Teater Ketjil to perform 'Mega-Mega' at GKJ

JAKARTA (JP): Jajang C. Noer and her Teater Ketjil will perform Mega, Mega (Clouds) at Gedung Kesenian Jakarta from Wednesday through Saturday.

The play was written by Jajang's late husband, Arifin C. Noor, and first published in Horison literary magazine in 1967.

"Last year we planned to stage a series of Arifin's works to mark the 1,000th day of his passing, but the plan failed to materialize because of financial trouble," said Jajang, 46, who has led Teater Ketjil since her husband's death in 1995.

Arifin established Teater Ketjil, literally meaning the small theater, 36 years ago. The theater group, like W.S.Rendra's Bengkel Teater (Theatrical Workshop) and Teguh Karya's Teater Populer (Popular Theater), is considered the training ground for many of Indonesia's film and television workers today.

Mega Mega is directed by Embi C. Noer, Arifin's younger brother, who will also handle the musical arrangement. Noted fashion designer Samuel Wattimena is in charge of costumes and S. Prinka responsible for graphic design.

The play, which has been translated into English and Dutch and staged in Europe, centers on poverty but without resorting to sentimentality.

"Arifin was not a cheap playwright who would make poverty a scapegoat," said Brig. Gen. (ret) Taufik Effendi, who was the lead actor in the play in its debut performance in July 1969. "In this play no one is to blame for poverty. To eradicate poverty, one must place one's hope high in the sky, just like clouds.

"So, Mega, Mega is about a never-ending process of searching, an essential and universal story indeed."

In the upcoming performance, he will be a supporting actor along with several other veteran Teater Ketjil actors and actresses.

Set in a town square, Mega, Mega tells a story of the dreams and hopes of Mae (Cinni Gunarwan), an old vagrant, Retno (Jajang C. Noer), pickpocket Panut (Chondro Hernowo), Koyal the beggar (Willem Patirajawane) and a couple, Hamung (Yus A. Ruslan) and Tukijan (Ahmad Nugraha). They all present a recurring picture of the age.