INDONESIAN POSTCOLONIAL THEATRE Spectral Genealogies and Absent Faces
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Studies in International Performance Published in association with the International Federation of Theatre Research General Editors: Janelle Reinelt and Brian Singleton Culture and performance cross borders constantly, and not just the borders that define nations. In this new series, scholars of performance produce interactions between and among nations and cultures as well as genres, identities and imaginations. Inter-national in the largest sense, the books collected in the Studies in International Performance series display a range of historical, theoretical and critical approaches to the panoply of performances that make up the global surround. The series embraces ‘Culture’ which is institutional as well as improvised, underground or alternate, and treats ‘Performance’ as either intercultural or transnational as well as intracultural within nations. Titles include: Patrick Anderson and Jisha Menon (editors) VIOLENCE PERFORMED Local Roots and Global Routes of Conflict Elaine Aston and Sue-Ellen Case STAGING INTERNATIONAL FEMINISMS Christopher Balme PACIFIC PERFORMANCES Theatricality and Cross-Cultural Encounter in the South Seas Susan Leigh Foster WORLDING DANCE Helen Gilbert and Jacqueline Lo PERFORMANCE AND COSMOPOLITICS Cross-Cultural Transactions in Australasia Helena Grehan PERFORMANCE, ETHICS AND SPECTATORSHIP IN A GLOBAL AGE Judith Hamera DANCING COMMUNITIES Performance, Difference, and Connection in the Global City Silvija Jestrovic and Yana Meerzon (editors) PERFORMANCE, EXILE AND ‘AMERICA’ Sonja Arsham Kuftinec THEATRE, FACILITATION, AND NATION FORMATION IN THE BALKANS AND MIDDLE EAST Carol Martin (editor) DRAMATURGY OF THE REAL ON THE WORLD STAGE Alan Read THEATRE, INTIMACY & ENGAGEMENT The Last Human Venue Shannon Steen RACIAL GEOMETRIES OF THE BLACK ATLANTIC, ASIAN PACIFIC AND AMERICAN THEATRE Joanne Tompkins UNSETTLING SPACE Contestations in Contemporary Australian Theatre S. E. Wilmer NATIONAL THEATRES IN A CHANGING EUROPE Evan Darwin Winet INDONESIAN POSTCOLONIAL THEATRE Spectral Genealogies and Absent Faces Forthcoming titles: Adrian Kear THEATRE AND EVENT Studies in International Performance Series Standing Order ISBN 978–1–4039–4456–6 (hardback) 978–1–4039–4457–3 (paperback) (outside North America only) You can receive future titles in this series as they are published by placing a standing order. Please contact your bookseller or, in case of difficulty, write to us at the address below with your name and address, the title of the series and the ISBN quoted above. Customer Services Department, Macmillan Distribution Ltd, Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS, England Indonesian Postcolonial Theatre Spectral Genealogies and Absent Faces Evan Darwin Winet © Evan Darwin Winet 2010 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2010 978-0-230-54688-2 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No portion of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, Saffron House, 6–10 Kirby Street, London EC1N 8TS. Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. The author has asserted his right to be identified as the author of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. First published 2010 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN Palgrave Macmillan in the UK is an imprint of Macmillan Publishers Limited, registered in England, company number 785998, of Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS. Palgrave Macmillan in the US is a division of St Martin’s Press LLC, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010. Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies and has companies and representatives throughout the world. Palgrave® and Macmillan® are registered trademarks in the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries. ISBN 978-1-349-36121-2 ISBN 978-0-230-24667-6 (eBook) DOI 10.1057/9780230246676 This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained forest sources. Logging, pulping and manufacturing processes are expected to conform to the environmental regulations of the country of origin. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Winet, Evan Darwin, 1971– Indonesian postcolonial theatre : spectral genealogies and absent faces / Evan Darwin Winet. p. cm. — (Studies in international performance) Summary: “Drawing examples from as early as a 1619 production of Hamlet and as recent as 2007 performances by Indonesia’s most famous presidential impersonator, this book considers how theatre functions as a uniquely effective medium for representing the contradictions of Indonesian identity in the urban colonial/postcolonial metropole”—Provided by publisher. Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. Theater and society—Indonesia. 2. Theater—Indonesia—History— 20th century. I. Title. PN2904.W56 2010 306.4’84809598—dc22 2009048533 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 Transferred to Digital Printing in 2013 For Anne, yang menabahkan kemauanku terus dan terus and for W. S. Rendra (1935–2009), flights of angels sing thee to thy rest Frontispiece A promotional packet of Djarum cigarettes depicting W. S. Rendra as Hamlet, 1994 (Author’s collection) Contents List of Illustrations ix Series Editor’s Preface xi Preface xii 1 Introduction: Colonial Foundations and Precessions of Postcoloniality 1 Spectral genealogies 1 Between Batavia and Indonesia 8 The first Indonesian play 20 Absent faces 33 2 Unimagined Communities: Theatres of Eurasian and Chinese Batavia 38 Neighborhoods and buildings 38 The foreign metropole 40 Mestizo nationalism and Komedie Stamboel 44 Karina Adinda 48 Chinese Batavian theatre 58 The Living Corpse 61 Jakarta 2039 65 3 Sites of Disappearance: Expatriate Ghosts on Ephemeral Stages 69 Jakarta after 1949 69 Cryptic memorials for distant homelands 73 The Schouwburg Weltewreden 77 The Death of Jan van Schaffelaar 80 A zoological garden and an empty frame 85 Tableaux at the ephemeral centers of struggle 95 Soekarno’s theatre in exile 98 Eccentrics at Parangtritis 103 4 Despite Their Failings: Spectres of Foreign Professionalism 108 The last two luminaries 108 ‘Gifted queer’ amateurs and professional actresses 110 Mina Kruseman and the nativization of modern theatre 116 Dr Samsi and Dewi Dja 120 The Greater East-Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere 124 The first (amateur) Indonesian troupe 128 Indonesian method acting 134 vii viii Contents 5 Hamlet and Caligula: Echoes of a Voice, Unclear in Origins 141 The wandering woman 141 ‘A stretch of beach binding dry land to a spiritual sea’ 146 Rendra, pemuda of Denmark 150 Caligula in the wake of Soekarno… 156 …and in the twilight of Suharto 164 6 Umat as Rakyat: Performing Islam through Veils of Nationalism 174 Devotions of the revolutionary youth 174 The limits of anti-theatricalism 177 The nationalist as perfect man 179 The lonely path of the liberal infidel 186 An actress haunted by martyrs 190 7 Teater Reformasi: The Lingering Smile of the Absent Father 196 Performing the face of Suharto 196 The haunted graveyards of Payung Hitam 204 President of the Republic of Dreams… 208 …and bridegroom to global capitalism 213 Conclusion: forgetting the monotonous nation 216 Appendix: A Timeline of ‘Indonesian’ and ‘Batavian’ Histories 219 Notes 226 Works Cited 240 Index 252 List of Illustrations Frontispiece A promotional packet of Djarum Cigarettes depicting W. S. Rendra as Hamlet, 1994 vi 1.1 The kasteel of the VOC under siege by the British East India Company and Wijayakrama’s forces in January 1619 13 1.2 Teater Kami’s production of Roestam Effendi’s Bebasari, 2001 30 2.1 Jali-Jali, a production by Komedie Stamboel, 1906 47 2.2 The debut performance of Victor Ido’s Karina Adinda at the Schouwburg Weltewreden, 1913 53 2.3 Studiklub Teater Bandung’s revival of Karina Adinda at Gedung Kesenian Jakarta, 1993 57 2.4 Clara flees ‘to the ends of the earth’ in a vain attempt to become ‘quiet, alone and at peace,’ in Asnar Zacky’s comic book adaptation of Seno Gumira Ajidarma’s Jakarta 2039, 2001 67 3.1 A view of the Schouwburg Weltewreden from the Chinese ‘New Market’ around 1900 78 3.2 An audience at a farewell performance for Poldi Reiff at the Schouwburg, 1912 84 3.3 The zoological garden on Raden Saleh’s estate in Cikini in the 1870s 86 3.4 The Batavian Exposition at the zoological gardens, 1893 87 3.5 The Teater Terbuka (Open Stage) at Taman Ismail Marzuki, 1974 90 3.6 View of Graha Bhakti Budaya from across the open pool created by the demolition of the Teater Terbuka, 1999 91 3.7 The exterior shell of the new theatre building at Taman Ismail Marzuki, 2004 91 3.8 A Monte Carlo performance in the Gedung Royal Cinema at Bengkulu, 1939 100 3.9 W. S. Rendra and members of Teater Bengkel at the Urakan Campout on Parangtritis beach, 1971 106 4.1 An advertisement for Teater Dardanella’s production of Asmara’s Dr. Samsi, featuring the young ‘Miss Dja,’ 1931 123 ix x List of Illustrations 4.2 The Maya Amateur Theatre’s production of Usmar Ismail’s Liburan Seniman, 1944 130 5.1 The ATNI production of Camus’ Caligula in the Bali Room of the Hotel Indonesia, with Sukarno M. Noor as Caligula and Steve Liem (Teguh Karya)