'Wayang Orang Humor' staged amid humorless crisis

'Wayang Orang Humor' staged amid humorless crisis

By Yusuf Susilo Hartono

JAKARTA (JP): The humor industry in Indonesian television has
scaled new heights. The Javanese Wayang Orang Humor has found a
niche on state television station TVRI, following the success of
traditional ketoprak (Javanese drama depicting historical or
pseudohistorical events), in its humorous cloak on private
television station RCTI.

In a similar move, private television station Indosiar has
been airing Javanese leather puppet shadow plays and Sundanese
wooden puppet shows enliven by comedians' jokes and guest stars
singing dangdut and pop songs, sharply lowering their literary
quality.

Interestingly, these humorous shows have found fertile soil
exactly when Indonesia is in the bind of a protracted economic
crisis, worsened further by interelite bickering, incessant pro-
and-contra-Gus-Dur street rallies at a number of places, like the
People's Consultative Assembly/House of Representatives compound,
at the Hotel Indonesia traffic circle or in front of Merdeka
Palace.

The country is thrown into further chaos with bombings and
communal clashes in a number of provinces, such as in Sampit
(interethnic fighting) in Kalimantan, and Ambon (interreligious
clashes involving people of the same ethnic group) in Maluku,
with secession as the motivation, leading to an exodus of
refugees.

How must all this be interpreted? The late Sardjono Jatiman, a
noted sociologist, said that release valves would be needed for
the Indonesian people after long repression under the New Order
regime and later being tossed into a whirlwind of reform euphoria
following the collapse of that regime.

One of these release valves is humor. Understandably, when
humorous shows are aired on television, the community seems to
find it the right time to laugh, forgetting, albeit only for a
while, their increasingly heavy burden in life.

As the "king of humor", President Abdurrahman Wahid seemed to
validate the hypothesis that laughter was necessary during a
crisis. A few months ago, for example, he watched a humorous
ketoprak performance at Graha Bhakti Budaya, Taman Ismail Marzuki
(TIM) art center, Jakarta. A visit to TIM was nothing special for
the President as he had his office here in the 1980s when he was
chairman of the Jakarta Arts Council.

What made the visit unusual was that along with the rest of
the audience, the President laughed freely in response to the
jokes and jests of the comedians, who were criticizing the
present situation.

The ketoprak performances aired on TV are actually recordings
of performances held at TIM or the Jakarta Playhouse (GKJ).

It is strange to find that someone paying a lot of money to
see the live performance will usually watch the same performance
on TV and laugh equally hard. Editing shortens the recorded
broadcasts, which are then also interrupted by commercials.

It is obvious that watching a performance live differs, in
terms of impression or experience, from watching its rerun on TV.
In the case of the former, there are no commercial breaks.

Humorous Javanese stage shows

The airing of Javanese stage shows on TVRI has been made
possible thanks to the Samiaji Art Association Foundation, TVRI
Service Company and Kogas, a company dealing in consulting and
multimedia businesses. The players come from a long-established
troupe, Wayang Orang Bharata.

As TVRI is still commercial-free, airing these shows is doubly
beneficial for the station: on the one hand it can earn money and
on the other it helps conserve a traditional art form. Timbul
said that his traditional art form is facing extinction.

Only a few young people in Central Java, where this stage show
was born, grew and developed, are aware of the noble teachings in
the stories played out. As many of them can no longer speak the
high form of Javanese, these young people have greater
constraints in appreciating the traditional Javanese stage show.

"As Javanese, we actually do not find it very fitting to use
Bahasa Indonesian. However, we have decided to use Bahasa to
ensure that communicating with our audiences countrywide can be
well established. The narrative convention, however, is
unchanged. Although we present humorous pieces, the play must not
change because of its philosophical value," said Timbul, who
assumes the role of Bagong, on the sidelines of a recording
session at the central station of TVRI in Jakarta.

Uki Bayu Sejati of Kogas, agreed that the recording of a play
called Kongso Adu Jago (Kongso in a Cock Fight) showed some
awkwardness in the dialog exchanges in the play. Only in the
recording of the next play, Petruk Jadi Ratu (Petruk Becomes
King), did this awkwardness slowly disappear.

However, he said, some expressions which are better conveyed
in Javanese will be spoken in this language and have subtitles.

If these performances are meant to bolster appreciation, most
people, including journalist-turned-performer H. Sujiwo Tejo,
suggested that humorous Javanese stage shows should use Bahasa
Indonesia. "Honestly, something is inappropriate, I feel," he
said, prior to his departure to the Netherlands to join a
Traditional Arts Festival.

As director, Aris admitted that language and interpretation
were two main constraints to humorous traditional Javanese stage
shows.

An important requirement for inclusion in the cast is that a
player must be able to dance, while an ability to sing
traditional Javanese songs is a prerequisite to guest stars.

It is this prerequisite, said a source from Kogas, that has
reportedly kept famous comedian Tarzan, an important figure in
Samiaji and Timbul's close friendship, from joining ketoprak.

TVRI airs Wayang Orang Humor every Friday at 8 p.m. Kongso Adu
Jago, the debut show, was broadcast on March 16, and will be
followed by Petruk Jadi Ratu and Pergiwo-Pergiwati.

Will humorous traditional Javanese stage shows be able to help
repopularize Javanese stage shows in the midst of pop
entertainment? Who knows, after their merry laughter, people will
simply forget the original traditional Javanese stage shows now
in anguish facing gloomy days somewhere on the stages of WO
Bharata in Jakarta and WO Sriwedari in Surakarta, Central Java.

Any effort made must be appreciated, especially one to
preserve our traditions. It is not a bad idea at all to laugh and
learn something of a philosophy of life amid the serious crisis
keeping the entire nation tightly in its grip.