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Teater Tetas performs legendary ‘Banowati’ tragedy
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Teater Tetas's latest play, 'Banowati: Surga hanya Ada di Rumah Tetangga' (Banowati: Heaven only Exists at the Neighbor’s House), was performed on Aug. 11-12 at the Bulungan Youth Center in South Jakarta. In this scene at an Aug. 12 performance, Princess Banowati (center, left) and Arjuna (center, right) are ensnared by lust, which leads to irrevocable tragedy for the princess. (instagram.com/timestopper_/Aria Anggadwipa)
T
he Teater Tetas theatrical group performed its legendary play, Banowati: Surga hanya Ada di Rumah Tetangga (Banowati: Heaven only Exists at the Neighbor’s), on Aug. 11-12 at the Bulungan Youth Center in South Jakarta.
The 70-minute play is based on the Mahabharata epic and an original script written 10 years ago by the troupe’s founder, the late Ags “Aji” Arya Dipayana.
Presented in Bahasa Indonesia, the play begins with Princess Banowati being seduced by the symbolic incarnation of Nafsu (lust) and Sepi (solitude) one night. Banowati is unhappy, as she is being forced to marry Prabu Duryodana, the king of Astina and part of the Kurawa clan, even though her heart already belongs to Arjuna, one of Duryodana’s brothers from the Pandawa clan.
Banowati later persuades her mother, Dewi Setyawati, to allow Arjuna to visit her before her first night with Duryodana. Influenced by Nafsu, she has an affair with Arjuna, who is also married. This makes Duryodana angry, yet he does nothing aside from sharing his disappointment with Aswatama, a subordinate.
The affair eventually triggers the epic Bharatayuda war between the Pandawa and Kurawa clans, and the tale ends with the death of Duryodana, as well as Banowati's death at the hands of Aswatama.
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The play's director, Harris Syaus, said this version of Banowati featured a different concept. “But it still has the essence of what the writer [Aji] wanted to convey,” he told The Jakarta Post, adding that rehearsals for the play began in November 2016.
“While the play focused on loyalty previously, this time it’s more about what is overly excessive, such as love and hatred,” Harris said. “When something is too much, lust can be found there. And when lust is already in control, only destruction can stop it.”
Produced by Werner Schulze, Austrian author, composer, scientist and former professor at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna, the play featured actors Artasya Sudirman, Derry Oktami, Yohanna Gabe, Diana R. Jannah, Khiva Iskak, Armand Wiriadinata, Putri Ayudya and Hari Prasetyo. Schulze has been the troupe's artistic director since 2012.
Teater Tetas was established on Sept. 30, 1978 and is based in Bulungan, South Jakarta. Although the troupe once put its activity on hold in the 1990s, it returned to the stage with public performances and creative collaborations, including Prometheus Bound , which toured to Europe last year, and Mimpi (Dream), performed in Greece, Austria and Hungary in 2012. (kes)
