'Terpasung' puts the trauma of rape on the stage
By Oei Eng Goan
JAKARTA (JP): A recent surge in the number of rape cases has the public calling for harsher punishment for convicted rapists, whose victims are not just adult women but now include children and the elderly.
A keen observer of this ugly trend is the up-and-coming playwright Ratna Sarumpaet. In her play Terpasung (Shackled), playing until Monday at the Taman Ismail Marzuki Arts Center (TIM), Ratna depicts the trauma and suffering of a rape victim while protesting the male-dominated criminal justice system.
"Rapists went on the rampage recently. I believe that the theme of my play will be of interest to the general public and to those people whose rights are trampled almost every day," Ratna told The Jakarta Post at TIM's Teater Arena last Tuesday.
Ratna said that for years she has been pondering women's rights issues and the problems of a traditional society where men assume more dominant roles.
Terpasung -- whose cast includes more than a dozen players as well as Ratna herself, who also directs the play -- is about a tragedy that befalls the family of a district official.
Ratih (played by Meilyn Hutahean) is frightened and becomes an introvert after being raped by three men who broke into her house. Her father, Sukoco (Syahrul), a high-ranking official, won't report the crime because he thinks it would be a disgrace to the family. Instead, he tries to ignore the incident despite the suffering of his eldest daughter.
Sukoco's word is law, by which his family must abide. Mrs. Sukoco (Ratna Sarumpaet), despite her love for her grown-up daughters, does nothing to relieve Ratih's suffering. She later agrees to her husband's plan to marry off the forlorn Ratih to Agung (Dewa), the girl's lover who is ignorant of the tragedy.
Ajeng (Esty Sutyoko), Ratih's younger sister and the most defiant of Sukoco's three children, protests the plan and persuades her mother to reveal the truth and seek justice.
"Mother, you have to do something to help poor Ratih. What will happen to her if one of the rapists had a venereal disease? Think of it mother," thus Ajeng protests.
The planned wedding, however, goes on. Mrs. Sukoco, feeling guilty about her indifference towards Ratih and dishonored by Ajeng's attitude, secretly runs away from the family. And poor Ratih, in the end, carries her illegitimate child in her arms while the voice of a muezzin is vaguely heard in the distance, praising the greatness of Allah.
This is the second performance based on a local incident presented by the Satu Merah Panggung theatrical group led by Ratna. Marsinah, the first play depicting the anguish of female workers, was staged in September 1994.
Like the first presentation, Terpasung is also presented with a minimal use of stage props, thereby demanding the most of the players' acting skills and the ability to project their lines.
With a small divan at the center of the stage and eight ropes which loosely hung at each corner of the divan and the stage, the props succeeded in giving the audience an impression of walls imprisoning the characters.
A choral group of 10 people represents the underprivileged majority airing their protest of social injustices supports the theme of the play, which runs for two hours and will be staged over the next two weeks in Bandung and Surakarta.
Despite some awkward performances and the absence of experienced theatrical actors, except for Ratna, the play was well presented thanks to the director's strict timetable for rehearsal and guidance.
Esty and Meilyn, for example, carried out their roles fairly well, with the former portraying a young girl who longs for women to have the right to freely express themselves and the latter a rape victim who needs someone who will truly understand her sufferings as well as give her the courage to face the grizzly facts of life.