The journey of local theatrical groups

JAKARTA (JP): Opera Primadona (The Primadonna Opera), the 90th production of Teater Koma, now playing at Teater Tanah Airku, an international-standard theater at the Taman Mini Indonesia Indah (Beautiful Indonesia in Miniature) recreation park, has confirmed the position of this theatrical group in the category of entertaining drama groups of the past.

Led by Robertus Riantiarno, 54, Teater Koma is following in the footsteps of drama groups of Indonesia's theatrical past. Some 14 years ago, in a theatrical discussion, Riantiarno said that when he set up Teater Koma, he consciously imitated the drama groups in the days of yore, combining singing, dialog, acting and humor.

"The secret of successful performances by Teater Koma, among other things, is its imitation of the formula generally adopted by drama groups of the past, like Dardanella or Bolero," he said then.

As Riantiarno has revealed, his long-cherished dream is to have his own playhouse and to be able to give members of his theatrical group regular pay so that they will devote themselves entirely to theatrical performances.

This dream has in part come true because Teater Tanah Airku is left in Riantiarno's charge. This building is Indonesia's first multipurpose theater, equipped with special effects, laser beams, lighting, acoustic equipment and stage mechanisms, which are all of international standard.

Few are as lucky as Riantiarno and his Teater Koma. With this modern theater under his charge, he can exploit high technology in his performances to make his them spectacular with the costumes and setting sparkling brightly. Of course, the impression is that his performances will be oriented more toward entertainment rather than pure art.

'Recycle'

It is simply a matter of choice if what comes out of Riantiarno's creative processes are only entertaining performances, which may even look like rehashes of old successes. The late Arifin C. Noer, one of Indonesia's theatrical giants, once sad that it was quite all right for Teater Koma, which was established in a city, to be oriented toward the commercial entertaining industry.

What counts is that Riantiarno is consistent with his own choice. It is clear that he realizes his position and knows well what to do. Luckily, in today's map of Indonesia's theatrical world, all are developing in diverse ways. Teater Koma has not immediately been made a model and its formula adopted as otherwise there would be impoverishment in creativity and a recycling of performances.

It is difficult to obtain valid historical records about what forms theatrical performances assumed in the past, the traces of which Teater Koma has imitated. Compared with other genres in arts, the theater in Indonesia is yet to have its own clear history because documents available today are yet to have their accuracy validated. Jakob Sumardjo, an art and historical observer, has divided the history of Indonesian theater into four periods.

According to him, the history of theater in Indonesia can be divided into the Period of Modern Theater Pioneering (1885 to 1925); the Period of Modern Theater Awakening (1925 to 1941); the Period of Modern Theater Development (1942 to 1970); and the Period of Contemporary Theater (1970 to 1980s).

After the last period, theater in Indonesia continued to evolve and during the New Order era it was subject to stifling controls. The scripts to be staged had to go through tight censorship and were sometimes banned. A prominent theatrical figure, Rendra, was even sent to prison because of a theatrical performance by him.

More outstanding theatrical groups in these four periods, among others, were Teater Bangsawan, Teater Stamboel, Teater Opera, Teater Miss Riboet's Orion and Teater Dardanella Opera.

Primadona

In the beginning, the theatrical groups in days gone by were not managed by educated people and the stories performed were usually long-winded. Then, Chinese journalists began to air their criticism, saying that these theatrical performances were not neatly organized. These critics, such as Lauk Giok Lan and Kwee Tek Hoay, used a yardstick from Western theatrical books which they had read.

Educated people began to manage theatrical groups. TD Tio Jr. of the Batavia Commercial School, for example, established the Orion group. Some of the group's performances were Black Sheep, Singapore After Midnight, Saidjah and Barisan Tengkorak (Platoon of Skeletons). Meanwhile, another theatrical group, Dardanella, also performed in its early years plays from the West such as The Thief of Baghdad, The Mask of Zorro, The Count of Monte Christo and The Three Musketeers.

At that time, influences from Hollywood were so strong that actors and actresses were often called after famous Hollywood stars, for example Shirley Temple van Bandung, Annie van Mendoet, Roos van Serang, Douglas Fairbanks from Java and so forth. These theatrical groups also had their primadonnas, who were all involved in rivalry, vying for applause, kudos, love letters, bouquets and even biscuits and chocolate from their fans.

It is this rivalry among primadonnas that inspired Riantiarno to write his Opera Primadona, a play set in Batavia (now Jakarta) of mid-1920s, a period when two operatic groups, Dardanella and Orion were involved in tight rivalry and enjoyed their golden days. This play was performed at Gedung Kesenian Jakarta (GKJ) in 1988. (Tuti Gintini)