Teater Yuka's 'Bisu-in-Blue' says all we need is love

By Lauren Bain

JAKARTA (JP): Bisu-in-Blue, the latest work by Jakarta-based Teater Yuka, is loosely based on the West Sumatran legend of Malin Kundang. It has been given the contemporary makeover by sinetron (TV series) actress and ex-rock singer Renny Djajoesman, who is the director, and the general manager of GATRA magazine, Yudhistira ANM Massardi, who is its writer.

In the legend, Malin Kundang is a young boy from a poor family. One day a rich trader arrives on a big ship. When the trader leaves port, Malin is encouraged by his parents to become a crew member on the vessel. So young Malin travels the world and ends up becoming rich and famous himself. He marries well and becomes the captain of his own trade ship.

One day his wife says that she wants to see where Malin comes from and they return to his hometown. When he returns and sees his roots, Malin is deeply ashamed, so he does not acknowledge his own mother and pretends he doesn't know the kind of poverty that he sees his family living in.

His mother, of course, is deeply upset and insulted, and when Malin and his ship leave town she turns them all to stone.

Bisu-in-blue is not the first Indonesian play to be inspired by Malin Kundang -- for example, the Padang-based playwright Wisran Hadi used the story in his 1978 work Puti Bungsu. But Bisu-in-blue takes the Malin Kundang legend as a starting point for an exploration of contemporary Indonesian politics and in particular the consequences of reformasi (reform).

"It's not only a Minang legend, Malin Kundang is relevant everywhere," said Yudhistira.

Bisu-in-Blue is conventional text-based theater interspersed with a few dance sequences and crowd scenes, variously depicting demonstrations, conflict and the plight of refugees. The interaction between three characters -- Malin, Siti (Malin's sister) and their mother -- becomes an allegory for the maneuvering of Indonesia's elite.

In Teater Yuka's version of the legend, we see a reversal of fortune as Malin turns his mother to stone, the ultimate betrayal of the loving parent.

The script is not particularly sophisticated or complex, either in terms of language or structure. The dialogue on the whole tends to be didactic and leaves little room for audience interpretation.

On the other hand, the staging makes good use of Gedung Kesenian, and attempts to break down what can sometimes be an "invisible wall" between performers and audience in that space.

The music and lighting also work well and push the story along. It's well paced and the use of film projections of demonstrations -- although nothing new -- generally works well.

The political motives behind this work, however, are questionable, and Bisu-in-blue could be read as being antireform. In the end, its message seems to be that: "Struggling against Soeharto's power is hopeless. We should just learn to love. If we love better, then we will be OK."

While not disputing the importance of love, the implication of this for those trying to implement or fight for change is unclear.

The promotional material for Bisu-in-Blue also provides a clue about its politics: "Not only revolution, reformation can also diminish a country's people; Not only dictatorship, democracy can also create fear and chaos ..."

The problem is that one logical conclusion from this is that democracy is perhaps something that "we tried but it didn't work". Just to confuse things, the press release clearly bears the logo of the Muslim youth organization ANSOR logo. Meanwhile, Renny is a declared supporter of the onetime ruling group, Golkar, and always appears ready to give a comment on the record in support of the military.

To its credit, Bisu-in-blue does portray Soeharto as being the dalang (puppet master) behind what it sees as the failure of reformasi; it ridicules the Soeharto family, makes jokes about bombs and highlights the challenge of overcoming the New Order's pervasive power. But it has to be noted that this is by no means something new in Indonesian theater -- groups like Teater Koma have been producing this kind of work for years.

It could be argued that this sort of satire is no longer an effective political, or theatrical, strategy, and that it provides the middle class audience with some laughs but does little else. As one observer commented in the theater foyer after the performance, "this does nothing for the people, the real victims of this era."

Bisu-in-blue is interesting in that it reflects an immense frustration and desperation with the progress -- or lack of -- of reformasi and Indonesia's future prospects. But we should not forget the play's real message: "Reformasi has caused chaos and bloodshed. If we learn to love everything will be OK. Don't bother trying to change anything." Go figure.

Bisu-in-blue will be performed at 8 p.m. at Gedung Kesenian Jakarta on Saturday and Sunday. For bookings and inquiries, call 3808283 or 780-3084.