Playwright pays tribute to late Arifin C. Noor

Playwright pays tribute to late Arifin C. Noor

JAKARTA (JP): Leading playwright Putu Wijaya cites the late
theater and movie director Arifin C. Noer as the founder of
modern Indonesian theater.

"Modern theater with reference to the West had been here for a
long time. But it was Arifin who established the basics of
Indonesian modern theater based on Indonesian tradition," Putu
said in a discussion held in remembrance of Arifin at Taman
Ismail Marzuki on Saturday

Arifin died on May 28 this year at the age of 54.

Earlier efforts to put Indonesian tradition and characters
into modern theater failed because most of them were artificial,
according to Putu.

"They tried, for example, by using Indonesian traditional
garb. Still, their roots were in the West, which could be easily
seen in the idioms and expression used. Arifin made use of what
existing traditions in a new way," Putu said.

Arifin, who died of liver complications, was a founder of the
theater group Teater Kecil. His plays have been performed here
and abroad, including Kapai-Kapai (1970) which has been performed
in Dutch, French and English.

In 1972, Arifin began his film career as a screenwriter and
later won various awards for his scripts. In 1977, he began
directing and presented his first work Suci Sang Primadona (Suci
the Prima Donna) which earned him a Citra award.

Arifin took an "Indonesian approach" when creating his plays,
which were rich in local tradition, Putu recalled. Such an
approach is common in Indonesian traditional theater, while that
of the West concentrates more on the product.

Arifin usually created his plays without writing any scenarios
first. He just made, rehearsed and developed it and put it into a
script later, Putu said.

"As a result, the creation of a play was the peak while the
script only served to record the process. That was the reason why
performances of his plays always differed from one day to the
next. As a process, it grew everyday," he said.

Other speakers at the discussion were film critic Noorca M.
Massardi, who analyzed Arifin's 11 movies, and poet Goenawan
Mohammad reviewed Arifin's thoughts.

The discussion was attended by well-known film and theater
figures such as lecturer Tatiek Malyati Sihombing, actress Ratna
N. Riantiarno and her husband playwright Riantiarno, actor
Ikranegara and film critic Salim Said.

Putu said that Arifin's contribution has become embodied in
Indonesian modern theater and is now followed by the younger
generation.

"Today, if we try to analyze modern Indonesian theater by
using Western standards, we will be lost. But if we use modern
Indonesian theater as a standard, everything will be clear," said
the beret-wearing playwright.

Arifin was also noted for his controversial films Serangan
Fajar, which won Best Film in the 1982 Indonesian Film Festival,
and Pengkhianatan G 30 S/PKI (The Betrayal G30S/PKI), both funded
by Perusahaan Film Negara (PFN -- the state-owned film company).
(als)