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'Opera Jawa: Selendang Merah' Tragedy of the lesser men
Tuan Ledhek (right), Sri (second right) and Hanoman (center)
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Tuan Ledhek (right), Sri (second right) and Hanoman (center).
The womb is Mother Nature
To kill nature is to kill the womb
To end the origin of humans
So the poem goes at the funeral of Tuan Ledhek, a cruel master of a traveling circus troupe in the recently-staged musical drama Opera Jawa: Selendang Merah (The Javanese Opera: Red Shawl).
Performed in a traditional Javanese dance style, the musical poses the classic question of what makes a man: physical features or other virtues?
Tuan Ledhek (played by Anggono Kusumo Wibowo) owns the circus troupe and marries a beautiful woman, Sri Ledhek (Sruti Respati), a tayub dancer who is the main act of the troupe.
Sri usually wears sampur merah (a red shawl) in her performances. Every night she throws her red shawl to a chosen man, which means that the man can dance with her, but Tuan Ledhek is jealous of the men who dance with his wife.
In the Javanese tayub tradition, getting the red shawl, also known as ketiban sampur is like receiving one's fate. It can be an honor, blessing, burden or tragedy.
'It resembles something unavoidable. This is where the musical's title came from,' said filmmaker Garin Nugroho, who directs the play.
The unavoidable tragedy of the troupe starts with a young monkey, Hanoman (Heru Putranto), caught and trained to be part of the group's perfomance. Ruthless Tuan Ledhek tortures Hanoman so that the monkey can dance and mimic humans during the shows.
One day Tuan Ledhek whips the monkey until it passes out. Feeling compassion to the poor monkey, Sri embraces it in her red shawl.
The shawl does its magic, turning the fate of the monkey. Hanoman grows up, behaving like a human being. Sri and Hanoman later become lovers.
Jealous Tuan Ledhek finally finds out and beats Hanoman almost to death, at which point Hanoman transforms into a whole man. The new Hanoman fights back and finally defeats and kills Tuan Ledhek.
Regardless of their origins, both Hanoman and Tuan Ledhek represent the lesser men that humans have become throughout their lives. Even Hanoman, who has become a man, goes against humanity by taking another's life.
Selendang Merah is the last part of the Opera Jawa trilogy that explores love and human nature, inspired by the Indian epic Ramayana. Along with Hanoman, Rama and Shinta are recurring characters in the first two series ' Ranjang Besi (Iron Bed) andTusuk Konde (The Hairpin). Before producing the trilogy, Garin directed Opera Jawa, the movie that intertwines the epic with lives of traditional dancers.
Supported by professional traditional Javanese dancers and notable composer Rahayu Supanggah, the trilogy ensures that the traditional Javanese musical is still the jewel in the crown of the local theatrical scene.
' Photos by Tarko Sudiarno
