Development of Modern Drama in Indonesia - Case Study Example

Development of modern drama in Indonesia Name of Student Institution Date Indonesia has a very diverse population with different socio-cultural and historical backgrounds. In excess of 400 ethnic groups live in Indonesia with more than 300 ethnic languages but the common language that binds together the Indonesia people is known as Bahasa Indonesia (Bandem, 2008). Due to population diversity in Indonesia, there existed unique performing arts. Most of these performing arts have existed over generations but some of them are newly developed (Bandem, 2008). Modern theater in Indonesia manifests itself in the form of narrative plays performed in buildings of theater to entertain the public. The introduction of modern drama in the country was part of the process in which the Indonesian societies were transformed due to the Dutch colonization (Hughes-Freeland, 2008). The adaptation and incarnation of the European dramatic model led to the modernization of Indonesian society and performing arts. This essay aims to provide a depth study on the development of modern drama in Indonesia. Performance arts including drama have been a significant component of the culture of the Indonesian people through the archipelago. Indeed, examples of performing arts that were practiced in the past eras still exist today and are supported by the Indonesian way of life. Traditional dramatic forms of performance such as Wayang in Bali and Java that were performed primarily for religious and/ or ritual reasons exist even today but they have been transformed (Murgiyanto, 2005). The earliest form of dance in Indonesia was of indigenous origin. It was primarily magical and religious in nature, and was based on the worshiping practices of the ancestors. The performing arts were not meant to entertain or for aesthetic reasons, but were performed in order to achieve a practical outcome, such as to prevent the community from curse or rain making (Bandem, 2008). Drama was communal in nature and many people participated, and all performers came from the local community. The oldest and still surviving dance drama in Indonesia is the Wayang Topeng which was developed in Java during the era of Singasari. Additionally, the Balanese dance drama originated from Java to Bali in 1343 AD after Gajah Mada conquered the island (Bandem, 2008). Unlike the Gambuh, the Wayang Topeng dance drama first appeared in the 12th century A.D in the era of Kediri Kingdom. It took its story from two enormous Indian epics known as the Mahabharata and Ramayana. This dance drama got its theme from the Panji story only in the 14th century A.D (Khampha, 2010). After the kingdom of Majapahit collapsed which was the center of Hinduism in the island, the cultural activities changed from East to Central Java. The commonly known dance drama, Wayang Topeng, was carried on and it is now considered as the Javanese Wayang Wong (Bandem, 2008). This is a Javanese dance drama that combines music, dance and drama. Wayang Wong is well known for story behind it which helps to give the play a structure and characterization in Java (Bandem, 2008). Modern drama in Indonesia is considered to have been originated during the period when the Rustam Effendi’s play known as Bebasari was published. This is a figurative verse drama concerning the struggle by Indonesia against Dutch colonization (Christensen, 2013). Bebasari play was the first original play written by Malay Opera, a native Indonesian and its target audience was educated elite in the urban. During the early 21st century, the national theater in Indonesia was majorly revolutionary both in intent and tone, and it significantly supported the ending of the European colonization. Production of plays was done in urban areas and performance was done on proscenium stages (Bandem, 2008). Importantly, drama was not presented in one of the local languages in the country but was presented in what was to be adopted as the national language of Indonesia (Parani, 2006). Nevertheless, by the 1930s, the national theater in Indonesia focused more toward psychological realism and domestic drama and not the independent movement. The first national theater academy in Indonesia known as Cine Drama Institut preferred this modern and western style of drama. Three years after Indonesia becoming independent, the Cine Drama Institut and Akademi Teater Nasional were opened in Yogyakarta in 1948 and in Jakarta in 1955 respectively (Parani, 2006). The two institutions taught modern drama, particularly realistic approach to acting. This marked the new beginning of modern drama in Indonesia. Willy Klimanoff commonly known as Piedro together with his group called Dardanella contributed significantly to modernization of drama in Indonesia. He was the one who made structural changes to bring the closer to modern production the Malay tonil (Sumardjo, 2001). Additionally, the East Javanese star Dewi Dja and the popular urban theater for Piedro formed a significant part in the development of modern theater in Indonesia. In 1935, Dewi Dja renamed her group “The Royal Balinese Dancers” while on a mission to promote Indonesia during a world tour (Parani, 2006, p.60). While in Singapore, the group established a transitory base performing drama. In 1938, it then moved to Burma, China, Greece, China, the Middle East, Germany, the Netherlands and Italy. Later in 1939 to toured New York. In 1959, after undertaking various cultural tours around Canada and the USA, Dewi Dja went back to Indonesia (Parani, 2006). Therefore, Dewi Dja promoted the culture of Indonesia across the world while contributing significantly to modernization of drama in the country. As mentioned earlier, the theatrical institutions that were established in Indonesia focused on developing modern drama in the country. The main training was and still focuses on Method Acting which was introduced in the U.S. by Richard Boleslavsky (Kusumastuti, 2006). This was one of the former students of Stanislavski. The book titled, Acting: The First Six Lessons, written by Boleslavsky in 1933 was eventually interpreted into Indonesia by Asrul Sani who together with Ismail Usmar were the founders of the Akademi Teather Nasional Indonesia, a famous theatrical institution in 1950s (Museum of Contemporary Art, 2010). The focus of the newly introduced style of acting was on the internal fight of practical characters who often originated from the elite class within the domestic environments. The dramas were commonly referred to as living room dramas. Generally, the drama was characterized by dance and music including portrayals of characters in a stylistically conventional manner (Kusumastuti, 2006). Initially, it was basically founded on historical legends, local myths, or ancient Indian epics. One of plays that represent the 1930s style of drama is Opening Islands of Imagination. Equally A Portrait of the Times by Armijn Pane is one of the living-room dramas. This play constitutes four acts whose setting is in a home of a modern of an educated Dutch family. The younger members of the family have to make personal and professional decisions as they try to survive in a changing society and a stressed economy (Khampha, 2010). The play begins by showing the son of the family and two of his friends playing a game of bridge. The son looks confident and optimistic after he wins and feels in control of his life. However, as action opens up, he is drawn into his sister’s fiancé troubles. The sister’s fiancé known as Suparman is distressed because he is not able to meet his role as the provider and head of the family despite the changing role of gender in response to the stressed economy (Hughes-Freeland, 2008). Suparman is very demoralized due to unemployment while his fiancé is confident about the varying instances as her salary could support the two of them. Generally, after fifteen years when Indonesia was declared independent, most performance communities and national theatrical institutions continued to favor modern forms of drama (Museum of Contemporary Art, 2010). Therefore, they disregarded local performance traditions because they viewed them to be backward and unfashionable. Additionally, the national theatrical institutions rarely produced plays that were written by the people of Indonesia but followed the playwriting conventions of the West (Museum of Contemporary Art, 2010). This happened so because of the bias the national theatrical institutions had toward the European drama. The era of Constitutional Democracy in Indonesia which occurred between 1950 and 1959 was characterized by increased debate about the way forward for theater and whether it was to be founded on Asian or Western theater. The debate on this issue was supported in order to allow the Guided Democracy policy by Surkarno to become operational (Parani, 2006). This policy gave everyone including theater artists the directive to ensure they created a post-colonial cultural identity for the country that declined the influence from the western nations (Christensen, 2013). This regime saw the rise of Indonesian ethnic drama and regional arts and modern drama was considered dead. During this period, playwrights began to search for performance tradition within the region to inspire them in creating new styles of theater that communicated to the entire public (Hughes-Freeland, 2008). Towards the end of 1960s, playwrights extensively used regional performance traditions and this helped to increase the interest by the public in modern drama. Eventually, Rendra began to compare Indonesian modern theater with aspects from various Javanese traditions (Parani, 2006). This was a crucial step toward reshaping modern drama in Indonesia. At the end of the 1960s, Indonesia entered the New Order and new demandsd were made on the performing arts and the entire arts. Consequently, Jakarta Arts Centre which was known as Taman Ismail Marzuki (TIM) was established in 1967 (Parani, 2006). It was instituted by Ali Sadikin, the Jakarta Governor, with the Arts Council of Jakarta also known as Dewan Kesenian Jakarta (DKJ). The arts centre was meant to enhance the rehabilitation of Jakarta city and nation recovery. When TIM was first established, there was increased need to support theater in the modern setting of the city and the Indonesian context in general. As such, DKJ had to work extremely hard to engage the artists in the discussion about the different ways and options of making drama creative and modern (Bandem, 2008). Modern theater was deliberately promoted at TIM and at the same time drama that combined conventional and modern drama was normally arranged. Discussions on matters regarding performance arts increased enormously and integrated artistic groups from different regions in Indonesia (Kusumastuti, 2006). Thus, the effort to establish modern drama in Indonesia has been closely associated with the development of the nation. The modern theater in Indonesia is highly concerned with matters that affect the country (Parani, 2006). Additionally, as an urban theater, the modern theater of Indonesia and performance art has gone through many changes. It is clear that the governor of Jakarta was instrumental in the establishment of a Cultural Arts Center which provided a venue that was government subsidized and allowed a Western style for the development of modern drama (Parani, 2006). The plays performed at TIM increased the level of integrating Western and local forms and techniques of drama. The application of regional aspects in modern drama promoted the new tradition of performance in Indonesia and was in direct response to Soeharto’s regime of forced social realism (Museum of Contemporary Art, 2010). To maintain the theater reasonably free from pressures from political sphere, an Arts Council was established and it was made an autonomous body. Organization of yearly festival of theatrical groups performed by young people while featuring modern plays and traditional theatrical forms facilitated co-existence of modern and traditional forms of drama in post-independence Indonesia (Bandem, 2008). The Javanese Wayang performance has experienced much change over the last decades. The electric bulb has taken over the place of the oil lamp and is currently a standard source of light. Modernization of drama in Indonesia saw the introduction of western drums and cymbals into ensemble of the Wayang many years ago. Their main role is to support the drum in increasing the puppets’ dramatic movements (Raby, 2013). Most recently, genres of Western popular music that has been made to fit into Indonesian context, such as campursari, rock and dangnut, have been integrated into Wayang performance. Normally, musicians use the same stage with the singers and puppeteer and play a significant role making entertaining scenes (Raby, 2013). Sometimes, comedians take part in wayang performance by acting as guest artists. During this moment, they freely interact with singers and puppeteer in comic dialogue on recent topics and themes (Bandem, 2008). In modern drama, particularly wayang, the primary role of puppeteer is limited to a certain level and he is required to share his presentation with other performers. Although during a performance members of the audience are glad about the role of a puppeteer as singer and storyteller, similarly they enjoy sounds and insights of the dangdut singers, pesinden and comedians (Raby, 2013). The introduction of new aspects into wayang has how this performance is defined. It is currently referred to as puppet show and not shadow-puppet show as it used to be defined. Today, Javanese audience prefers to view the performance from the puppet’s side (Murgiyanto, 2010). Dalangs (puppeteers) have responded to the development in performance art with significant innovations, particularly concerning manipulation and movement of the puppet. To sum up, Indonesia is known to have a diverse population and this diversity lead to existence of different and unique performing arts including drama. The earliest form of drama in Indonesia was of indigenous origin. Drama was performed in order to achieve a practical outcome, such as to prevent the community from curse or rain making. The introduction of modern drama in Indonesia was part of the process in which the Indonesian societies were transformed due to the Dutch colonization. By 1930s, the national theater in Indonesia had begun to undergo transformation as it focused more toward psychological realism and domestic drama. The first national theater, Cine Drama Institut, was then established which preferred modern and western style of drama. The theatrical institutions that were established in Indonesia focused on developing modern drama in the country. Production of plays began to be done in urban areas and performance was done on proscenium stages. By the end of 1960s when Indonesia entered the New Order the new demands on the performing arts increased. Ultimately, following the establishment of TIM, support for modern drama in Indonesia was increasingly witnessed. References Bandem, I. M. (2008). Performing arts of Indonesia (Performance Education and Archive). Article 2008. http://sem2008.blogs.wesleyan.edu/files/2008/10/imadebandempaper.pdf Christensen, P. (2013). Modernity and Spirit Possession in Java. http://www.dorisea.de/sites/default/files/DORISEA%20WP%202%20Christensen%20Spirit%20Possession%20and%20Modernity%20Java.pdf Hughes-Freeland, F. (2008). “Becoming a Puppet”: Javanese Dance as Spiritual Art. Journal of Religion and Theatre, 7(1). http://c.ymcdn.com/sites/www.athe.org/resource/resmgr/imported/Hughesfreeland.pdf Khampha, R. (2010). Creative Contemporary Asian Dance based on Traditional Techniques and Spirituality Fusing Lanna (Northern Thailand), Indonesia, and Japan. http://www.api-fellowships.org/body/international_ws_proceedings/10/P3-Ronnarong-Khampha.pdf Kusumastuti, Y. (2006). Market forces: a case study of contemporary art practice in Indonesia. https://espace.cdu.edu.au/eserv/cdu:6525/Thesis_CDU_6525_Kusumastuti_Y.pdf Murgiyanto, S. (2005). In search of new paths: Reinventing tradition in Indonesia. Global and local dance in performance, 279. http://www.pcah.us/media/files/83e0a8fad8717aa8b7a6a048baa29eab.pdf Murgiyanto, S. (2010b). Reinventing Tradition: New Dance in Indonesia. The PewCenter for Arts & Heritage. http://www.pcah.us/posts/107_document_s_reinventing_tradition_new_dance_in_indonesia Museum of Contemporary Art, (2010). Indonesian Art, Entering the Global, Contemporaneity: Contemporary Art of Indonesia. http://inghaminindonesia.com/files/Indonesian_Art_Entering_the_Global.pdf Parani, J. (2006). Intercultural Jakarta, Ambiance of Batawi Theatre to Indonesian Theatre. Wacana Seni (Journal of Arts Discourse), 5, 44-68. http://wacanaseni.usm.my/WACANA%20SENI%20JOURNAL%20OF%20ARTS%20DISCOURSE/JOURNAL_5%20PDF/ws5_article4.pdf Raby, J. (2013). Performing Indonesia: A conference and festival of music, dance and drama. Smithsonian Institution. http://www.asia.si.edu/events/downloads/Indonesia-Program.pdf Sumardjo, J. (2001). Recent Writers in Indonesia, 32(1), 2-4. http://www.accu.or.jp/appreb/09/pdf32-1/32-1p.03-4.pdf Read More