The Question of Theatre

Bruce: The Adventure - Bruce Sipetualang. Making an interactive show for kids at the Children's Hospital

2009-07-19T22:02:00.000-07:00

We visited the kids at the Cancer Ward at the Children's hospital to ask them for their help. We need some good ideas to make a show for International Children's' Day. The ideas were awesome and so now we are making an interactive show about friendship - a pig (Bruce stars again!) a magic egg and a Rat called Tuti. In partnership with the hospital volunteers group we are putting on a half an hour show for 100 kids and their folks. Next week - ahh! No worries at all - I'm working with professional actor Theo - who is also a Boal fan - Ani - an amazing woman who works creatively in communities and Inna who is a post-abortion counsellor, keen on using theatre in her work. What a dream team! Rehearsals consist of huge amounts of discussing about politics, education, sexual health, theatre in communities - plus ahellovoalot of laughing! Of course we do a bit of acting too....

We have developed a make your own theatre style show with intervention points for the audience. The audience decides which way the story goes - will Bruce finally make friends? What does he need to do for this to happen? Will we discover what is inside the magic egg?! And will Anna ever learn her lines in Bahasa Indonesian? Watch this space!

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

2009-07-19T21:07:00.000-07:00

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.

Sapi Pelangi – The Rainbow Cow

2009-07-05T18:19:00.000-07:00

Enter The Rainbow Cow –

When I brought The Rainbow Cow - a puppet show in a briefcase – to Yogya I wondered if it would be of interest to kids here. To be honest I was a tad worried that a pig as the hero in a Muslim culture might be a bit of a no-no…..So when Ria couldn’t stop saying ooooooooo it’s so cute (those cursed words to all puppetmakers!)…and proceeded to act out the entire play, I thought that we may have something.

The Rainbow Cow went into translation. It is a story about Cordelia the cow who is unhappy in her skin, inspired by the kids’ book ‘Black Cow White Cow’ – but now it is quite a different story with the same theme – be happy with the skin you are in – or it could lead to all sorts of troubles!

In a place where there is the Michael Jackson Skin Care Clinic, where the occasional bleached white face appears through the crowd wearing a jilbab (Muslim headscarf), where people stare at your arms and say ooh you're so white – the issues around skin colour abound and, according to some people I have spoken with, are left unspoken about. As is the striving for a bigger nose, longer legs, big boobs…totally familiar stories about body image that surface in regional Australia as much as in the city of Yogya.

Jeannie, my house mate and Indonesian language student, helped translate and Cahya a paper moon puppet manager and one time performer has begun to take on the puppeteering role under my direction! When Ria and I first talked about what she would like to do, she said she’d like to take something into the hospital here – to the kids with cancer ward….so this is the loose plan. This process is a sweet connection for PMP & I as Cahya has always wanted a larger role in the performances but being an excellent arts manager ends up being channeled elsewhere. It also means we can both be outside eyes and Ria can begin a relationship with the hospital for the future projects.

Building partnerships is a snap phrase in Australia where many funding bodies commend links between arts and non arts organizations. TransVision Arts is built on these relationships. But here it is just beginning – where NGOs and health and education organisations are seeing the benefits of arts in the community to deliver messages or explore issues or to promote wellbeing through active participation – did I mention I’ve written a few funding applications? Sounds like it doesn’t it….eeeeeekkkk.

Cahya has taken a cow and a pig home with her and will learn her lines and tomorrow we begin to rehearse.

Thanks to Hannah French by the way for helping me make The Rainbow Cow in a spurt of creativity just before I left Australia – thank you!!

Listening to the Spiders

2009-07-05T18:07:00.000-07:00

Gut instinct, intuition and the process of making theatre: When we try to force a process – however well conceived and genuinely desired – there is this chance of finding a spider in the belly…lupa lupa crawling around making me feel itchy inside. Listening to the spiders is part of making theatre for me. Following them inside to the point of concern to discover: What is it that is not working? Why is this hard?

Ria and I have reviewed the workshop process. On reflection the idea of a two week workshop process was becoming less of a creative conversation and more of an event driven affair. Neither of us want this. Plus it was getting hard to pin people down to such along period of time. Ria agreed – this is hard - to get people, to confirm a viable space, to feel the weight of a performance…so simplify and go back to the point of what we want: she wants to explore ideas of found lights and night time puppets, she wants an open creative dialogue between myself and local artists. She wants to offer the workshops to those who usually do not get the opportunity to work in this way. I want an organic process to make a piece of work that is - not to force a performance but to find the impulse within the group to perform something -to give ourselves the opportunity not to perform simply to play together. I’m keen to know how people make work here - how people are propelled.

Our change in tack back to our original five day plan with the possibility of further development later into a grander presentation dissolved the knot of concern.

The spiders have returned to their webs and we are ready to play.

Cooking Up a Storm – in Semi Darkness!

2009-07-01T18:08:00.000-07:00

An ancient Javanese proverb says: "If you want to find the light, go where the darkness is".

Ria and I will be collaborating on a new work facilitating up to ten emerging performing artists to make a short performance with the proverb as our starting point. After we have posed the question to the artists ‘What is your burning artistic question right now?’ Ria and I are then interested in how we can facilitate the exploration of these questions, combine these burning questions and create a process to make a show. All in less than two weeks!

Making this work will be like making a gourmet curry dinner for twenty people with only three cooking pots and two burners. It’ll take days to make and more to mature and the final outcome will be dependant on the combination of available spices.

Our ingredients at this stage (subject to directorial change!) are our selected (and limited) materials:

Simple puppet making materials – cane, tape, plastic, paper, White fabric, found lights and broom brushes.

Our spices are our artists. Our pots and burners are our twelve days, our pendopo, our limited funds and limited access to three phase power.

Our work in progress performance will be at Karta Pustaka. This old Dutch Cultural Centre is a stunner of a pendopo. To me it elicited a strong overwhelming feeling of ‘we have to make something big and amazing to reflect this space’. Ria explained to me however, that the space is not expected to be used in that way, it is a community space for anything and everything – no pressure. Interesting how I have a received sense of how architecture shapes culture. Grand space means grand show. So I take on Ria’s understanding of how space works here and become all inspired by the possibilities of working in an indoor out door space with 16 pillars, performing in the round……exciting stuff. Let the cooking commence!

For more information about what we cook up please check out the Papermoon puppets blogspot or watch this space!

Teater Gardenella -Realism Only!

2009-06-29T20:43:00.000-07:00

Ria (Director of Papermoon Puppets - if you are new to this blog!) spent four years working with Teater Gardenella as an actress and was very complimentary about Joned its director. After a quick dash across the city on a particularly smoggy day we went to visit him. Joned is a very interesting man who asked pointy questions– a very unJavenese characteristic - often being critical, cynical even, yet he was also incredibly hospitable. We ate lunch (our second lunch that day because it is rude to refuse food!) and talked about Gardenella and its history and niche in the realism market. "We do nothing but realism!" – he told me! Then he let the dog out. No big woofy to ward off the expressionists but a small cute little thing who he proceeded to groom. Showing his softer side Joned and his hound donned matching faux snakeskin hats and demanded I take a photo. Yes Director! ( I begin to get an insight into his autocratic directing style?). No worries! Gardenella have a show this week and although I was told to not to bother going by the Joned because I won’t get language – I will be going!!

Yayasong Bagong Kussudiardja

2009-06-29T20:35:00.000-07:00

Another woman taking active steps in promoting the arts in community contexts is Jeannie Parks of Yayasong Bagong Kussudiardja (YBK).A Javanese dancer from a Korean/US background, she helps manage a large wonderful estate just outside the town consisting of performance pendopo studios and a residence. The place once was a dance school and Jeannie and the committee are new image for the organization as a place to make art with people…to share practice stories and skills. The vision of YBK is big and culturally groundbreaking but already having effect despite limited people power. It is a huge project with a number of programs currently running to nurture community cultural development faciilitators and involve community in projects. Snuff Puppets will be returning from Australia to do a second project with YBK in a few weeks. Their first was Peste Boneka – Puppet Festival last year.

http://www.ybk.or.id/home_english.php

Snuff Puppets

http://www.snuffpuppets.com/

Women Who Make Theatre Happen in Yogya:

2009-06-29T20:20:00.000-07:00

As Ria prepares for a presentation about her time in residence in Korea, I will write a bit about her: Ria is an unusual for a theatre maker here and also as a woman in the arts: Firstly, she is very interested in community involvement in arts projects; making work with communities and sharing skills and opportunities. This is contrary to what is the norm – where art is made by artists and shown to the rest. Artists make work with other artists but not with “non-artists”. Ria encourages practice in kampungs and villages and is an avid networker - facilitating good people working with good people.

Secondly, Ria is the director of the theatre company. Much like the broader culture the theatre making tradition has belonged to men. The Javanese dance I have been learning (oh yes! With great inability I must add, much to the disdain of my gracious Bu Tia who is the Javanese dance equivalent to the most senior teacher at the Royal Ballet!) , these dances are all choreographed by men, men have traditionally written the dramas and been the sutradara – the director. Amongst this is Ria – assertive, curious and imaginative has directed Papermoon puppets over three years. She works with her husband Iwan who is the creative engineer on projects and has gathered a team of puppeteers, management and supporters around her. What a women!

Prof Hatley has an article on Women in theatre in Indonesia: http://intersections.anu.edu.au/issue16/hatley.html

What this blog is not

2009-06-29T19:41:00.000-07:00

This blog – my dear readers (are you out there? If a blogger is not read do they blog?) is not intended to be a critical analysis of the cultural ecology of Yogyakartan theatre – and although I may espouse certain ideas they are not tested or tried or referenced so for those who are keen for more rigour to their reading I’ve put together a little bit of a webography:

Barbara Hatley is an excellent source of research on the subject of Indonesian Theatre – we briefly met as she is researching an update of her book and interviewed Papermoon Puppets.

http://web.uvic.ca/pacificasia/gallery/article.html

About Prof. Hately: http://fcms.its.utas.edu.au/arts/asianstudies/pagedetails.asp?lpersonId=1713

Lauren Bain is a researcher/writer on contemporary theatre in Indonesia and has written about Knowledge and the Arts of Asia for Asialink:

http://www.asialink.unimelb.edu.au/our_work/arts/art_events/annual_forum/kowledge_forum_2003/knowledge_forum_2003_transcripts_-_bain

Selemat researching! Happy researching!

Feel free to add further relevant links.

The Reluctant Tourist

2009-06-28T21:44:00.000-07:00

Before I left Australia, a theatre friend, who often works in Yogya, had some advise for me - “Anna, do not work all the time ‑ go see things!” (unlike him – I suspect!) but this is harder than you might think – with a two week workshop coming up and ideas a’flowing it’s difficult to resist not ducking into this shop to look at those materials or meet with people and talk about life as artists and non-artists here. Irresistibly researching. Connecting compulsively!

So yesterday when my housemate said let’s go to Solo to see the Batik Parade I thought –great an event that’s straight down my street and ticks the tourist box!

So, off to Solo together we went – an hour away on the train. The parade was hectic full of families, batik sellers and many outrageous costumes! Let the photos do the talking…

Bengkel Mime: A niche in the market!

2009-06-27T18:45:00.000-07:00

Bengkel Mime:

Directed by Inyang (Ari Dwianto) and Andi Sri Wahyudi this is a dedicated group of mime artists who meet regularly to make mime works – currently they are working on a show called The Soldier about an old soldier recalling his past. They have no formal training in mime in the traditional (western) sense and this has given them the freedom to do exactly what they want. Bengkel means a workshop to fix things (we see them everywhere here) or to make things too – like a laboratory and this is true of this group as they gather to experiment in their methods in mime.

They work from both directions – emotion memory (in to out) and action memory (out to in). They like to frock up (being only a group of lads) and have a playful approach to their work. The Soldier is a more melancholic show than their previous work, so I‘m led to believe and I got a snapshot of it in rehearsal. And wow what a rehearsal space – a private pendopo made of marble and carved wood!

Inyang is a supremely watchable performer and the others too were grounded and clearly searching for the impulse to move their characters. A personal anxiety of mine as (an inadequate) performer and (a determined) theatre maker is the role of stereotype in performance. It has its place as it is there as a common description of something recognizable, known, inherited…but still…Age and aging is a classic– the ubiquitous shaking hands and jellied knees - but I have no clear access to this in Javanese culture – is this a stereotype and does that matter anyway?

I find it really interesting that theatre groups really choose their specialization – mime or realism or puppets – they work hard to promote their niche.

As I sit here blogging away, being munched by mozzies, zapped by minor electric shocks from this computer and an unpredictable electricity supply, listening to the multiple muezzins’ call to prayer at 20decibles…. I imagine that making theatre here in this deeply layered culture, rich with sounds, religions and histories is a way of carving through it all to say – yes I know all that is going on around you but hey look at this….this one thing this idea, this puppet, this mime, look at this which we have carved from the creative chaos. So I’m not at all surprised there is breakaway mime group working hard to make theatre in the most beautiful pendopo I’ve seen to date in the back streets of Yogya.

Did I mention nearly everyone is an artist here? Bertool. True.

Making Theatre in Yogyakarta - Kepek Village Theatre Group

2009-06-27T18:40:00.000-07:00

Thanks to my super efficient hostess with the mostest – Mbak Ria I have had a three-week whirlwind tour of visiting and meeting the theatre makers of Yogyakarta.

So far on the tour: let’s work in reverse….

One night Ria and I went by motorbike to a village in outer Yogya called Kepek. It doesn’t take long to leave the thronging jalans of Yogya and ride into areas of glistening rice fields and trees waving enormous green leaves like flags of fecundity!

Grewo, a young theatre director who has also worked with Papermoon, and actor Benny met us and led us into the village to meet their theatre group.

Grewo started the group to for the youth in his village and was halfway through a rehearsal process to present a play. However, he was now a bit worried about the group - specifically how to keep them focused and motivated and still work on improving the play, so he asked if we could plan and run a session with him.

After asking lots of questions to ascertain where they were at the process, how it was going, who was doing what, rehearsal strategies, etc, we came up with a plan: to spend less time running the show over and over (the current main strategy) and take time to build the groups performance skills and group trust. We structured a session to combine these elements and a worshopping of two of the scenes and headed to the pendopo (a covered but open community space) to put it into action.

At the small pendopo made of rattan, bamboo, wood and concrete, twenty young people waited scripts in hands to rehearse their show…a story of love and adventure– in a Cinderella kind of style.

Other people gathered too. This village was flattened in the 2006 earthquakes and Ria and her performers came to work here with the kids as part of a local NGO’s recovery programme – so locals were eager to see what the young folk are performing this time.

Despite Grewo’s worries that the group isn’t focused enough (well tell me please - when and where in the world twenty 15-20 odd year olds are focused for three hours long!?) they were fantastic – clearly pleased to be there, participated in everything, had a lot of laughs and energy was high. We played games (the net of Zip Zap Boing continues to wrap around the world!), trust games and did some character walks. As much as possible, Ria and I encouraged Grewo to run the exercises, to take up with confidence the role he has given himself. This is a tricky path to negotiate, as most of the people are friends or neighbours or neighbours’ children. He has to tread gently yet still direct with firmness. Here the fluidity between work and friendship is less clear than in my culture(s) and I don’t fully understand how it affects the way people make theatre. Ria suggested to me that in an unfunded arts culture people are the resources and give of their time and skills and when they have it cash. Money is liquid here too. Whoever has it disperses it into the community. But what if someone does something wrong – does not pull their weight, or offends another artist/friend?– well, it seems they may simply be ostracized by the company or the community and have to leave town to make work. Harsh? Maybe not if that is how the support network to make theatre here works. If you are the weakest link you have to go quietly, without a fuss. However in this community theatre making context there are other relationships at stake and I imagine it will take a number of projects to gently initiate codes of practice (like – no smoking during rehearsals in the pendopo – something which amazed me as one young guy lit up 10 minutes into the session! Oh and switch those mobile phones off too…).

Ria did a super job of translating. She is a natural director – funny, incisive and sensitive. She’s a bit of an anomaly here, in this patriarchal society so I am learning and so I’m told, – but more about Ria later (ma’af Ria if you are reading this – nothing I wouldn’t say to you my dear Maria! J )

We watch and workshopped two scenes – one about four dancing crabs who negotiate with a group of beautiful girls to take them across the river (all to a live music played by a rock band). Terlalu lucu –too funny! And the other scene about a fairy who surprises an unhappy princess and helps her become a regular, common girl. The scenes were already learnt, roughly blocked and were being fortified with heavy doses of Javanese jokes (which I wish I could have understood!) The actors took the directing suggestions really well, the scenes became a little bit tighter and more importantly this showed that this structure of rehearsal should work effectively. I’d preciously suggested scheduling different actors in at different times when they had their scene but after seeing the collective joy in being there I changed my mind…much better to spend time building skills in focus, character, trust etc together and then spend a little time on the scenes. Plus, throughout the session from the edges of the pendopo came laughter, commentary and chat as villagers old and young watched the rehearsal with great interest. So isn’t just about putting on a play for the community -its about truly making theatre in the community.

Watching theatre making here I had flashes of memory from 1994-95 when working with Amakhosi Theatre in Bulawayo Zimbabwe. Then I was like Grewo – a bit green and yet mega keen. And the context was simillar: making work with local people for local people. It’s tough when you have had a taste of professional practice and then work with non-actors who have a more relaxed – senai - view on the whole making theatre affair. This is made tougher when you’re still discovering your style of direction. I still don’t know but I am a little bit closer 15 years later! What Brecht wrote about acting applies to directing it is a “Constant shedding of insight as it is gained”. Let it in to let it go. Then you begin to know what works when and where.

Anyway…

I hope to go back to Grewo’s group in a few weeks to see how things have developed; To see if Grawo’s new production schedule which we put together will help him pace the sessions and keep all that ebullience alive and in check. Unfortunately, I won’t get to see the show as it is in August but I will certainly never look at crabs in the same way again! Thanks Grewo, Benny and Crew for a such wonderful opportunity for me to work with you!

Mau Apa?

2009-06-25T18:59:00.000-07:00

Our first performance called Mau Apa? was a hit!

A traditional market called Pesar Suryoputran…. not far from the Kraton (the King’s Palace), where desiccated Ibu’s sell their fresh fruit and salted fish, where people wear traditional dress – women baring their shoulders in floral frocks, men in batik wraps and little black pasty shaped hats. Where the prices are local and any Bole (foreigner) in the street is phenomenon. This is where we first performed:

May Apa?

What do you want?

The performance consists of the banter between two adult puppets Yu Brejel and Bejo who have a stall at the market. They come to market to sell the unsellable. Love, faith, dreams and other things! Who will “buy” what and why? What do they want? Mau Apa?

The two old friends Yu Brejel and Bejo also have their very own stories, of found and lost wants, to share with their audience and all for Gratis!

This is the first collaboration, between myself and Paper Moon Puppets director Ria Tri Sulistyani & actor Yosafat “Jordana” Diaswikarta …, based on our mutual interests in performances in public spaces that question social norms. And this is a big one! What do we want and why?

Cultural analyst Ken Myers said "Tell me what you want and I’ll tell you who you are." If this is true then what we want defines us individuals, families, communities and countries, and artists too.

What I “want”ed from this project is to go into process with Ria and Jordonana…to deliver a performance in a public context, as a playful way into a culture, as a loose experiment in which we cannot separate ourselves…right?

Ria wanted to explore a devised theatre process – making characters, stories and performance from a series of improvisations. She was really keen to take art into public spaces – an uncommon thing here. Although there is much more art in the public than many Australian towns and cities…buskers at the big market are a’plenty from roving musos to a troupe of transgender women crooning their songs.

We also both wanted to create a performance designed for Yogyakarta but also translatable to any country. We’d love to perform this show here and then in Australia…then wherever we happen to meet again!

The idea came about from my practice in Augusto Boal’s work including invisible theatre and Ria’s work using puppets on trains and in the streets. We combined these to create, what I’ve clumsily dubbed, Re –Visible theatre. Making the invisible visible once more. To explore publicly in a non-threatening, playful way about the motivations we have for living.

Invisible theatre invites participation without the audience knowing. Re-Visible theatre invites an audience to partake in the full knowledge that this is theatre happening in a public, real, context. Puppets are extraordinarily well placed to welcome participation; somehow people forget there is an actor behind the puppet! This assumption led to some really interesting stories…..but that’s for later…..

The show:

We have two aspects to what we will “sell” – the big, universal Wants, e.g. Love, Power, Faith… and the locally specific Wants, e.g. Good Health, Menantu (a good match for your child) or Kurus - to be thin. This is really interesting to me, as this is where I discovered what is most important to people here in Yogya – what they aspire to and need. More importantly I see it is a subtle thing…which I may never truly “get”. In the local Market we were interested to see whether the Naik Haji (a trip to Mecca) or Menantu would be bought…something Ria says is very specific to Javanese people in the more traditional market.

We used already constructed, wonderful, puppets (boneka). One is a full sized man, the other a woman who is a waist up rod puppet, both have one hand for the actors’. We used an improvisation based process to construct the work. Actors Jordana and Ria kindly let me direct them so that we could draw out the best in the concept…I led rehearsals including games, trust and impro exercises and was the outside eye and the editing knife! Ria is a beautiful puppet performer with a superb kineasethic connectedness to her puppets…and Jordana was very quick to pick up ideas in a process very new to him.

Devising of content took place through structured improvisations… short exercises based on a simple rules around which the actor makes things up spontaneously….from that we drew the best text and ideas and repeated until we found a loose script around which to work. The text includes stories from the puppet characters lives – like Bridgil’s story of loosing her family through a disease in her village – metaphors about the subjects and many jokes!

I found new connections between theatre exercises and puppet performance – particularly the sensitivity of the breath. Watching Ria and Jordnana, who both are experienced at puppet manipulation, play and really push the connection between breath and the puppets’ physicality made it clear that the breath as a puppeteer play no less a role in fact as in more conventional acting - when the puppets changed their breathe the puppets take on a real life – not a performative life but an essence. I think of when I watched a sheep die and when it is a dying breathing sheep and when it was simply a collection of materials with no breath. Well this was the reverse – material becoming alive through breath. Really sensitive work. We began this by using a game called the wind that shakes the barely…a breath and touch exercise in pairs where one performer touches key spots on the partners body. The partner has their eyes closed and both exhale as they touch or are being touched. The partner must respond to the touch like the wind shaking the barely. Ria and Jordana pushed this to the amount of pressure of touch and the related amount of exhale of breathe and also physical response

This was a new process for Paper Moon Puppets exploring character through improvisation...but what was new and compelling for me is constructing a performance in another language…where we relied upon my teaspoon sized knowledge of Bahasa Indonesia, Jordana’s pretty good English and Ria’s excellent translating. But still the show is in a combination of Indonesian and Javanese. Funnily enough this gave me the sort of space I don’t’ usually get directing…the space to really see the external story and the feel the impact of that on me as the audience. The downside of course is I don’t get the full impact of the audience’s interaction with the puppets and how the work develops with that – tidda apa apa! No Worries!

We trialed the show with Ria’s friends and the response was positive – funny, bagus! Great! We also received useful feedback about when to use Javanese and when not and to whom; Javanese being for older people or for ways of saying specific things. Javanese is a much richer language than Bahasa Indonesian so I am told and there are ways of saying things in very roundabout ways!

Ria was concerned that there may not be participation in the shows however Ria already had connections in the local market and an insight into how we could best work in that context. We also researched the venues as part of our devising process…to locate ourselves in that space and context more clearly. Under Ria’s advice we aimed to construct a performance that was intrinsically interesting (with it’s own narrative, relationships and events) but invites participation.

What happened: Any apprehensions about a reticent audience immediately disappeared into the morning smog! Before I had even set up the table, stools and labelled boxes people were coming over and asking about what was happening…taking the programme and hanging out. One man turned my Tutup – closed sign around to Buka – Open – the audience were keen. Then through the dusty morning light on a becak (a bicycle taxi) came the puppets. Within moments of the puppets sitting down the keen man – who looked remarkably like Jack Nicholson in a traditional stylish black jacket leaped into the audience seat and the show was off to a great start! The seat barely stayed empty as young and old, shyly or with confidence, took the seat and asking for what they wanted. What surprised Ria was the old folk coming up and sharing so sincerely what they wanted – their stories of loss of health (one woman had a skin disease) or desire for a good match for their children. The whole thing was watched by stallholders and listened to by passersby. It was gila – crazy with cars, motorbikes, kids, becaks and photographers all mixed up like a sambal!

The actors shut up shop (toko) for a few minutes for a quick drink and a brief chat with me…sweaty but loving it they dived back in for another 20 minutes to end the hour long show. The seat remained red hot especially when people sensed the show was concluding – just one more, just one more!

Participation didn’t stop there – audiences talked amongst themselves – what would you want – money, eh? They asked about the show - if we were selling traditional medicine – some seemed to get the concept of the performance but still believed the little colourful biscuits the puppets gave at the end of each performance were really medicines!

One Ibu prayed before she took her gift into her mouth. What she wanted was really strong for her. Interestingly, Haik Naji and Power were not chosen. Guess what the most popular want was? - Not Love as I might expect but Faith and Health!

Performance Two - The Sunday Market at the University (UGM)

A different sort of performance altogether- huge crowds who wanted to watch and not take part – those who did were friends and they took an acting role (voluntarily) which meant the performers gestures and jokes became bigger and bigger for the crowd to hear and see. This personal performance became more public. Sometimes over 6 people deep, the crowd was hungry for the show and laughed and eagerly took the programmes I handed out. Most areas were covered including Naik Haji (not so in the last market) but it was more for fun. The essence of the show changed to meet the context. Maybe if we had a tent and a limited number of people could watch it would have had a more intimate feel. Security became concerned about the masses of people nearly blocking the street. And the bag selling women next stall along were not so impressed. We moved away slightly and wrapped up a little earlier.

What this project did show was the interest in public performance – and the acceptance of it as just that – in the Sunday market – a show to watch not to be involved in…and in the local market people saw it more as a part of life…where they could freely interact (and maybe even get some medicine!)

What the two shows actually revealed, if the smiles were anything to go by, is that Art is the medicine!!

The Question of Theatre?

2009-06-25T18:56:00.000-07:00

The question of theatre:

Why do theatre now?

What do we want? Why do we do it? How do we do it? What will we do? Who will we do it with? What if we fail? What is it to fail? Why do it here? Why do it now?

Inspired by my fantastic Asialink residency of two months in Yogyakarta this blog is aimed at asking these questions with theatre makers in Yogyakarta, myself and my colleagues in Australia and around the world, to navigate through what makes people want to make theatre and how we do it!