The Abused women

10 years after, Ipoh and Ronggeng.

Gender inequality against women in various forms was illustrated
in the Monoogue Play performed in GBB TIM. This
show was held on 22 December of 2009 in the event of TIM’s
41st anniversary and also in the celebration of Mother’s day.

The monologue illustrated the life fragments of three women. One
mother who lost her child, a coffee seller who overcomes her anguish
with laughter and innocence, and a “ronggeng” dancer who went insane
for being imprisoned and separated from her child.

In the monologue “10 years After” masterminded by Seno Gumira Adjidarma;
Niniek L.Kariem plays the grieving mother who had lost her
child in the May ’98 incident. Ten years after the disappearance of her
son, Satria, this mother lives in loneliness and questions that constantly
haunt her about the whereabouts of the her beloved son.

“Ten years have passed, many have changed, and many have not changed.
To me Satria is still here,” as always, Niniek presented the monologue
with her eminent expertise a professional actress. 10 Years After had been
performed in 2008 in the 10th year commemoration of the ’98 ordeal.

The second character, Ipoh, became an alluring character. Lisa Ristargi
who played the part of Ipoh was a match to Niniek L. Kariem who went
on stage earlier. Staging as a coquettish coffee seller, Lisa managed to
steal off the audience’s attention.

Ipoh vivaciously tells the story of her life. It is quite an irony because Ipoh’s
life is filled with sadness and scars. As a teenager she was raped by her own
uncle. She then grew up and met a man who eventually married her.

As it turned out, the man already has a wife, and when he died, all of
his fortune went to his first wife. Ipoh was then left to support her two
children by being a coffee seller.

There were frequent emits of laughter or even comments from the audience
in response responses to Ipoh’s humorous dialogues. For many times
Ipoh stressed out the importance of a woman in taking great care of her
“self esteem”. “My Mother said, women are like glass plates, once they are
broken they will be worthless, while as men are like tin plates that won’t
have any marks even when they have fallen over and over again.”

The third monologue titled “Ronggeng” was supported by Happy Salma.
Ronggeng was inspired by the novel “Ronggeng Dukuh Paruk” by Ahmad
Tohari. In this fragment, life scene periods of Srintil, the ronggeng dancer,
were shown. There were scenes of her as a dancer, as she was falling in love
and was trying to seduce Rasus, her childhood friend. There were also settings
of her being in jail to then went insane.

This play will mostly be hard to comprehend for those who have not
read the novel yet. It’s back and forth plot and the blur context of Srintil’s
living period may well be the cause.

Ronggeng is some sort of an opening act before the primary extended
performance next April. The show that feels like an unfinished puzzle,
may find its answer on the greater show.