It was a haunting performance of a tragic story. The music, lighting, stage and costumes worked in unison to transform each scene into a poignant narrative. Ida Bagus Phalaguna played the reluctant hero Hamlet brilliantly, capturing his emotional struggle in a way that glued the audience to their seats.

His achievement was complemented by the solid performances of his fellow actors, including Anastasia Indri who played Hamlet’s lover Ophelia and Bali Karyadi as Polonius.

Director Wanda Riska Adi succeeded in bringing his actors together to perform one of Shakespeare’s darkest plays.

At the end of the nearly two-hour-long performance, the audience rose and honored the actors with a thunderous standing ovation.

The performance topped the four-night drama festival held recently at the RRI Singaraja open stage. It was organized by the English Department of Ganesha Education University (Undiksha), the second largest state university in Bali.

Its main campus lies in Singaraja, a bustling city in the island’s northern coastal region of Buleleng.  

It once served as the island’s capital and main city port during the Dutch colonial period and currently strives to be the island’s education center.

Drama is a mandatory course for the fifth semester students majoring in English literature. By the end of the semester, the students were divided into groups and each group was tasked with producing a theatrical performance. This has become an annual tradition at Undhiksa.

This year, Shakespeare’s plays took center stage. The works of the great British dramatist were brought into the classroom and analyzed, discussed, read and, after four months of preparation, were finally performed on stage.

The festival was designed to be a moment of remembrance and tribute to Shakespeare and a celebration of life’s tragedies and victories. Four of Shakespeare’s most renowned tragedies were selected for the festival, namely Macbeth, Othello, King Lear and Hamlet.

The young actors and directors were given a daunting task to interpret these narratives on the tragedy of death, the mystery of hatred and anger, the temptation of youth and power and the wounds inflicted by love and betrayal.

Macbeth was performed on the opening night of the festival. It is a well-known play in Bali following the success of Kadek Suardana, one of the island’s senior dramatists, in transplanting the play into the structure of the Balinese ancient performing art of gambuh.

Director Mei Mirah took a daring approach to the play. She condensed it into a 45-minute performance and took the audience straight into the heart of text — a man, a woman and unquenched thirst for power. Ika Adnyana and Sari Dewi Noviyanti gave powerful performances as the dysfunctional couple that brought destruction to not only a kingdom but also to themselves.

The second performance was Othello, directed by Ferry Sudantara, a young director who was also exploring photography and moviemaking. He brought his visual acuteness to the play, presenting the most elaborate stage setting, properties and scene shift curtain techniques. He also incorporated substantial musical elements into the play.

The third night of the festival saw King Lear. Alit Juliawati, who directed the play, managed to maintain the flow of the story and, most importantly, the audience’s attention despite the play’s dark and depressing tone.

Yudi Sedana gave a notable performance as a king descending into madness.

At the end of the festival most of the accolades went to Hamlet. The class that performed Hamlet was awarded with, among others, Best Actor and Actress, Best Performance and Best Director.

-- Photos By JP/Ferry Sudantara

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