Thinking of you: Nyai Ontosoroh (Happy Salma) pens a letter while Minke (Reza Rahadian) standsbeside her.

Indonesia’s most celebrated author, Pramoedya Ananta Toer, might have died 10 years ago, but his work continues to inspire people.

Pramoedya Ananta Toer’s legacy is brought to life in a play titled Bunga Penutup Abad (The Flower That Ends a Century), which is based on two of his classic novels.

Pram received international acclaim for his Buru Quartet — Bumi Manusia (This Earth of Mankind), Anak Semua Bangsa (Child of All Nations), Jejak Langkah (Steps) and Rumah Kaca (Glass House) — which he wrote while imprisoned on Buru Island by Soeharto’s New Order regime for his alleged affiliation with leftist and communist movements.

The theater’s adaptation provides a fresh take on the story, thanks to director and scriptwriter Wawan Sofwan’s choice to combine This Earth of Mankind and Child of All Nations.

“Many people have tried to adapt Pram’s novel This Earth of Mankind into a script and it has proven to be very difficult. So after some consideration, I decided to combine the first two novels of Pram’s Buru Quartet into one whole script,” Wawan said.  

Presented by the Titimangsa Foundation together with Yayasan Titian Penerus Bangsa, the intriguing story of the play and the cast of promising actors have led to sold-out performances.

Tickets for the two-day event on Thursday and Friday sold out in less than 24 hours after sales opened, leading the production team to add an extra performance date on Saturday.

The public’s highly enthusiastic response no doubt placed pressure on the performers to deliver, and they did not disappoint during a rehearsal on Wednesday.

The story picks up right at the end of This Earth of Mankind. Annelies Melemma (Chelsea Islan) has just left for Amsterdam, leaving her husband Minke (Reza Rahadian), and her mother, Nyai Ontosoroh (Happy Salma), to mourn and remember her life.

Goodbye: Annelies (Chelsea Islan) (left) prepares to leave for Amsterdam in the play.

Nyai Ontosoroh is worried about the wellbeing of her daughter and has sent her trusted employee, Panji Darman, to keep them posted about her condition through letters. Each of Panji’s letters sparks memories in Minke and Nyai Ontosoroh, taking them back to their most cherished moments with Annelies.

This is where the flashbacks start, and the actors on stage seamlessly transition between the present and the past in the story. While it may initially be confusing for audiences, the actors’ ability to transform their emotions on stage helps audiences figure out which timeline they are currently in.

The flashbacks include a number of the most important scenes from This Earth of Mankind, starting with the day Minke meets and falls in love with Annelies, becomes a part of Nyai Ontosoroh’s family, up until the Dutch courts decide that Annelies should be taken to the Netherlands because her mother, being Javanese, cannot be her legal guardian.

The story comes full circle when Minke and Nyai Ontosoroh receive the last letter chronicling Annelies’ death in Amsterdam and they reminisce for the last time about Annelies’ short life. As Minke plans to leave for Batavia for good, he brings the portrait of his wife painted by his good friend Jan Marais (Lukman Sardi), and names it “Bunga Penutup Abad.”

The life of the play comes from the lengthy monologues that each of the four main characters has throughout the show. This, after all, is Pram’s work, the author most known for the eloquence of his words.

What should be one of the strengths of the play, however, faces a challenge in some scenes where the performers’ voices are drowned out by the accompanying orchestra.

Despite the orchestra being smartly hidden behind the set, the acoustics of the building reflect the instruments more intensely than the actors’ voices, and this made it difficult for people toward the back to fully grasp every single word being said.

Reza and Happy are the standout performances of the show and their impressive dedication to the play can be felt from their presence on stage. Both are on stage for the entire 2.5 hours of the show, never once breaking character — a testament to their endurance and devotion.

Reza, an exceptional actor on the big screen, proves that he is just as capable of expressing his talent in front of a live audience.  

He manages to evoke emotion in every single line he says, easily transitioning from evoking the pain of losing the love of his life to portraying an awkward Javanese local boy in love, not only with an Indo (mixed Dutch-Indonesian) girl, but with her family as well.

Chelsea offers her own interpretation of Annelies’ childishness. She plays as Indo girl who has been so sheltered by her mother all her life that she is unable to cope with reality when her life comes crashing down.

Lukman Sardi, though appearing in fewer scenes than his fellow actors, brilliantly portrays the one-legged painter Jan Marais, even though his French-accented speech is difficult to understand at times.

Happy days: Actors share the stage in Bunga Penutup Abad, performed at the Gedung Kesenian Jakarta in Central Jakarta on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, Happy is arguably the life and soul of the play. As a producer, she worked on bringing Pramoedya’s work to life for years and her passion and dedication for this project is reflected in her acting on stage. Her monologue during the second half of the act, as she screams out, “My daughter will not be sold to any man, for any amount of money,” is the climax of the show.

Happy’s Nyai Ontosoroh was, after all, Pramoedya’s embodiment of the struggle for independence, not only for the country, but also for the individual; a young woman sold to a European man who tried all her life to stop her daughter from suffering the same fate.

There are so many rich characters in Pram’s books and yet, with just four performers on stage, Reza, Happy, Chelsea and Lukman may have achieved the impossible by bringing Pram’s poetic literature to life.

Bunga Penutup Abad

Aug. 25, 26 and 27
Gedung Kesenian Jakarta, Jl. Gedung Kesenian No. 1, Central Jakarta
For more information, please contact 0813 1444 2942/0818 0604 7151/0856 9379 7986

— Photos by JP/Ricky Yudhistira

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