KODE-4

Saturday, August 4, 2007

'Ditunggu Dogot': Interprets duality of waiting...

Waiting for Godot was authored by Irish poet, dramatist and novelist Samuel Beckett in English, and in French as En Attendant Godot. Beckett started writing the drama in Paris on Oct. 9, 1948, and finished it on Jan. 29, 1949.

It is a play with diverse interpretations, ranging from an indeterminate piece to a comedy, from a tragedy to a drama imbued with religious spirit.


The diversity of its renderings has made Godot better known as an absurd work. It was staged for the first time in 1953 at Theatre de Babylone, Paris, and has since then been frequently performed in several countries in the world, including Indonesia.

Indonesia's noted poet and short-story writer, Sapardi Djoko Damono, later penned his Ditunggu Dogot (Awaited by Dogot), which has been adapted for the stage.

It tells the story of two characters, a man and a woman, for whom Dogot is waiting. In the meantime, they face various problems and conflicts, and debate the figure of Dogot, whose identity and origin remain obscure.

The theatrical play was presented July 25 by Komunitas Seni Hitam Putih Indonesia at the French Cultural Center in Bandung. It applied the concept of a stage-on-stage theater, with a moving platform so that the shift in actors is controlled more by stage movement.

The audience was positioned in a horseshoe seating arrangement to facilitate dramatic appreciation; a multimedia backdrop was applied to reinforce the atmosphere of the play and enhance theatrical esthetics.

According to director Kurniasih Zaitun, or Tintun, the concept came from the basic idea of randai -- a folk drama originating in Minangkabau, West Sumatra -- with the drama and its players determining the change of time, place and scene.

The function of players in this performance was considerably controlled by the rotating stage: While it was rotating, the players assumed their characters, but when it came to a halt, they became part of the audience.

"Everything on earth was created in pairs. Far and near, tall and short, sky and land, male and female, waiting and being awaited," she said after the show.

The stage rendition of Ditunggu Dogot indicates Beckett's obvious influence on Sapardi. Yet Sapardi tried to explore how "waiting" would be incomplete without its counterpart of "expected", while believing in the duality of life.

This is evident in the original short story's dialogue, including the way Sapardi describes the subject and the conflicts that form the core of the tale.

The play could have been more appealing and substance-packed if Tintun had more capably polished her two leads, Maria Elissa and Rudi M. Agung, for a more gripping delivery.

Although the captivating stage setting and blocking were not sufficiently supported by the creative direction of dialogue toward attaining a livelier tone, the message of the story was still digestible by the audience.

Komunitas Seni Hitam Putih (black-and-white arts community) was originally a high school theater group called Teater Plus, established in 1992 as one of the extracurricular activities of SMU Plus INS Kayu Tanam high school in West Sumatra.

It was renamed in 1998, and when Tintun moved to Surakarta (Solo), the community was based in this Central Java city and has since existed as one of Indonesia's arts enclaves.

It has staged various theatrical performances in Sumatra as well as Jakarta. From its beginnings, the community has infused new color to performing arts development in West Sumatra, such as through its tours of Sumatra and Jakarta during the 1998-2000 period, besides a number of theater workshops.

As a theatrical group, Hitam Putih is also active in promoting other artistic endeavors, organizing dance performances, literary workshops and ethnic music concerts. In the film industry, the community arranges discussions, screens and produces movies, as well as undertakes exploration, research and experimentation projects.

Ditunggu Dogot was also performed at Jakarta's Taman Ismail Marzuki on the eveing of July 27.***

Sumber: http://www.thejakartapost.com/yesterdaydetail.asp?fileid=20070728.T01



No comments:

Post a Comment