Two days before the play by Dayani
Sasana Aksara entitled Siap, Kapitan!
I received a call from Yuniar Resti, the theater director.
“I’ve
had a terrible argument with the actors, all of them but don't tell anyone,”
with her pessimistic-was-about-to-cry voice.
What do you think that means, except I
then came to the assumption that this show would never be succeeded or the worst possibility,
it would never be happening.
Two days later, minutes before it began, Resti – who was also the make-up artist, set designer, costume, sound and
lighting designer, sat at the corner of Ezo’s performance space eating snacks
showing as if nothing happened.
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| Here she was after snacking 👀 |
She once told me that the idea of Siap, Kapitan! was
adapted from the work of Rahman Arge, Sang
Mandor. I’ve read the original story in which I got the dominant
emotion of sadness and madness without clearly presenting the sense of humor. At
the beginning of the story, it was dominated by the role of the Mandor and his wife, followed by
the three of their sons (Juki, Poke, Uduk) as well as Rimba – the right-hand
man of the family. There was all of the characters gathered where the three of
sons had a fight towards which one of them made their father fainted and created
his disappointment most.
At Dayani’s performance, the title of Kapitan replaced Mandor for which, still, they represented similar character of a forlorn-stubborn-emotional-pathetic
man. However, while there was no clear distinction of how many wives the Mandor or Kapitan had in the original work, Siap, Kapitan! displayed the presence of young delightful charming fourth
wife who fonded of shopping after and along with the appearance of twelve port workers. You can imagine how crowded and ‘festive’ the stage was. Some of those twelve
workers then played roles as Rimba and the sons: Koni for Juki, Jali for Poke,
Nuke for Uduk with the great change of the characters from the workers to each son’s
character which was presented individually and one at a time. Therefore, there
was no direct conversation between the sons as well as the sons and Kapitan’s wife. In addition, surprisingly,
there was an appearance of Jali’s wife who sued for divorce.
By the aforementioned description and comparison, you may already be able to distinguish the differences between the two that there had to be significant plot changes. The original story presented the chronological plot, while Siap, Kapitan! offered neatly displayed reverse chronology.
In terms of the actors, an extra point
was that I could not find any sense of nervousness or hesitation. It was
presumably because they had done the same performance many times, not forget to
mention the theater competition at the university. This point was then probably
the basis for them to no longer put much effort and seriousness, so that there were
several overlapping turns; two characters who talked at the same time. However,
despite the fact that it was raining, their voice could still reach the entire
room and kept the emotions stable which was additionally supported by the narrow space of the venue.
In addition, although there were some changes of the actress, Siap, Kapitan! has indicated
a considerable improvement from the first performance, which I also watched.
Taking the narrow space into account, it was
actually enough for the whole audiences but not big enough to provide the comfort.
It created the bad smell room along with the hot air. Some of the audiences unconsciously
fanned themselves and closed their nose. Yes, I said unconsciously since they were still hypnotized by the actors' unpredictable grumble,
burst out laughing.
The image of Kapitan was presented by a high school boy who transformed into the figure of a cranky retired captain who managed to show that he was once stout and strong. He physically reminded me of Carl Fredrickson in Up movie. The loneliness, anger, and hopelessness were consistently brought out on the stage. He showed no care to the people and their jokes, affirming that he was extremely in pain. Like a typical lonely sickly old man, he tended to be sensitive and irritable. Something in reality that somehow got me questioning and failed understanding.
Siap, Kapitan! was indeed a story of a forlorn-stubborn-emotional-pathetic man, but here, Resti successfully combined the feeling of sadness with the humor completed with closely life-related jokes and typical expressions of East Javanese which created enchanting circumstance even more.
Siap, Kapitan! was indeed a story of a forlorn-stubborn-emotional-pathetic man, but here, Resti successfully combined the feeling of sadness with the humor completed with closely life-related jokes and typical expressions of East Javanese which created enchanting circumstance even more.
Last but not least, I did not have much comments for the music since it has been already perfectly mingled with the performance making it more entertaining.
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The Yellow Lady - Jali's wife
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Over all, I enjoyed the show and
considered the hard-earned money was worth-spending for the ticket. At last, as the 'debut' and reflecting on my own expectation knowing some preparation drama inside the drama itself, this performance was beyond. Well done!
For the upcoming performances, by considering more comfortable space as well as more practices along with the scripts originally made wholeheartedly, this newly initiative should give us confidence to create greater masterpieces.
For the upcoming performances, by considering more comfortable space as well as more practices along with the scripts originally made wholeheartedly, this newly initiative should give us confidence to create greater masterpieces.
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| Break a leg, Dayani! |
PS. Due to the emergence of having the best resolution documentation, I purpose the procurement of additional materials such as iphone11 or sony RX100 camera. Tq
