More about Renny: Singer, actor, theater director

By Helly Minarti

JAKARTA (JP): It is easy to spot Renny Djajoesman. Her eccentric dress and quirky laugh make her stand out in the crowd.

Renny blurts out obscene words as if it's the most natural thing to do. When questions intensified in a press conference to announce her most recent play, Tumirah Sang Mucikari (Tumirah, the Panderer), Renny yelled at one of the cast members to respond.

Tumirah marked her comeback to the stage, after a 16-year absence last January. The play -- written by her best friend, Seno Gumira Adjidarma -- not only celebrated her return as a performer, it also marked her directing debut.

After rehearsing intensively for more than a month, Renny became sick only a few days before the one-day performance. "But on stage I felt fine again," she said. She finally collapsed and was bed ridden after singing in Semarang a few days after the play.

Born in Semarang, Central Java, on Jan. 2, 1959, her given name was Roro Retno Yooscarini. The eldest of seven children, Renny was raised in an atmosphere of fastidious discipline. Her father was a policeman and he applied the rules of the barrack on the home front.

"There was no way I could leave for school without keeping my room tidy," recalled Renny. "Going out at night was forbidden and so was dating before turning 17," she said.

"Disobedience of household rules led to tough disciplinary action," she recalled.

Renny's days were marked by tight scheduling to squeeze in many extracurricular activities.

"I took piano, violin and karate lessons." On the sidelines of her karate training sessions at Bulungan Youth Center in South Jakarta, Renny was attracted by the rehearsing Teater Bulungan members. In 1972 she joined the theater group; it provided her with a means to express her rebellious traits.

"My parents used to call me anak panas (the hot kid) in our family. But I loved the theater above and beyond any of my other projects."

Her parents resented her latest hobby. "They freaked out imagining me living the wild life of an artist," said Renny. However she was steadfast in her desire to act.

"Sometimes I was still locked up at home half an hour before performance time," she laughed. However, she never ran out of tricks to get what she wanted - mostly through acting up. "Once I pretended to slash my wrists because my father wouldn't allow me to go to a show."

In developing and sharpening her talent, Renny gives credit to theater trainer Uki Bayu Sejati -- whom she calls "my first theater guru" -- and Cok Hendro.

Obsessed with acting, Renny once dragged herself onto the stage only a day after a motorbike accident. "I always feel fine on stage," she insists.

Renny is two-time winner of the Jakarta Theater Festival best actress award. In 1975, one of these awards brought her to the attention of Putu Wijaya - then a young author and theater director recently returned from New York.

"I had a part in his play Dag Dig Dug; (Actor and director) Ikranegara introduced us," recalled Renny. Putu and Renny began dating a year later.

"I liked his down-to-earth manner. He was dynamic in comparison to the conservative mores still expected from me."

Renny, a Moslem, married Putu despite her father's wishes. "(My father contested the engagement reasoning that) Putu was Hindu, an artist and twice my age," explained Renny.

Her own reasoning was different: "(The marriage proposal occurred) shortly before my high school examination and I was worried I would not pass it. By marrying him, I didn't have to lose face over dropping out from school," she laughed. Renny suggests that she was naive to marry at such a young age: "I had no idea what a disco was like or anything about the alternative lifestyle."

Then, she was known as Renny Putu Wijaya, the foxy theater actress with an audacious fashion style; she combined colorful bandanas with lots of "ethnic" rings, necklaces, bracelets and earrings. "I loved the way Gypsy people dress and have copied it ever since." said Renny.

She was a regular with Teater Mandiri, an alternative theater founded by her husband, until the birth of their first daughter, Yuka Mandiri.

The marriage, perhaps unsurprisingly, only lasted seven years. Reverting to her family name, Renny Djajoesman, as she was now known, embarked on a new career - that of rock singer.

"I was a rocker with a mission. I vowed that if I was successful, I would use my experience to improve theater," said Renny.

She has always dreamed that Indonesian theaters will one day prosper. "I love theater and there were times when I was too broke for it. Theater, ironically, was never able to support me from day to day," explained Renny.

Despite never releasing an album, her music career proved to moderately successful. Film and TV work also paid the bills.

In 1986, two years after the divorce, she married businessman Irwan Subroto.

"I wanted another child in my life but actually I was not ready for another marriage," said Renny, who divorced again three years later. Indra Kharisma, affectionately nicknamed Growong, now 12, is the daughter from that marriage.

Later the actor-singer founded Renny Djajoesman Enterprise, an organization which coordinates entertainment events and Teater Yuka. Renny also joined the dominant political party, Golkar, in 1992.

"The company has been extremely quiet since the crisis hit the country and yes, I remain a member of the party (Golkar) in this reform era when many people have left it," said Renny, who regards Golkar as the "best organized" political party.

In Teater Yuka's first production, Tumirah, everybody was paid according to their qualifications. Renny spent Rp 50 million (obtained mostly from sponsors and friends), on 65 actors and crew.

"Teater Yuka is not a classical theater company. I just want to provide good entertainment," she said, while perusing clippings about Tumirah. "However, I also want my cast members to be able to make a living - not like the years I experienced in the theater world," said Renny.

Teater Yuka has core members who rehearse regularly, trained by a member of Teater Mandiri and Renny herself. The crew pay Rp 50,000 to join the company. It also opens its door to actors from other theaters for its productions. For Tumirah, actors and crew from Teater Mandiri and Teater Kubur were invited to participate. TV actors as well as five prostitutes from a rehabilitation center also joined the cast.

Yuka, the daughter to whom Tumirah was dedicated, now 17, helps to manage the theater while Growong supervises production. To Renny's disappointment, neither of them act.

"I'd like them to actually. Sometimes I call Yuka to read for me and she has some talent, you know," said Renny who talks to them more like a friend.

Renny said she had had "many" boyfriends over the last nine years. Some of their pictures are hung on the wall. "Only the good guys," she laughed. "Like those in uniform," she giggled, pointing out pictures of police and army officers. She said it's her weakness. "I'm extremely loyal to my profession and even to Golkar, but I rarely tolerate any of my boyfriend's foibles," she laughed again.

Renny remains busy. Teater Yuka will stage a play in March for three days in Jakarta. She has recorded some songs for her first solo album (the previous was a collaboration with Fariz called Tabu). She has just founded a comedy group, "alternative ketoprak", a modern version of Javanese traditional opera.

Since the death of her parents, she now lives in the big house in which she grew up. "Actually I fell in love with East Timor and even considered moving there," she said. For now she aims to continue acting, enjoy her motherhood and become a little wiser: Renny turned 40 on Jan. 2.