Opening Jakarta

During the collaboration on "Oedipus", I met with Rendra’s producer, who showed interest in RC and suggested to participate. Besides the promise of Rendra, the only help which had materialized so far came from Goethe-Institute, but we still needed additional sponsorship. Rendra suggested that he would pay me for my work on Oedipus, so I can use this money for RC, and his producer would take care for PR, space and organization. This way we would have enough funds to do our work.

But soon after we agreed to collaborate in such manner we encountered a first artistically problem. Since our actress was rather well-known through her film work the producer developed the idea to open the production in a first class hotel connected to dinner and cocktails for the VIP and upper-class of Jakarta. This way he explained we would have a performance place, profit could be made and the press would cover the event appropriately.

He promised to accommodate my desires for a natural environment by supplying foliage for the hotel and by trying to provide me with an outdoor possibility for a second run.

I had to oppose the idea of hotel-theater, risking to loose him as a partner. I arranged a production meeting. It was the first time everybody who showed interest came together. With the help of the actress and Tutti Indra Maloon, we were able to change his plans and postpone decision about the place of the first presentation till Oedipus had opened.

Before we had left for Bali I had left money with Ahmat who was the nigh watchman at Kemang. Since he lived in the neighborhood all his life and knew everybody he was the most suitable person to find and buy the nescessery material to construct the house we needed. In all my discussion with the builders from TIM I got to hear that working with second hand material would be too expensive and difficult. I was suggested to agree on new material which would be painted and made to look old. I could envision the quality. Ahmat agreed to buy what he could find during my absence, and when we came back the whole garage was filled with old plywood, gedek log of wood and seng. It proofed that my idea was right and Ahmat the right person. The construction had started without the established system. Soon we found two carpenters from the village, people who know these houses through their own life and it took us two days and discussions with them and all the other servants of the street who eagerly helped me to built their house.

All this time of talking and discussing the right way seemed to be a waste. Here we suddenly stood in front of a real house, created by the people who live in it with material they always use and in this case with material which had been a house before. We needed not even to paint it. The original paint was appropriate.

Suddenly I had my own crew and group, the villagers of Kemang, and their involvement was more important than dealing with the outside world of theater constructors who would give their left over time to do a fast job to earn their money. Here I felt the money was flowing the right direction. Soon all other servants of the house were involved, The cook with her opinion, Pa Ali who cleaned it and arranged the furniture and the driver who helped together with Ahmat to bring the right furniture.

Three days after we came back there was a house in the garage, ready to rehearse in excellent conditions. During the night Pa Ali and Ahmat shared it to sleep in it. It felt more familiar to them then their room in the villa.

In addition I saved a lot of discussion with people who needed a job and would delay the process. I was my own production manager and technical director and did not have to wait for anybody to come for help. Everybody lived in the same place.

After we came back from Bali, many more things were clear to me. The hours in the car we could spent talking about Indonesia, Jakarta and its development and artistically scene and special way of progressing with work and I had a chance to learn more about our actress and the role she wants to depict.

The way she was brought up, educated and settled in Jakarta was a very different class of society, than the character she had to perform. This class she only knew from her servants, and her upper middle class life in relating to the outside world. It would have been much easier for her to perform a character which represented her own class and maybe that would have been a much better choice. As I learned, loneliness and isolation occurs much more in the higher income classes than in the working class. Even suicides as rare as they are compared to India are more frequent in a more advanced and economically higher class. Specially the more modernized Indonesian. Which are striving for more Westernisation and comfort, who are isolating themselves in their palaces are easier victims to alienation then the person we were about to portrait.

Again the conflict with Kroetzens text. Should we change the class to show the immediate conflict or should we try to stay with his script and find the character despite of the risk of creating a situation which is not really a reality or a concern of these classes yet.? How would we justify the suicide of the character, when loneliness and isolation is not really existing. The proximity in which people live does not allow separation from the neighbor and outside world. It is too hot to close the doors tight behind you.