June/July, 1998
No. 035/VI/98
cover story
What future is there for
Bali's modern theatre
scene?
Warung Society
Bali has its own history of
communal philosophising
and coffee-drinking
Renaissance
Twenty years of Bali's
Festival of the Arts
beyond
bali
Sumbawa's
Secrets
Photographs from
Kuang Amo
regular
features
Dangerous
Times
Orchestrating a
cremation in Ubud
Home Grown
A preview of
the Quicksilver Pro
Adventure
Getting over a fear
of diving
Health and Beauty
Foreign aid for
optic
health
Books
The Painted Alphabet
reviewed
Food
Two boutique hotels,
two top chefs
Fiction
'Our Moon'
by Mas Ruscitadewi
advertising index for
Bali Echo web site
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STATE SUPPORT
Bureaucracy
is yet another obstacle on the long list plaguing modern Balinese theatre. Traditional
forms of theatre tend to get more attention from state funding bodies than do contemporary
ones, especially considering that traditional performance arts’ important role in the
tourism industry. It is not unusual for traditional performance art to receive large-scale
funding - something which modern theatre people would never dream of. This makes a lot of
contemporary theatre people feel sidelined.
“There is often a sense
that modern theatre is sidelined by the bureaucracy,” complains Kadek Suardana, whose
experience in dealing with formal institutions has led him to believe that the arts
bureaucracy only works to hinder the development of the contemporary arts. “For some
reason, contemporary theatre is not considered a priority, sometimes even considered
suspicious.” Suardana recalls the time he submitted a proposal for the funding of a
Festival of Contemporary Theatre. The funds were forthcoming on the condition that the
name of the festival be changed to ‘The Festival of the Theatre of Today’.
“Perhaps the word ‘contemporary’ was considered too contraversial - that it
implied opposition and resistance. This is one example of how the bureaucracy approaches
contemporary theatre with great caution and suspicion. There is a view that modern theatre
is dangerous, because contemporary works often contain social critique. But this is not
always the case.”
Made Dibiya, the Head of the Denpasar-based School
of the Arts (STSI) counters Suardana. “It’s not true that contemporary theatre
has been sidelined. We have a priority to incorporate and support the modern theatre
community, as part of bringing new ideas to the world of the arts,” he says.
According to Dibiya, STSI’s doors are wide open to modern theatre activities, and if
the school appears to stage traditional performances more frequently than it does
contemporary ones, that is due to demand. “This is an arts school. It is only natural
that traditional Balinese arts tend to dominate. Anyway, traditional art forms are in
greater demand, because Balinese society is more familiar with them,” argues Dibia,
hastening to add that whatever the case, STSI will always be supportive of modern theatre.
This is the problem with which modern theatre inevitably comes face to face: that Balinese society is much more at home with traditional forms of performance art. Even Goes Martin confesses: “Balinese society doesn’t really need modern theatre, but that doesn’t mean modern theatre people should just stop what they are doing and give up. There’s lots of opportunities out there, such as in local television. Theatre people need to work hard and prove that they are really comitted.”
Mas
Ruscita Dewi suggests that in order to overcome its current stagnation modern theatre
needs to start looking more to traditional teatre for inspiration. “Modern theatre
would do well to make use of traditional symbols. The traditional preformances have a head
start because they make use of symbols and idioms with which the audience is familiar.
Modern theatre need to create its own, new idioms which also in a way connect to the
traditional ones,” she offers.
Indeed,
the stagnation that modern Balinese theatre is experiencing is not unique to the island.
It is a situation that has been plaguing modern theatre across the country for some time,
as Abu Bakar has noted: “Modern theatre in Indonesia is now in a kind of
post-orgasmic phase. After being active for so long, it is now retreating to the back
lines and readying to reach future heights."
Above:
1. Abu Bakar directed Teater Kami's performance of Kuo Pao Kun's play 'the Silly
Little Girl and the Funny Old Tree', which took place in Singapore.
2. Kadek Suardana at home.
3. I Made Dibya, Head of Denpasar's of School of Arts.
4. Mas Ruscita Dewi.
5. Abu Bakar takes a break from the novel he is writing to talk to Bali Echo.
photos by I Made Artha, Ari Basoeki, Abu Bakar, Agus SPA.
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