Nano, Ratna blend wedding with acting

Nano, Ratna blend wedding with acting

Yusuf Susilo Hartono, Contributor, Jakarta

The day after their marriage on July 28, 1978, the young
couple received a wedding blessing in Effata Church, Melawai,
South Jakarta.

Uniquely, the traditional piece, Kebo Giro (Buffalo's lush),
was played by Javanese gamelan to accompany the couple as they
entered the church.

The celebration afterward was attended by many performers,
particularly members of theater companies, Teater Populer and
Teater Kecil, to which the pair belonged.

More than a union of two people, the marriage between N.
Riantiarno or Nano and Ratna Karya Madjid was a blend of Teater
Populer, under Teguh Karya, with Nano as cofounder; and Teater
Kecil, under Arifin C. Noer, with Ratna playing a leading role.

It was also a synergy between the creative and esthetic power
of Nano as a graduate of the National Theater Academy and the
dancing and theatrical talents of Ratna, who later became an
expert in art promotion.

All their achievements can be traced to Teater Koma, the group
they set up along with 10 stage actors and actresses on March 1,
1977, a year before their marriage. Today it ranks as one of the
most professional theater troupes in the country.

To celebrate their 27th wedding anniversary, Nano, born in
Cirebon on June 6, 1949, to Javanese parents (rather than
Chinese, as so far reported), and Ratna, born in Manado on April
23, 1952, to politician Abdul Madjid from Jember, East Java, and
Elsye Dauhan from Manado, North Sulawesi, are now back on stage
with their performance, Tanda Cinta (Token of Love), at the
Jakarta Playhouse from July 27 through July 29.

"It's unique, isn't it? I've never heard of any couple
commemorating their marriage by appearing on stage," said Nano in
a South Jakarta cafe, accompanied by Ratna, scenographer Syaeful
Anwar and production manager Sari Madjid, last week.

It should have been staged two years ago for the silver
wedding anniversary but had to be delayed until this month.

Performers since their high school days -- Nano since 1965 and
Ratna since 1969 -- the senior Teater Koma players continue to
offer their best, with the support of seasoned players. The late
Teguh Karya and Arifin C. Noer would have been proud of the
pair's persistency amid changing political, social and economic
circumstances.

Tanda Cinta constitutes Nano's first step in his attempt to
interpret the political climate in the country, which he
considers far different from former president Suharto's New Order
period.

"Now it's like the wind; everything is intangible and scary.
In short, it's quite unlike the previous tangible years, when
every shape was visible," said Nano.

Nano has often said that the "enemies" of stage artists during
the New Order era were clearly identifiable: censors and security
officers. His theater had risked going against the "walls" of
power, resulting in several performances being banned --
including Opera Kecoa (Cockroach Opera).

In today's so-called period of reform and democratization,
"the enemies exist and can be felt but we can't touch them
because they are intangible," added Nano, who has since 2000
focused on the theater and literature after withdrawing from
journalism as editor of Zaman and chief editor of Matra in the
1970s.

According to Nano, theater -- which he has been engaged in for
decades as an arena of reflection and introspection -- has now
lost its capacity to mirror reality in this period of freedom of
expression.

The "street theater" now prevailing, presenting different
issues and political interests, has dominated the dramatic art of
expression. "Consequently, as a nation our life has lately been
deprived of metaphors," noted Nano, who received an art award
from the New Order's education and culture ministry in 1993.

The father of three finally arrived at an intriguing,
existential question: "Is all we have done so far beneficial to
society?"

He claims to have no idea yet, though he is acutely aware of
his own feelings. "My thoughts on the theater, especially as I'm
about to stage Tanda Cinta, are between despair and struggle for
survival," said the writer of Cermin Merah (Red Mirror, a novel),
dozens of plays including Sampek Engtay (Sampek and Engtay) and
Republik Bagong (The Bagong Republic) and film/TV screenplays.

Therefore, through Tanda Cinta, Nano attempts to map the
intangible, undergoing another learning process with patience and
applying the skill of adaptation in his quest for the revival of
his theatrical works.

In this way, the outcome of this remapping by Nano and Ratna
will affect their future career, the existence of Teater Koma and
the growth of Indonesia's modern theater.