Unable to make peace with his dark past or deal with a succession problem, an old batik factory owner, Abiyoso, died after suffering from deep sorrow. His death also rang a death knell for the batik company and left it only with cries of mourning.

The story was put on stage by Teater Gandrik in two days of performances at the Yogyakarta Cultural Park on Wednesday and Thursday evening.

The play, entitled Tangis (Cry), will again be staged in Jakarta'€™s Taman Ismail Marzuki arts center on Feb. 20 and 21.

'€œThe story portrays problems of morality and power,'€ said prominent actor Butet Kartaredjasa, who played the role of Abiyoso in the performance.

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The latest play was based on two works by Teater Gandrik'€™s co-founder, the late Heru Kesawa Murti, entitled Juragan Abiyoso (Master Abiyoso) and Tangis. The stories were rewritten and adapted with the current situation in mind by Agus Noor.

'€œI was given a full freedom to restructure the scenes and the plots to present them in much fresher contexts,'€ Agus says.

The play'€™s plot, which is relatively complicated, reminded people not to be greedy for power, not to ignore the values of morality and appropriateness and not to do just anything to be in power.

The play satirizes the current situation in the country'€™s political arena, as can be clearly seen in the characters surrounding Abiyoso, who are all competing for power.

As the one at the center of power, Abiyoso received strong pressure from his wife to prepare their hedonistic son Pangajab to be his successor. Unexpectedly, Abiyoso picked Prasojo, the son of his best friend Muspro who committed suicide after he got into debt.

Ngadinah, Muspro'€™s wife, had also demanded Prasojo to put in the position, arguing that Muspro had helped Abiyoso to set up the batik company during the war against the Dutch occupation.

'€œOtherwise, I will reveal the secret of our relationship in the past,'€ threatened Ngadinah, who had borne a child from her love affair with Abiyoso.

Agus Noor also created a character in the story, named Dulang, described as the mastermind of the whole chaotic political situation.

Dulang, a former employee at the batik company, wanted to take revenge against Abiyoso for firing him after he was found stealing batik clothes. He deliberately created the chaos to make his stepson Sumir a successor in the company.

Sumir was actually the abandoned son of Abiyoso and Ngadinah, whom Dulang found and raised.

Despite the story'€™s serious substance, the audience could enjoy the entertaining elements in the play.

Butet and Susilo Nugroho (playing the role of Dulang) skillfully presented a satire of the current political situation in the country, such as President Joko '€œJokowi'€ Widodo'€™s unclear stance in dealing with the ongoing rift between the National Police and the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK).

'€œWinning is no guarantee for smartness. There is a political party that won the election, but chooses the wrong police chief,'€ said Butet in the play, apparently mocking the ruling Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P).

Known as the king of monolog, Butet as Abiyoso also criticized the National Police chief candidate Comr. Gen. Budi Gunawan, who is also a KPK suspect, when he said no to Prasojo'€™s resignation from the batik company.

'€œWhat are your reasons for resigning? Even a suspect does not resign and instead is pushed to keep moving forward,'€ said Abiyoso, which was directly greeted with the audience'€™s loud laughs.

Satire was also used to address the President, who is seen to have always done everything his supporting political party told him to do.

In one of the dialogs Butet said: '€œBe a leader who listens to your conscience, not a puppet leader!'€

Loud laughs and applause were heard throughout the full-house performance.

The performance'€™s director, Djaduk Ferianto, also used Susilo Nugroho as a real puppeteer in the play. As such, he escorted the audience into the story with fresh jokes, making them forget that they had to sit in the building for two hours to watch the play.

'€œSusilo Nugroho is a great clown. He is the real meaning of a clown,'€ Djaduk said.

As a puppeteer, Susilo interacted with the audience, asking for input on how to end the show. He succeeded in doing so '€” building humorous dialogs with the audience who were mostly young people comprising university students, activists, lecturers and art practitioners.

Since it was set up in 1983, the theater group always had the capability of attracting audiences despite the relatively expensive entrance tickets.

One of the audience, activist Sunaji Zamroni, said he was satisfied with the performance. '€œTeater Gandrik always presents stories capable of sharpening people'€™s critical abilities,'€ he says.

Photos by JP/Tarko Sudiarno

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