Stage and film art director Roedjito passes away at 71
Stage and film art director Roedjito passes away at 71
Blontank Poer, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Noted stage and film art director Roedjito passed away at a
little over midnight on Friday at Abdi Waluyo Hospital in
Menteng, Central Jakarta, due to liver and kidney failure. He was
71 years old.
He was buried Friday at 2 p.m. at noted playwright Rendra's
Bengkel theater complex in Cipayung, East Jakarta.
The unmarried man drew his last breath surrounded by his
students, as well as by friends choreographer Boy G. Sakti and
lighting director Sonny Sumarsono.
To both Boy and Sonny, and many others in the performing arts
and movie business, Roedjito was a friend, teacher and mentor
whose expert hands helped set the stage for many theater and film
productions in the country.
Playwright Rendra, the late Arifin C. Noer, Nano Riantiarno
and Butet Kertaredjasa; choreographers Sardono W. Kusumo and
Retno Maruti; as well as movie directors Slamet Rahardjo Djarot
and Garin Nugroho are only some of the famous names he worked
with.
Filmmaker Marselli Sumarno described him as a "diligent
scavenger of beauty".
Roedjito's extensive knowledge in scenography -- not only in
stage artistry and lighting but more importantly his grasp of the
audience's reaction to the effects of his artistry -- made him a
rare expert in the field.
But he was never stingy with his knowledge. Roedjito also made
his expertise available to fledgling dramatists, who were only
too grateful to work with such a seasoned art director.
Born in Purworejo, Central Java, on June 21, 1932, Roedjito
studied law and social sciences at the University of Indonesia
between 1954 and 1957, and at the East West Center in Hawaii in
1970. But his artistic side proved to be too strong for the
modest man, and he took up drawing before finally turning to art
directing.
Together with the late Oesman Effendi and the late Nashar, he
founded the fine arts department of the Jakarta Arts Institute
(IKJ) where he also taught scenography.
Even with his worsening liver and kidney condition, which
began two years ago, Roedjito never let up his activities in
teaching, consulting for various productions, as well as running
workshops for actors in cultural hubs such as Bali, Yogyakarta,
Surakarta in Central Java and Bandung.
According to him, a performance is always directed for an
audience, despite it being a vessel of expression of the actor
himself.
"Which is why every actor must hold on to the principle that
whatever he is experiencing, the audience must also experience
it," Roedjito said in an earlier interview.
He first introduced the concept of building up the atmosphere
on stage in an early 1970 production of Arifin C. Noer, Kucak
Kacik, at Taman Ismail Marzuki arts center.
Long before the audience set eyes on the stage, their
imagination was aroused by artistically arranged trees and leaves
and by a leafy scent.
"The point of all that is a transformation of identity, both
for the audience as well as for the artist. The audience must be
able to shed all outside attributes to enable him to blend with
the performance and feeling what the actor is feeling," he said.
Roedjito was also a patron of the traditional arts, and paid
special attention to the mask dancers of Losari, Central Java,
and Cirebon, West Java.
After not drawing for more than 30 years, he took it up again
after a haj pilgrimage in 2000. In June, his 3,000 black and
white drawings created between 2000 and 2003 were displayed in an
exhibition organized by close friends.
"Mas Roedjito kneels to God and becomes like a drawn line. A
line that dances and turns in space. The space is bright and
colorful. He kneels and he becomes free in space and time,"
Rendra wrote in the book of prints of Roedjito's drawings.
Now he truly is.