The Performance of Theatre Mixed Text “Pembayun”:

Open Boundary of Mise Ēn Scène and Its Meaning

Yudiaryani and Hirwan Kuardhani

Theatre Department. Faculty of performing Arts. Indonesia Institut of the Arts Yogyakarta, Indonesia

Keywords: mixture, cultural models, Bedhaya Dance, Mini Kata, mise en scène, gender ideology.

Abstract: The Performance of Pembayun applies collaboration of performatively traditional and modern elements that

form a mise en scène uniquely belongs to the group of Lembaga Teater Perempuan Yogyakarta, Yogyakarta

Woman Theater. Theatrical contemporary performance requires a new form that is not only to revitalize

tradition, but also to be closer and more reflecting to the needs of spectators. Pembayun is reflected as a

multicultural performance from modern culture, the Mini Kata, and Javanese culture, Bedhaya Dance. The

performance, presented at the crossing of ways of the culture and of artistic practices, creates an hybridization

of tradition. There are three idioms from different cultures, i.e. Bedhaya Javanese Dance, the Mini Kata

spontaneous gestures, and the gender ideology. Bedhaya has a pattern as well as choreography standard. Mini

Kata produces an acting system of improvisation. The ideology of gender becomes an instrument for blending

the mise en scène of the Bedhaya and the Mini Kata. The performance of Pembayun is a mixture of work with

a controlled result yet still tied to the source of tradition.

1 INTRODUCTION

Pembayun was performed by the Lembaga Teater

Perempuan Yogyakarta (LTP), Yogyakarta Women

Theater, directed by Yudiaryani. The performance

collaborates the elements of dance and theatre in

order to express new mise en scène that reflects a

gender ideology.

The story of Pembayun is known by the people

around Yogyakarta and Surakarta. Pembayun is a

love story between Mangir and Pembayun. The story,

which has similarities with the well-known Romeo

and Juliet, is staged with the basic ideas of Javanesse

traditional dance namely Bedhaya, and acting from

modern theatre namely Mini Kata, and the women

optional ideas based on gender ideology.

The historical story of Pembayun tells about the

conflict between Panembahan Senopati from

Mataram Palace in Yogyakarta and Ki Ageng Mangir

Wonoboyo from Perdikan Mangir, near Mataram

Palace. The story is reinterpreted by the play writer,

Hirwan Kuardhani, for delivering a gender message.

The idea of mixing performative elements between

Bedhaya and Mini Kata is to give contemporary

context of Pembayun performance. Mise en scène is

a term derived from French that means an

arrangement of scenes on stage by the director

through movements, compositions, and positions of

actors, as well as the arrangement of lights and

settings, the colour and style of wardrobe, and rhythm

variation of music.

2 CONTEXT OF THE STORY OF

PEMBAYUN

The story of Pembayun is an interpretation on the

history of Pembayun, the daughter of Panembahan

Senopati, the ruler of Mataram Palace. Panembahan

Senopati insisted to control Perdikan Mangir that was

known as a prosperous fertile region ruled by a

democratic leader, Adipati Mangir. Pembayun, who

disguised as a ledhek (a street dancer), was

commanded by her father for being a spy. However,

Pembayun and Mangir fell in love. Pembayun then

tried to reconcile her father and her husband, but her

efforts failed. Senopati was still looking for a strategy

to kill Mangir. Since Pembayun disagreed with her

father's plan, she also worked out not to have Mangir

killed by her father. Thanks to the sacrifice of a loyal

young men, Baru Klinthing, who disguised as

292

Yudiaryani, . and Kuardhani, H.

The Performance of Theatre Mixed Text “Pembayun”: Open Boundary of Mise

En Scène and Its Meaning.

DOI: 10.5220/0008763602920295

In Proceedings of the 1st International Conference on Interdisciplinary Arts and Humanities (ICONARTIES 2019), pages 292-295

ISBN: 978-989-758-450-3

Mangir, Pembayun strategy worked. She then

escaped with Mangir.

3 THEORY OF THE TEXT

Pembayun is not only a historical story, but also that

of a memory of the past. The story translates traces

into facts. In the hands of artists, history is never

innocent, as the meaning that appears will be

contextual facts (Alun Munslow, 1997: 35).

Historical interpretation is also referred as a "work

reference" which gives meaning for human activities

in the past, today, and the future. Creative work

reference of Pembayun lies in three issues; firstly, the

problem of regional power between Mataram and

Perdikan Mangir; secondly, the complicated love

affair between Mangir and Pembayun; and thirdly,

the characteristic problem of optional gender

ideology.

Pembayun performance arranges the

collaboration of various art conventions. Roland

Barthes (1981: 35-36) says that a text redistributes

language. Each text is an inter-text. Other texts are

present in them through various levels with known

forms, such as texts from previously existing cultures

and texts that surround the culture. Therefore, the text

is read and should be read with another text

background. The text which becomes the background

of the creation of a new work is called the hypogram,

and the new text which absorbs and transforms the

hypogram is called the transformation text (Michael

Riffaterre, 1978: 11). Barthes calls the text, as the

theory of network, a mixture.

4 OPENING BOUNDARIES BY

MISE EN SCÈNE

The performance of Pembayun is referred to as an

intercultural performance, because it does not merely

display the source; it also presents the cultural

workings of combining and crossing different forms

of art and culture. Cultural work produces an aesthetic

proximity between the stage and the audience. That

is, the audience is in a position to observe the stage

by following the parallel direction the actor performs,

for example, when the stage deploys an art form from

several cultures, the audience continues along with

the actors' movements, feelings and thoughts. As the

actors mix the sources, the audience can still

recognize the basic elements of the performance.

4.1 Bedhaya Dance Movement

Bedhaya dance movement in the performance of

Pembayun refers to the concept of Javanesse Bedhaya

dance. Bedhaya dance is a classical Javanese dance

that cannot be separated from the palace of

Yogyakarta considering its origin and development.

Soedarsono (1998: 2), a Javanese dance expertise ,

said that as a form of classical dance, Bedhaya has

come to a high aesthetic crystallization, which

already has a standard pattern and choreography.

Bedhaya dance movement has a sacred ritual function

and reflects the level of regularity, harmony, subtlety,

and high self-control.

Figure 1: Bedhaya Like Dancing, inspired by the real

Bedhaya Dance.

In Pembayun performance, Bedhaya dance

movements have become a basic concept for the

director to arrange the elements of performance on

stage. Therefore, a sacred feeling emerged in

accompanying some events, such as the birth of

Pembayun, symbollic movements of Senopati's

romance with Ratu Kidul, also the murder of Baru

Klinthing figure disguised as Mangir, and the sadness

of Pembayun when leaving her father behind to be

with her husband, Mangir:

Figure 2: Figure 1: Bedhaya Like Dancing, inspired by the

real Bedhaya Dance.

The Performance of Theatre Mixed Text “Pembayun”: Open Boundary of Mise

En Scène and Its Meaning

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4.2 Mini Kata Improvisation

Movements

Mini Kata comes initially from Rendra's training

process along with the Bengkel Theater in 1967. Mini

Kata presents improvisation of movements through

attractive and symbolic movement called Gerak

Indah (Yudiaryani, 2015:229). The improvisation and

symbolic movement is mentioned a movement

without structure. The source of movements derives

from the actors' spontaneity to respond to external

stimuli and actions. The attractive and symbolic

movement use minimal words. Words are replaced

through gestures to express imaginations.

This form of movements and word is better

understood and felt intuitively. Thus, the

communication with the audience becomes freer and

more spontaneous (Goenawan Mohamad, 2000: 51-

52). The mixture between Bedhaya dance movement

and Mini Kata attractive symbolic gestures encourage

instinctive movements that transform dialogues into

aesthetic movements.

Figure 3: New Composition based on an improvitation

movement

4.3 Gender Ideology as “an optional

idea”

If an ideology makes the art as a collection of

ideas with a system that provides the direction and

man's purpose to carry out life, then the

implementation of ideology in art requires the art to

do certain politics. Therefore, it is necessary to

observe how the relationship between Pembayun

performance and politics is. On the contrary, it is also

needed to study how the politics of putting Pembayun

performance in real life.

Figure 4: The Power of Gender as a reflection of a

democratic power of Perdikan Mangir

The connection of Pembayun performance with

the state politics is the reference to the relationship

between the leader and his people. Perdikan Mangir

is a symbol of a democratic government. It is

portrayed by the style of Mangir who is close to the

people. His power is run to improve people's welfare.

Mataram wants to take over Mangir region.

Pembayun conveys a message that a leader's powers

are only in favor of the interests of his people.

Pembayun prefers to follow her husband rather than

to stay with her father at the palace. As a female

figure, Pembayun chooses what she considers to

represent the truth; that is, to be with his husband and

his people.

Janet Wolff (1981: 142) said that art is a product

of society. The statement explains that art should be

viewed as the situation and the production of society,

not as a manifestation of an artist's genius. The

audience plays an active role in the final completion

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of the artwork. Pembayun performance is a collective

work formed by those from different academic

backgrounds, i.e. lecturers, students and artists who

are mostly women. The performance is presented for

the benefit of Yogyakarta Women Theatre group; i.e,

artistically seeking the possibility of female theater

production form, and ideologically, conveying

messages about women's empowerment in society.

Pembayun is thus controlled and related to the

tendency of the material and the values and

background of its formation, the women.

Referring to the opinion of Sue-Ellen Case (1988,

114), female poetry (language) is constructed within

the framework of a large stream of ideas of feminism

which can be used philosophically, practically, and

critically. Pembayun can use feminist social critics to

design artistic goals and practices. Female poetry

combines the two as a way of enforcing women's

strengths in the arts area. These efforts have

succeeded in establishing women's presence,

understanding their "voice" through the way the

audience accepts the psychological factors and

thinking patterns of female artists, and the natural

intercultural work of women, women's intellectuals,

and women's social activists.

Pembayun performance shifts the political impact

on arts, that is to turn criticism to aesthetics

politically. Nearly 80% of the roles are given to

female players. Composition and picture poses of

actress highlight female toughness. This can be seen

in the actings of Pembayun, Adisara, Nyai Sepuh,

Inten Prawestri and Sekar Dadu. The character of

Nyai Sepuh takes the role of a decision maker,

strategy maker, and risk taker. Artistic arrangements,

such as costume and light arrangement, as well as

setting arrangements are no longer designed to show

women as objects of male taste.

Women are the subject of dramatic events.

Gender-based theater performances form the

foundation of creating a "language" of women. Thus,

Pembayun is used by the director and the actors to

show their side to the question of women's "political

position." For that reason, the new position of the

female body on stage and the way it is portrayed

through the mutual recitation of the two are

rediscovered on stage.

5 CONCLUSIONS

Pembayun performance is a form of the meeting of

cultural ritualization that comes from the Javanese

culture with the moves of Bedhaya and modern

culture in Mini Kata movements. Through the mixed-

concept theatre whch creates new mise en scène, the

performance becomes freer and has a richness of

imagination, so that the movement is able to have

both aesthetic and political meanings. Pembayun

performance conveys messages through a gender

ideology, the ideology of emancipation and

resistance. By renewing the performance convention,

Pembayun performance has been an effort to create a

contextual, fresh, and inspiring art for its audience.

REFERENCES

Barthes, Roland. 1981. “Theory of the Text”, dalam

Unitying the Text. A Post Structuralist Reader, ed.

Robert Young, London and New York: Routledge &

Kegan Paul.

Case Sue-Ellen. 1988. “Towards a New Poetics”, dalam

Feminism and Theatre, London: The Macmillan press,

Ltd.

Mohamad, Goenawan. 1980. Seks, Sastra, Kita, Jakarta:

Sinar Harapan.

Munslow, Alun. 1997. Deconstructing history, London and

New York: Routledge.

Soedarsono, R.M. 1998. Seni Pertunjukan Indonesia di Era

Globalisasi, Yogyakarta: Gadjah Mada University

Press.

Yudiaryani. 2015. WS Rendra dan Teater Mini Kata,

Yogyakarta: Galang Pustaka dan Institut Seni Indonesia

Yogyakarta.

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