Most of the children didn’t know Italian, yet the Assemblea Teatro di Torino’s Where Do the Balloons Go had them in stitches even before the translations were given.

As a small crowd squeezed into the Italian Cultural Institute Jakarta in Menteng on the morning of July 20, there was anticipation in the air.

The audience, mostly consisting of young children, was gathered for a performance of Where Do the Balloons Go, an Italian children’s play by three actors from Assemblea Teatro di Torino, a theater company based in the northern Italian city of Turin.

The lights were dimmed and the show began. For the next hour, the audience was treated to slapstick comedy, entertaining songs and plenty of laughs, regardless of age.

The trio — Paolo Gian Piero Sicco, Cristiana Maria Voglino and Angelo Scarafiotti — captivated the audience by singing about the color and beauty of everyday life amid the struggles and pressures of growing up.

The show was performed completely in Italian, with Indonesian storytellers on standby to recite lines immediately after the actors delivered them. This system presented challenges and required lots of rehearsal, but the troupe was thrilled by the way the performance was given in front of an international audience.

Translating comedy: Two translators, Rika Endang Tritani (right) and Dandhy Ratri Antoro, accompanied the Italian performance by artfully providing Indonesian translations.

“The challenge is that we always have different audiences, but the thing I find to be very beautiful is that the Indonesian audience reacted very well to our show, which is a huge pleasure for us,” said Renzo.

The performance was sponsored by the Italian Embassy and the Italian Cultural Institute in collaboration with the Ayo Dongeng Indonesia Community and Pa van der Steur Foundation.

Italian Ambassador to Indonesia Vittorio Sandalli said the play was one of a series of events to celebrate 70 years of bilateral relations between Indonesia and Italy, and also to mark Children’s Day, which fell on July 23. Members of the performance echoed his sentiment.

“This is very important for us to bring the show around the world because we are trying to open ourselves to the world and spread our message of entertainment,” said artistic director Renzo Giuseppe Michele Sicco through a translator.

The children’s play is also the Turin-based theater company’s tribute to the late Italian multitalented artist Renato Ruscel.

Renato was an actor in theater, TV and cinema, as well as a comedian, singer-songwriter and dancer who was in his prime in the 1950s and 1960s. He also wrote children’s songs that were both entertaining and educational. Some of his songs and messages are incorporated in Where Do the Balloons Go.

Songs and story: Cristiana Maria Voglino (left) and Paolo Gian Piero Sicco display the difficult and incredible journey of growing up through songs written by a revered Italian Renato Ruscel.

Throughout the show, the actors often played with the fact that there were translators and would repeat words in Indonesian, much to the delight of the audience. The translators, Rika Endang Tritani and Dandhy Ratri Antoro, became an active part of the show and artfully attempted to mimic the voices and singing styles of the actors to keep the crowd engaged in the performance.

The balloons, which were not released until the very end of the show, symbolize things that are just out of the reach of children. The title itself captures the essence of how fleeting childhood can be and how it is only looked upon fondly when people grow older.

The wonders of youth were vividly captured by the troupe, and the dozens of children in attendance were locked into the performance from beginning to end. Entertainment, especially aimed toward children, seems to have no language barrier as audience members regularly smiled and laughed before the translations were given.

Before heading back to Italy, the group gave one more performance the following day. It once again achieved the difficult task of breaking down barriers, and the troupe seemed to be as joyful as the audience who gathered to see them.

“In theater, you have verbal and non-verbal language, so they see what we are doing and don’t need to speak the language to enjoy,” said Renzo.

Walking tall: Several musical numbers during the show dazzled the audience, including one where Angelo Scarafiotti (right) used stilts to appear much taller.

—The writer is an intern at The Jakarta Post

— Photos by JP/Valerie Halim