slamet sported a red T-shirt and cream-colored shorts.
A striped sarong hung loosely around his neck and a guitar belt encircled his rather large waist.
It was not like an ordinary shadow play. There was no line of sinden, or female singers, around the gamelan players.
Slamet was accompanied by Frenchwoman Elizabeth D. Inandiak. She did not sing like Javanese female singers do; rather she recited suluk-suluk, or ancient Javanese lyrics.
Only a few puppets were used instead of the hundreds at ordinary shadow plays.
That was the scene at the 90-minute Wayang Kondom, or condom shadow play, a collaboration between Slamet and Inandiak. That night at the Yogyakarta Bentara Budaya hall they took episodes from the old manuscripts Serat Centhini (Centhini's Letters) and Minggatnya Cebolang (Cebolang Left)
Slamet said he was using condoms in his show to demonstrate his concern over the cluttering of morality in the country.
"As humans, we all have limits, but most of the time we just step over them. We forget that only God is limitless," said Slamet.
"Our age has limits, wealth has limits, but the only thing that we can easily understand the limits of is a condom," he said.
"I find the limitations in Cebolang's character. I picked condoms not for the sake of some bombastic cause, but because condoms are the only thing that people today understand the limits of," the stout puppeteer said.
Minggatnya Cebolang tells the story of a handsome man, named Cebolang, who leaves his house to find his identity. Cebolang is a dancer and is portrayed as a bit feminine.
Every time Cebolang dances, both women and men are charmed by his movements and his dancing eyes.
Cebolang is the only child of Syekh Akhadiyat, a solemn spiritual leader.
In his adventures, Cebolang loses all understanding of commitment, morals and virtues. What matters to him is the pleasure of sex, so much so that he rapes the wife of a local official whom he lusts after. He also savors a sexual adventure with an adipati (a regent in modern times).
But Cebolang is only human, so there comes a point where he must end his adventure. This point, which he cannot resist, is when he comes across the source of holy water, which purifies his mind and heart.
"The Minggatnya Cebolang shows us how humans have limitations and have to have principles in life, and not try to act as rivals with our Creator," Slamet said.
For the show, the puppets were covered with condoms. Dozens of condoms were blown up like balloons and placed randomly around the stage.
Inandiak, who initiated the translation of Serat Centhini into French said she saw some resemblance in the themes of ancient Javanese stories with ancient stories from other cultures.
Slamet and Inandiak met at a cultural event in Surakarta last month. During that first meeting Inandiak, told Slamet about her recent work translating the Javanese manuscript into French.
They then agreed to collaborate to stage one of the episodes from the manuscript.
"I want my years of work to be seen, in any form. It happened that I met Slamet and following a lengthy discussion we agreed to this shadow play medium," Inandiak said.