Opera Merah Putih: When the Stage Becomes a Space for Cultural Learning
The theatre stage is once again offering more than mere spectacle. On 13 September 2026, the Bulungan Youth Centre Performance Building in South Jakarta will become a meeting space for art, education, and culture through the staging of Opera Merah Putih, a work by theatre practitioner Arief Akbar Bsa, produced by Sanggar Kencana Buana under the leadership of Iqbal Boyratan.
This performance deserves to be positioned not simply as an entertainment agenda, but as part of an effort to bring the younger generation together with culture through the language of the stage. Especially for students, theatre can become an educational space that brings together knowledge, bodily experience, collective work, artistic discipline, and awareness of cultural identity.
Within the framework of the Education Performance Concept (EPC), the artistic process does not stop at a student’s ability to memorise dialogue or appear on stage. Education through performance places learners as subjects who undergo a process: reading texts, understanding characters, processing emotions, recognising symbols, working in groups, understanding space, developing the courage to speak, and taking responsibility for their artistic ideas.
It is here that the advancement of Betawi culture finds its relevance. Local culture is not enough to be displayed merely as ornament, clothing, music, or decoration. It must be understood as living knowledge—a value system containing history, social ethics, ways of communicating, views on togetherness, respect for others, and the community’s ability to maintain identity amid changing times.
For Jakarta students, the introduction of Betawi culture is important because Jakarta is not only an administrative space, but a historical space shaped by the encounter of various cultures. Cultural advancement means bringing that heritage out of the space of nostalgia and making it knowledge that can be read, interpreted, developed, and realised anew in the creativity of a new generation.
Opera Merah Putih takes its dramatic path through the struggle between power, loyalty, love, ambition, sacrifice, and moral choice. In the story’s world, King Arzil appears, a ruler who obtains extraordinary power through Kanisa. Around him are the queens—Mega, Jingga, Danastri, and Jelita—who do not merely function as palace ornaments, but become part of the inner dynamics and conflict of power.
One of the central conflicts is Kanisa, a figure originating from a clay doll and brought to life through the power of the Red Book connected to the fairy kingdom. Kanisa’s presence carries enormous consequences: power that might initially be considered a gift turns into a source of disaster. In its dramatic construction, Kanisa can be read as a symbol of human desire for power that exceeds reasonable limits.
King Kastara stands as a force opposed to Arzil. He seeks to stop that power by summoning Kaila, a sorceress who then moves together with Mahardika and Mahasura. But the struggle does not proceed simply. Kanisa’s power moves the conflict from a matter of royal politics towards a moral and spiritual battle.
On the other side are Pusparani and Sasmaya, two of Kastara’s best generals who become victims of the power of the Sky Eye and the Earth Eye. The presence of these characters broadens the structure of conflict so that the performance speaks not only of who wins and who loses, but of the price that must be paid when power loses control over humanity.
An important turning point in the story comes through Jelita. She ultimately chooses to side with King Kastara. Jelita’s ability to change the course of fate makes her one of the key pivots in resolving the conflict. Together with Kaila, Mahardika, and Mahasura, she confronts Arzil until the power that brought destruction is overthrown and balance finds its way again.
Dramaturgically, such characterisation demonstrates an important principle of stagecraft: every character must have a dramatic function, goal, conflict, and change that can be read by the audience. A character is not enough to appear merely because their name is great or their costume is attractive. They must have a reason for existing within the structure of the story.
In the rules of the stage, conflict is the primary energy. The conflict between Arzil and Kastara is an external conflict; the conflict between power and conscience is a conflict of values; while Jelita’s choice is an internal conflict showing that the greatest change in a story is often born from a person’s decision to leave a comfortable position and choose the truth.
Therefore, the symbols in Opera Merah Putih can be read on several levels. Red can be interpreted as courage, blood, desire, sacrifice, and the consequence of ambition. White can be read as hope, purity of intention, peace, and the possibility of returning to balance. The meeting of the two becomes a metaphor for life: humans never live entirely in a single colour.
The strength of a theatrical work lies in its ability to make the audience see themselves through characters who actually exist in a fictional world. King Arzil is not merely a king. He can become a mirror for people who feel they possess power and then forget that power always has moral limits. Jelita is not only a queen; she is a portrait of the courage to choose when that choice carries risk. Kanisa is not only a creature that brings disaster; it can be read as a metaphor for a force created by humans but then failing to be controlled by its creator.
In an educational context, this symbolic layering becomes highly valuable. Students are not only invited to ask, “What happened?”