Wisran still thirsts for challenge

Wisran still thirsts for challenge

Tantri Yuliandini, The Jakarta Post, Bukittinggi, West Sumatra

If there is anyone more happy for author and playwright Wisran
Hadi after receiving the Art Award from the Ministry of Culture
and Tourism recently, it would be his five children.

Comparing Wisran to other fathers, the boys had expected their
father to also work nine-to-five, and are confounded that he
doesn't.

When the awards started coming, "they said 'it's OK Pak, Bapak
can work at home. Good job'," Wisran said quoting his youngest.

Born in Padang, West Sumatra, on July 27, 1945, Wisran Hadi is
one of Indonesia's more prolific writers who has earned numerous
awards both within and outside the country.

One of his earlier scripts, Gaung (Reverberation), won the
1975 Jakarta Art Institute's (IKJ) Award for drama scripts. In
2000 he received the Southeast Asian Writers Award (SEA Write
Awards) from Thailand, and most recently an art award on Oct. 20,
for outstanding achievement in developing Indonesian culture and
art.

However, writing was not his initial vocation in life, in fact
it was his teacher at the Higher School for Teachers (SGA) who
unknowingly put Wisran on the artistic path.

Noticing Wisran's flair for art, the aforementioned teacher
advised him to continue his studies at Yogyakarta's Indonesian
Academy of Fine Arts (ASRI, now Indonesian Institute of Art), to
study painting.

But once his studies ended in 1969, Wisran found it difficult
to keep on painting in his hometown.

"For five years I tried to keep painting, but at the time
painting tools were very expensive and had to be bought in Medan
(North Sumatra)," Wisran said, adding that after five years he
turned his talents to writing instead.

His association during his university days with playwrights
such as Putu Wijaya and Arifin C. Noer, as well as with poet W.S.
Rendra, inspired him to become a playwright. "At that time
everyone in Yogya was closely associated, I learned a lot (from
them)," he said.

When it comes to actually writing a play, Wisran said that he
learnt only from the best, in this case Shakespeare.

"At first it was very difficult, but from reading
(Shakespeare) I know how to write. Asrul Sani's translations
greatly helped me," he said.

Wisran's win for Gaung in the IKJ Award in 1975 assured his
place as a playwright and in 1976 together with poet Hamid Jabbar
and Upita Agustine, Wisran established Bumi Teater (Earth
Theater). The group lasted 15 years before its members got busy
with other projects.

Wisran spent 1977 studying at Iowa University's International
Writing Program, and spent 1978 and 1987 observing American and
Japanese modern theater.

Despite studying modern theater from the West, Wisran's plays
remained loyal to Minangkabau culture, history, myths and
legends, and other familiar themes.

"I'm not good at writing fiction. When I make a play I need to
learn first, from history books, from observations, and
interviews," Wisran explained, "that's why my wife often mocks me
that for me writing a play is like writing a thesis".

For his 2000 play Empat Lakon Perang Padri (Four Plays of
Padri War), for example, Wisran spent more than three years to
prepare it.

"I made lots of questions that I had to answer. Who was Imam
Bonjol? If he was a Minang what was his traditional title? Who
was his wife, his children, the notes he left behind?" he
related. The Padri War, that occurred between 1821 and 1837, was
a war between tradition and Islam and later expanded to a fight
against the Dutch, with Imam Bonjol as one of the leaders.

The result, besides the play itself, was a valuable source of
historical notes and teaching material. "It all tires me out, but
I like doing it," Wisran, who had a heart attack in 1990 because
of overwork, said. "When I start working I'm like a truck with no
brakes."

Furthermore, his time in the United States strengthened his
resolve to write themes closer to home. Wisran noted that unlike
American and Japanese modern theater, Indonesian modern theater
never creates villains based on race.

"It's interesting, when black Americans or Japanese Americans
create a play the villains are always white people. But when
white people create a play, colored people are cast as servants
and villains," he said, adding that in this case politics plays a
strong role even in theater.

"It's not like that here. You don't see Putu Wijaya, who is
Balinese, portray Bali people as better than the rest. Nor do we
see Rendra and Nano (Riantiarno) do something like that. We never
feel (in their plays) that the Javanese are superior to the rest
of us".

Always restless for a challenge, Wisran has stopped writing
plays in the last three years -- his last play was Empat Lakon
Perang Padri -- explaining that he felt he had reached the
culmination point of his creativity in writing plays and was
afraid of repeating himself.

"I want to try writing novels, learn about its difficulties. I
already know how to write plays," he added.

A compilation of his short stories was published in Malaysia
under the title Daun-daun Mahoni Gugur Lagi (Mahogany Leaves Fall
Again).

Nowadays, Wisran spends his time teaching and collaborating
with artists from Malaysia. For the last three years he has been
a lecturer for creative writing at the Malaysian National Academy
of Arts, and recently collaborated with Malaysian artists in the
scenario writing of Mahsuri, a Malaysian folk story.