Bl Hatley

Wayang and Ludruk: Polarities in Java

In contemporary Western society, theatre has become primarily a source of entertainment and sometimes of social criticism; its older function of articulating and instilling prevailing values is now performed by the mass media and specialized educational and propaganda institutions. In Indonesia, however, and elsewhere in Asia where mass media and educational facilities are less developed and private reading is not a widely established habit, popular drama still transmits sociopolitical ideals between the court (or city) and the countryside, and reinforces religious tradition. While some of its communicative role is now shared with movies and other new

Contemporary Performance in Central Java – Staging Identities, Constructing Communities

Performance in Central Java, in particular the court cities of Yogyakarta and Solo, where I have been following theatre developments over the years,1 illustrates especially clearly the phenomenon referred to in the introduction to this volume – the shift from a polarity of state domination and resistance during the long New Order years to a more diverse, dispersed and locally-focused contemporary performance scene. The rich court traditions, village performance genres and more recently-developed popular theatre cultivated in Yogya and Solo provided plentiful material for government bodies to display their power and authority and inculcate models of ideal Indonesian citizenship. Meanwhile the same rich store of dramatic material could be interpreted satirically to critique state ideology and policy, in particular by the modern theatre groups supported by the big, politicized student population of Yogyakarta. Given the importance of performance as a medium of political expression and contest during New Order times, the big changes in politics and society which have occurred since the regime ended in 1998 seem likely to have had a significant impact on this social role. Describing contemporary performance, and making some suggestions about how it reflects on and connects with its new social and political environment, is the focus of this chapter. Resistance to the state through critical engagement with Javanese performance tradition provided a shared idiom among modern theatre groups during the Suharto era, and attracted enthusiastic support from politically-critical audience members. The movement had begun with Rendra and his Bengkel theatre group in Yogyakarta in the 1970s. Rendra’s epic dramas about flawed, self-seeking kings resonated evocatively with the angry disillusionment with the New Order regime expressed in the campus protests of 1977–1978. When Rendra was banned from performing for 8 years, the group Teater Dinasti took on the mantle of Teater Bengkel in Yogya, and continued to stage historical dramas satirizing powerholders. In the late 1980s the group Gandrik came to the fore, introducing a new theatrical style influenced by folk theatre models, involving contemporary settings, straightforward dialogue, critical humour

Situated testimonies: Dread and enchantment in an Indonesian Literary Archive

In this book Laurie Sears embarks on an ambitious, wide-ranging and innovative project. Inspired by a personal interest in psychoanalysis, she takes up the concept of literary texts as ‘situated testimonies’, bringing into narrative form and thereby illuminating experiences of trauma.

Creating culture for the new nation; South Sulawesi, 1950-1965

South Sulawesi might seem at first a less than promising site for exploring Indonesian cultural activities during the 1950s and 1960s. Given the reportedly low level of pre-war education and nationalist organization in the region (Harvey 1977:21) and the fact that it remained part of the Dutch-created Negara Indonesia Timur (NIT, State of Eastern Indonesia) until the end of 1950, one might expect that there was less involvement here in the developing modern, Indonesian national culture than in other parts of Indonesia, less interaction with the major centres of activity in Java. More importantly, during the 1950s Sulawesi was the site of two regional rebellions, the Darul Islam revolt of Kahar Muzzakar in the south, commencing in 1950, and the PERMESTA rebellion of 1957 centred mainly in the north. Problems of political instability, lack of security and social and economic disruption seem likely to have impacted severely on the energy and resources available for cultural activities. However, precisely because our understanding of cultural life in this period has so far been dominated by attention to the national capital and Java, because it has been assumed that little cultural activity occurred in more distant, contested regions such as Sulawesi, it is important to test such preconceptions, to investigate what was actually happening in these areas. So, although my own previous research on Indonesian literature and performance has been Javabased, here I have taken up the challenge of exploring cultural life in South Sulawesi in the 1950s and early 1960s. Armed with some very useful contacts provided by colleagues, I made brief trips to Makassar in 2008 and 2009, and sought out relevant newspaper holdings in Australian libraries. The picture presented below of is necessarily limited and partial, in keeping with my restricted time and resources. But it reveals a lively cultural scene at odds with previous expectations, and confirms the vital importance of local research for a full understanding of activities across the regions during this time.

Review of Between Tongues: Translation and/of/in performance in Asia by Jennifer Lindsay

According to Cheung, common challenges such as currency depreciation, share market volatility and export competition brought by the financial crisis helped to accelerate economic integration between Hong Kong, Taiwan and mainland China. According to Cheung, these mechanisms pull the island in a different direction - namely, the internationalisation of Taiwan.According to Cheung, common challenges such as currency depreciation, share market volatility and export competition brought by the financial crisis helped to accelerate economic integration between Hong Kong, Taiwan and mainland China. According to Cheung, these mechanisms pull the island in a different direction - namely, the internationalisation of Taiwan.This is a rich and unusual book, both in content and the way its subject is conveyed. It reflects the passionate interest of Jennifer Lindsay, editor of the volume and organiser of the workshop from which it originated, in the workings of language in performance, particularly in Asia, and in the multiple strategies currently used or potentially available to translate such expression, to reach wider audiences and create new effects. And it brings together written articles and the workshop voices of scholars, playwrights, performers and literary/cultural figures from a number of Asian countries plus Australia and America, each with their own interests, skills and concerns, reflecting on the issue of translation in its widely differing dimensions.