Students give 'Ketoprak Lesung' new relevance

Students give 'Ketoprak Lesung' new relevance

Tarko Sudiarno, The Jakarta Post, Yogyakarta

Performing a racy folk tale about the relationship between
penises and power was how the Gadjah Mada theatrical group made
an ancient art form relevant for a modern audience, while
managing to keep the upstanding moral commentary of the original
work.

The story, originally from folklore known as Ajian Kontol Sewu
has been adapted to a play Alang-alang (Tall, Coarse Grass), a
metaphor for a phallus, or kontol in Javanese.

Part of the Ketoprak Lesung genre of traditional Javanese
drama, these plays usually fictionalize stories set at the time
of historical or religious events. Alang-alang a tale from the
southern coastal area of Yogyakarta, is a story about a husband
embroiled in household difficulties who goes in search of
enlightenment.

The performance, which took place in the Student Arena hall at
Gadjah Mada University, was easy to digest and often amusing.

Directed by Gati Andoko, the performance also satirized the
current state of national politics and the behavior of the
political elite; criticisms that were sharply and humorously
conveyed.

A Ketoprak Lesung is a traditional Javanese performing art
that could be said to be the origin of modern Javanese plays.

In a Ketoprak Lesung performance, the Lesung music strongly
marks the change of each scene and is followed by certain dance
movements that introduce the character traits of each character.
The defining feature of a Ketoprak Lesung is this simple, but
rhythmical, musical accompaniment.

The players wear emblematic costumes and the dialog throughout
the play is plain-spoken with the occasional interaction between
players and the audience. Unfortunately, this traditional
performing art is increasingly forgotten today.

This particular Ketoprak Lesung story revolves around Pak
Slamet's family, which is always in poverty. As the family head
Slamet has been under a great stress because his wife is
demanding, both sexually and materially. To solve his problems
and his perceived lack of potency, Slamet decides to meditate
somewhere in the southern coastal area of Java.

On this spiritual journey, Slamet meets Syeh Bela Belu, a
charismatic and supernaturally powerful figure who propagated
Islam in Java.

Syeh Bela Belu advises Slamet to met Sunan Geseng, who is
meditating in Langse cave, which is perched on a steep
mountainside in the rough South Sea. He is told only Sunan Geseng
can help solve his problems.

With great difficulty, Slamet meets Sunan Geseng, a man who is
black all over, and is given three magical stones which, when
they are burned, will grant him three wishes.

Happily, Slamet returns home. On the way, he fantasizes about
asking for three things: wealth, power and women. Back home, he
tells his wife about the stones and they soon want to prove their
magical power.

They burn the first stone but because Slamet is consumed with
worldly thoughts, he misspeaks his wish and as a result many
penises -- Alang-alang -- cover his body.

Understandably distraught, Slamet hastily burns the second
stone and wishes for all the penises to be removed. The wish is
fulfilled but he loses even his own phallus.

In tears Slamet burns the last stone to ensure his phallus
returns. So as man proposes, God disposes.

G. Subanar, a lecturer at Sanata Dharma University's School of
Cultural Studies in Yogyakarta wondered why the relationship
between the patron of power, Sunan Geseng and Syeh Bela Belu,
symbolized by the mountain, the sea and the people in the middle,
was not highlighted in this performance as it was in traditional
performances of the story.

The focus of the story could also have been better explored
and examined, he said.

"It is still open to question whether this folklore, which
contains an indictment of the prevailing circumstances, can be
put in the same category as Serat Gatoloco, a traditional
literary masterpiece that the government used to ban," he said.

To The Jakarta Post, the Ketoprak Lesung players made too many
martial arts movements. Certain acrobatic movements like
somersaults were appropriate in sections but not in every scene.
The Lesung music, a rhythmic beat made by pounding rice with a
pestle, that accompanied each scene could also have done with
more profound exploration.

However, despite the shortcomings, Theater Gadjah Mada should
be commended for its bold attempt to perform Ketoprak Lesung in a
modern format.

The final result is likely to appeal to today's audiences and
will most likely survive the test of time.