Senter, Sapulidi & Bahan Kain - Making & Framing Theatre Fast

Torch, Sapulidi & Fabric - Making & Framing theatre Fast!

For four days nine people gathered to go through a theatre making process with Ria & myself to experiment in object manipulation/puppetry and making theatre fast! We met at Pendopo Siliron, one of the oldest pendopos in town. The space was small and surrounded by garden, with a great feel really conducive to the intimate work we were doing. On the fourth evening we made a 40 minute presentation of our work.

The audience was supremely late for the showing of our work in object/puppet manipulation, imaginative text making– even for Yogya standards but the cast remained impressively focused and presented the show with sensitivity and energy.

As I sat behind the computer operating music and lights I felt real joy, joy for having been able to make the work with people who gave themselves to the process and trusted it and us. More than that the ideas were inspired and conceived with commitment.

Well, most of the time and for 90% this was the case. A 10% of the group decided not to fully commit and we were forced to go through our own process of trying to identify the problem - the negative attitude, tardiness and general "kill the king" behaviour. As a facilitator there is often a workshop saboteur – that is they are committed to their cause at the expense of others. Too hyperbolic? Well, it certainly made it hard for Ria throughout the process and left a really unsavoury feel for the whole group. We decided to talk with the unnamed one. To express what perhaps had not been expressed to him before (because the polite nature of local culture). In the time between the session and meeting I realised that due to lateness and absence the unnamend one had not actually attended an introduction session so was seeing the workshops through a different frame than us. I wanted to give him the opportunity to understand the frame and then for them to make the decision to return (and take responsibility for it) So, we met and talked and an understanding was made. The unnamed one returned and was really present and the mood changed - great! It was a difficult process & an emotional one....but now we know getting the "framing" right is essential!

The Process:

After three days of exploring lights, fabric and sapulidi (brooms for sweeping!) Ria & I worked on combining the elements in a particular order to form a show. We rehearsed this with the group adding more ideas & taking things away and on the same night performed to 20 people….twice! as the first time most people were inconceivably (1.15 minutes!) late! This was followed by a whole group discussion with questions from the audience about the process.

Audience Feedback

I loved the way they used the props! I loved th Gajah – the elephant the best!

I didn’t know what it meant but it gave me strong feelings.

It was like poetry.

How you got to make it – the process – is very interesting to me.

Participant feedback:

Really great! I will steal your ideas!

It was very strange, something I’ve never done before. We worked without a script but we all knew what we had to do. Hebat!

I didn’t know where it was going to go, how we were going to make a show from it but we did it!

I really enjoyed the process. I can see how it can be used in my work and how anyone can become artists this way.