Playwright Nano can make fun of Gus Dur, too
By Jusuf Susilo Hartono
JAKARTA (JP): "Play as cheerfully and as well as possible, not only for Gus Dur, but for every ticketholder" said N. Riantiarno. At that time, all members of Teater Koma were sitting in a circle seriously lending their ears to the briefing of the art director backstage at Graha Bakti Budaya-Taman Ismail Marzuki.
President Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid along with his wife, Shinta Nuriyah and the rest of the audience had taken their seats. The gong had been sounded three times, signaling that the show Republik Bagong was about to begin.
Republik Bagong was Teater Koma's 10th performance, the run taking place from April 27 to May 9, plus two extra days.
Compared with the previous days, that particular evening was really special as it was enlivened by the presence of the President. Gus Dur, Mrs. Nuriyah and a score of guards paid for the tickets. And a few day earlier, some one hundred members of the House of Representatives from various factions also saw the performance after paying for the tickets: a thing that would not have happened during the New Order regime.
Even though Vice President Megawati was slated to see the show right after Gus Dur, she didn't turn up. "But...Mbak Mega was one of our loyal fans, as before assuming the position of Vice President, she often came over," said Nano.
The show ran normally. The actors came on and off stage in line with the plot written by Nano. Bagong (superbly played by Butet Kartaradjasa), uttered a string of jokes and criticism capable of making one blush. Nano, as on previous nights, sitting and puffing at a cigarette, monitored the show. The results of this were to be used in an evaluation to perfect the subsequent shows, or for general evaluation, which he termed a "closed book".
This is just a morsel of the depiction of Nano's style and attitude in checking and monitoring a show from the back of the stage. This monitoring activity is, of course, the follow-up to a preparatory process leading to an approximately three-month long rehearsal at his workshop in Bintaro. In his capacity as a playwright, he embarked on making preparations long before the cast started to work. Staying up at night working on a computer, he wove ideas in his heart and mind into a fascinating story.
Iceberg
Irrespective of likes and dislikes, Nano is the most consistent director of plays at present. If you doubt it, just compare him with other names that flash into your mind. With his style, particularly characterized by Teater Koma, Nano together with his arts group, performs at least twice a year whether in a conducive situation or otherwise. Everyone knows that each time he performs, the show will always be jam-packed with old faces or newcomers.
Nano is, needless to say, able to maintain a good relationship with his fans, currently numbering some 8,000 faithfuls. In Teater Koma he is more concerned with artistic matters; he does not involve himself in any other business. His wife, Ratna Riantiarno, with help from her assistants, deals more with matters relating to promotion, such as how to attract new faces and management. Teater Koma is combined perfection based on the experience brought in respectively both by Nano and Ratna from Teater Populer and Teater Kecil.
Each and every experience in Teater Koma is akin to an iceberg, in the sense that what is visible on the stage is only a small tip of a much larger reality; and the invisible is the long preparation and the unspoken messages one later receives.
Curious? Just come over to the theater. You will see documentation depicting the whole process of staging Republik Bagong and dozens of other previous products from sketches of initial costume designs to ideas for stage settings. You will also bump into photographs of rehearsals and videos of shows. Neatly-stacked receipts are evidence of every single cent spent.
Newspaper clippings, Internet news, minutes of meetings, evaluation reports (normally exciting), and news on banned performances of Sampek Engtai (in Medan) and Suksesi and Opera Kecil in Jakarta along with lists of workers' honorariums are also neatly filed.
Some university students have made good use of the documentation for their research papers. In fact, Nano could have done something more beneficial for others with the material in his theater. He knows that the clippings could be turned into piles of books, and other items -- like the music -- could be converted into something of more value.
"But I don't want to do that; my business is purely artistic, let other people do it," said Nano, who is now focusing his life on the theater after resigning as chief editor of Matra a few months ago.
Nano started his habit of keeping records in 1977 when he joined Teater Populer under the leadership of Teguh Karya. Apart from being an actor in this respectable group during the 1960s and '70s, he was responsible for documentation (1968-1975).
Soeharto vs Gus Dur
All of this, to Nano, is part of his and all other members' commitment to the theater. This group of 500 or so members relies on the system of togetherness and has an ideology, pledging to stay united once they enter the group. And, again, vows are recorded.
This commitment later becomes the "pillar of loyalty to the profession", (as Teguh Karya loved to call it). The loyalty, then becomes a living force that Arifin C. Noer terms a depiction, or what Syaeful Anwar terms a random creation.
In the New Order Era, Nano acknowledged that he had used Soeharto, with his New Order, as a inexhaustible source of inspiration for his works.
When the regime collapsed, Nano was a bit worried that he would not be able to get fascinating and fresh ideas. He turned out to be wrong! The reform era and Gus Dur's administration have spawned extraordinarily interesting situations.
For example: anyone can ask questions but no one can give an answer. Unfortunately, the leader, who should be giving a solution, is the one who keeps asking. The reform era has also bred new things: blasphemy, egoism, self-interest, dominating self-obligation and a square peg in a round hole. These all what Republik Bagong reveals.
"But please don't get mixed up, Bagong is not Gus Dur, I'm afraid that you and I could fall into the category of Bagong as well," said Nano, denying that Bagong in the scenes personifies Gus Dur.
In such a situation, according to the playwright who was born in Cirebon on June 6, 1949, the theater is a place to accommodate the thoughts of people who will want to think. Hence, the theater as an amusement center, has a power to reflect life.
While keeping abreast of the latest developments in the Gus Dur administration after the second memorandum, Nano retired for a while, only to resume his observation of the travails of Soeharto, from the time he came to power until his downfall. This all is written in his play Presiden Burung-burung (Birds' President) to be staged at the International Festival of Contemporary Arts at Art Summit III, 2001 next August and September in Jakarta.
We will see how Soeharto is depicted in the play. Is he as pessimistic as Gus Dur, er... Bagong, who at the end can only say in his hoarse voice, "Sorry I am not able to promise you any change."