Teater Koma talks of love in 'Roman Yulia'

Yusuf Susilo Hartono, Contributor, Jakarta

As more people seem to be losing their conscience and sincere love, N. Riantiarno and his Teater Koma will remind people of true love by staging Roman Yulia (The Romance of Julia).

The theater group's 98th production since it was set up in 1977, the play will be performed at Gedung Kesenian Jakarta from Oct. 20 to Nov. 3.

The performance, which lasts for three hours and 15 minutes, features 25 lyrics and is divided into five acts -- a loose adaptation of William Shakespeare's famous work Romeo and Juliet.

The play will be the second time Riantiarno, better known as Nano, has adapted something from Shakespeare. The first was adapted from The Comedy of Errors, which was staged in 1984 under the local title Opera Salah Kaprah.

"The first (The Comedy of Errors) is a comedy while the second (Romeo and Juliet) is a tragedy. In a comedy, the actors can improvise, while a tragedy should be developed from a basic interpretation of the play and the scenes should be carefully designed. This does not mean that there cannot be any improvisation in a tragedy. Only this time, it is better not to give it room to play a role," said Nano, whose theater group has developed loyal fans who will always show up to watch the group's performances.

Nano, who is familiar with adapting and staging foreign works, has his own impression of Shakespeare, finding his works easy to read but complicated to stage.

For the upcoming performance, he tried to fix the shortcomings he faced 18 years ago while staging Opera Salah Kaprah by, among other things, presenting the play in a more relaxed manner. For instance, the play does not use props and costumes dominated by 16th century style, and the dialog is turned from poetry into lyrical prose.

One thing is for sure; Nano's adaptation of Romeo and Juliet will be different from earlier adaptations, like Baz Luhrman's, featuring Leonardo DiCaprio, or Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins' West Side Story, or Zefirelli's Romeo and Juliet. While Baz Luhrman and Zefirelli removed dialog in the final scene (when Capulet and Montague are reconciled), in Roman Yulia, Nano keeps it there.

But a careful observer would see that all of the adaptations, whether by Baz Luhrman, Zefirelli or Nano, share a common theme: criticizing present-day hyprocrisy. Every day, people see leaders hug each other and talk about peace, but in reality, war goes on. Blood is shed everywhere and millions perish as victims of enmity. The wounds breed revenge and after many generations become bitter and never heal. Just as in the country, despite many so-called "peace deals", in the name of peace, conflicts go on.

And in the play, Nano has successfully implied the absurdity within the society behind the tragic love story.

The play focuses on a long feud between two families -- Kapulet and Montaga. Few know exactly the root cause of their enmity. The cause may be the failure to come to an agreement about the shares of Plaza Global -- the landmark of Kampung Dalam, a city where the two families live. Gen. Sibarus, the mayor of Kampung Dalam, in his efforts to mediate, has caused restlessness among the residents.

In this feud, Roman, Montega's only child, falls in love with Yulia, the daughter of Kapulet.

Secretly, Roman and Yulia get married. But after this secret wedding, the two have to separate -- Sibarus banishes Roman to Kampung Luar, while Kapulet arranges Yulia's marriage to Siparis, a nephew of Sibarus. And just as in the old play, Yulia rejects this marriage and drinks a potion that will make her die for 42 hours.

Apart from writing the adaptation, Nano acts as the director in the play, which involves 50 actors and actresses, such as Dudung Hadi, Sri Dadi Adhipurnomo, Joshua DP, Budi Ros, Idris Pulungan, Ariffano Marshal, Anang Megantoro, Sriyatun Arifin, Ratna Riantiarno, Ratna Ully, Rita Matumona and Priyo S. Winardi. Music is entrusted to Idus Madani and the setting to Taufan. Costumes are handled by Rima Adinda.

Ratna Riantiarno, who is also the executive producer, said that for the play, Teater Koma had to fight hard to secure Rp 300 million to finance the production costs.

The play, she hoped, could serve as a mirror for us to see our own reflection, which eventually, might mend the broken love between us.