Intercultural Theatre essay
This module studies the usefulness and relevance of 'intercultural theatre' as an approach to productions that combine different theatrical forms and cultures. It aims to explore the critical issues and implications of intercultural theatre, a term largely used by Western critics, from specifically Asian positions of practice, and to assess interculturalism as an approach against other concepts such as adaptation. To these ends, it will take Shakespeare as a site of intercultural exchange, and compare a number of Asian productions of Shakespeare plays with a European one. The module is aimed at students majoring in Theatre Studies.
TS3242 Intercultural Theatre
3. Choosing one scene from any of the Shakespeare plays studied in this course, outline how you would adapt it for intercultural production.
Macbeth, performed in traditional Balinese forms.
I have chosen to use the traditional Balinese dance-drama forms, the Ketjak, Gambuh and Tjalonarang for this production as it's mystic and ritualistic style serves to enhance the supernatural and dark nature of the plot. 'Tjalonarang is often performed in times of illness and the performance could be a source of peril or protection.' This is echoed in the widespread belief that the actors involved in the staging of Macbeth leads to ill luck. The Ketjak dance is familiar to all visiting tourists of Bali; there is no exact way it is performed, it could be solely as a dance routine or on a different occasion, stories are told as the dancing takes place. This allows the flexibility of adapting and presenting to the audience an intercultural perspective of Macbeth. The epic stories, Ramayana and Mabharata have been done in different ways with Ketjak as an accompanying dance and rhythm.
Gambuh is a Balinese drama that served an important political function; 'it told the tales of political and romantic exploits of the courts of East Java.' Similarly, Shakespeare wrote plays that reflected the political situation in the English courts. It is therefore suitable to perform Macbeth using the Gambuh style, and drawing on the other Balinese performing art forms to increase the profile of its tradition arts. Furthermore, there are dances and drama that the west is familiar with, particularly the Legong, the Wayang Kulit and the Ketjak that are performed for busloads of tourists that visit Bali. Shakespeare acts as a vehicle for the Balinese to deliver their craft to a broader audience, while the Balinese art form has indirectly reinforced the notion of Shakespeare's universality, as it further expands the realm of Shakespeare's influence.
Producing Macbeth Balinese style exposes the locals to a new plot, drawing on their different forms to enhance the performance through spectacle, music and dance. The apparitions, witches and the tortured minds of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth can be presented in a more primitive, ritualistic way using the wide ranging dancing and acting styles. Many Balinese themselves are not particularly interested in Gambuh because they can find the essentials of this form in the modern performing styles like Arja, legong and Baris, to name a few, are deemed more exciting and entertaining. Injecting a Shakespeare plot into the Gambuh may pique the interest of the locals to watch the production of a western text. However, to make Gambuh more accessible to everyone, Balinese will be used as a uniform language for all the players.
This production will be stage for the local's viewing pleasure, the visiting tourists and if sufficient funding permits, it could be exported globally. It is difficult to question the authenticity of the presentation forms and style because there are too many variations of the performing style itself, with different variations derived from a root form. The locals are constantly drawing on these generic forms and through time, new styles emerge. Whether or not the audience has any knowledge of the plot would not affect their understanding of the production. Despite the language barrier, a lack of knowledge of Balinese will not hinder the audience's understanding of the play because the nature of a visual spectacle of song, dance and drama tend to draw on the audience's attention by other means such as the music and costumes, particularly the melodious voices. This serves as a pull factor rather than an alienating one. This can possibly sustain the audience's attention and further draw them into the line of action. At the same time, ignorant of ritualistic practices, the intercultural audience will be very much engaged in the play to watch it unfold.
The costumes, gestures and movement make the distinct differences between the characters, but perhaps, arguably only a keen eye is able to notice these details. Colour and masks reveal character, these cultural codes may not be accessible to the audience without knowledge of Balinese arts. Yet, this should not be a big obstacle to them understanding the play, but it certainly discounts their appreciation of the performance in entirety.
In act I scene V of Macbeth, Lady Macbeth delivers her soliloquy where she appears more masculine than Macbeth himself. Lady Macbeth, played by a male will be carried onto stage by a dozen of Ketjak men dancers. As she descends, the chant of the Ketjak dancers slows down and softens till it stops. They sit in a semi circle around her as she opens the letter from Macbeth sings with the accompanying music. After the messenger enters and takes his leave, the 'tjak-a-tjak-a-tjak' chants increases in intensity and pace, crescendo and the 12 men take on take on bird personas and start croaking, imitating bird movements to fly around. Duncan's death is imminent as "the raven himself is hoarse that croaks the fatal entrance of Duncan." The dancers encircle her and the chants and music is quickens and increases in intensity. Lady Macbeth draws on the high energy level and dances in the circle, imitating the process of being possessed. Her speech of "unsex me here..." will be displayed in this physical act. As Macbeth enters, she will dance around him, and the ketjak dancers slowly make their leave.
Lady Macbeth will be played in the adapted Tjalonarang form, but she does not appear grotesque and wicked in appearance as the witches in tjalonarang are portrayed. The Balinese have very few plays tailored to Tjalonarang, thus presenting Shakespeare's Macbeth in this style creates a challenge for the Lady Macbeth and the witches after it is adapted accordingly for production. Shakespeare's iambic pentameter will be replaced by the rhythmic sound patterns of Balinese song and dance with the accompanying instruments. For example, the Balinese have the Pucung metre and the Sinom metre where dialogue is distributed over this structure. Every ending of a verse coincides with the end of a gong-phrase.
The comic-relief in Macbeth must not be neglected. Hence, in order to present a comic scene accessible to an audience despite their lack of knowledge of the art form or language, I would suggest the use of the traditional Balinese comic characters known as bondres. In Act II, scene III, the porter's scene can be substituted with masked clown characters from Balinese drama. The porter's lines will be substituted by 'Balinese vernacular spiced with bawdy dialogue and physical comedy.' This is a suitable parallel for the scene in Macbeth, and serves its comic purpose because physical comedy is accessible to all.
I have chosen the Balinese school of performing arts as I believe that its culture will show her versatility in adapting a western plot and presenting it in a South East Asian way. This heightens the profile of the Balinese traditional dance and performing arts as well as satisfies the Balinese's love of novelty. By marrying a classical text with a traditional performing art, the Balinese culture will be viewed in a different light and Shakespeare's universality is indirectly made more obvious, given the diverse nature of the way Europeans and South East Asians live and think. This fulfils the production's aims of increasing the profile of Balinese culture and traditional performing art form. Also, to bring to the indigenous people another way of presenting Gambuh that they may consider watching. At the same time, this indirectly reinforces the notion that Shakespeare's plays are timeless and very versatile as they deal with the innate human condition and emotion. More importantly, it raises awareness of the Balinese dance and traditions, not limiting it to the common ceremonial practices and short entertainment performances for tourists. Perhaps with a Shakespeare text as a plot, the audience will take it more seriously, instead of perceiving it as a common form of ritual dance or repeated epic stories of heros, deities, demons and villains. It gives a fresh perspective to Gambuh, which is an old form, hence the deeply rooted ceremonial aspect.
The production will be performed in Balinese instead of fourteen century Javanese used in Gambuh; the royalty speaks Kawi and the servants, Balinese. Similarly, Shakespeare uses the royal 'we' to differentiate from the 'I', but to make the production more audience-friendly, all the characters will speak Balinese regardless of their ranks, taking into consideration that the audience may not have knowledge of Balinese either.
The translated script has to be adapted to allow for certain scenes or moments to be physically manifested in place of spoken lines. This will serve to present a more powerful imagery, and (hopefully) facilitate a better understanding of the production for an audience who has no knowledge of the language or Gambuh.
Definitely, styles have to be adapted when presenting Shakespeare in a traditional South East Asian art form. The Balinese dance-drama was derived from rituals and cultural practices of the primitive villagers. Instead of having a narrator that is commonly used in Ketjak and certain Balinese dramas, the characters will deliver their lines in a melodious way with the accompanying music. Like Commedia dell'Arte and Japanese Noh plays, the Balinese dramas have basically four types of stock characters, that of refined female, strong female, refined male and lastly, the strong male. These characters are slowly 'possessed', only completely taking on the full capacity of the stock character in the second half of the play; in the case of Macbeth, the characters will not experience the gradual transformation, as the characters in Shakespeare are constantly reacting to order of events and the time taken for the actors to 'possess' the stock roles will take too long. The audience unfamiliar to these codes will be lost. Contrary to Gambuh's emphasis on stock characters and the losing individual personality of characters, characters in Macbeth have to play their parts as individuals with distinct qualities and features.
Female characters used to be played wholly by men and still are in certain dance forms. My choice of Lady Macbeth to be played by a man enhances her image of masculinity and strong will power. The male Balinese actor is skilled from his training to perform his female role perfectly. The male heroic role of Macbeth will be 'manis (sweet) or aloes type, exquisite in movement, (with) a soft and ingratiating voice.' , but Macbeth will not be fixed in this gentile state as a character, he has to react accordingly to the turn in events to produce the verisimilitude to effectively portray his downfall. The Balinese's sole reliance on the audience's imagination will not work as the play unfolds, hence the way in which Macbeth is played has to be adapted as he cannot effectively bring out Shakespeare's characterization if he were to perform the stock character role of the Balinese stage.
There is little or no indication to show the scene changes. It is solely through the visual spectacle and conversation of the characters that indicate the different points of the play. The Balinese drama and dance form is culturally coded, for example, the act of journeying is not performed but merely suggested by words and glances. An illusion is created of arriving at a distant place, although the actor has not moved at all. They are fond of creating the illusion of reality instead of presenting it, hence I would suggest that intermittently, a short pause is taken before the progression to the next act. This allows audience with no knowledge of the language or the cultural codes to follow the acts progression. At the pause, the actors and actresses freeze in a tableaux for a short moment before resuming.
The staging of this production would have to take place in an open space, preferably in the night, where lighting is done by placing small lamps of fire on stands at intervals along the performing space. 'The decor of the Balinese stage is in the mind of the spectators.' Due to the nature of the form of presentation, the setting will be scarce to allow maximum room for the actors' and dancers' movement. Musicians will take their places at the back on both sides. There is no specific stage in Bali, 'or (rather) everywhere there is a stage. For wherever there is a space to dance, to mount a play, there is a Balinese stage.' This might pose discomfort for audiences who are accustomed to seats in auditoriums where the stage is distant and elevated. There is no formal spatial distinction between the performers and the audience, and the locals participate in this 'interactive performance'. This will depend on the audience that watches the performance.
Costumes for the ketjak dancers will be the checkered sarongs to facilitate easy movement and prancing around. The actors and actresses will be dressed in traditional Balinese drama costumes of Gambuh, similar to that of Wayang Wong, with matching head-dresses for each character of different status. There will be minimal use of the animal motif in this production, unlike most Balinese dance and drama where animal motifs are prevalent. Lady Macbeth will be dressed in a Tjalonarang costume; the original 'Sisias is a short white bodice, a white thread scarf to cover the breasts, a length of material, chiefly green, folded around the waist, a silk sash whose ends hang down on either side and a white turban-like head cloth which is thrown off at a certain stage in the dance so that the hair hangs loose.' This effectively manifests Lady Macbeth's mental state when she is in delirium in Act V, scene I.
Shadow-play (Wayang Kulit) is often used to accompany Tjalonarang, and in Macbeth, the witches' prophersies to Macbeth can be revealed via this craft, for a further sense of the supernatural and mystery. The witches are to be played by men who will don grotesque masks with wigs and unwieldy costumes. The male voice can create the rapsy, crude voices of the witches.
The Kendang (Drum), Gender Wayang (Metallaphone) and the Suling (Flute) are common instruments used in Balinese dance and drama. The musical that accompanies the Gambuh is called the gamelan. In addition, in Gambuh the gentorang (bell tree) and the gumanak (pair of bronzes tubes that subdivides the gong cycle) are used to complete the ensemble. In this ensemble, the individual instrument or voice is recognized but not emphasized. Each musician should respond to both the other members of the ensemble as well as the performers on stage. This brings to the audience the Javanese's ability to blend voices into harmony with ease, integrating a range of sound textures into a single coherent unit, enabling a smooth change of scenes in Macbeth.
It is possible to do without the sets. As it would be staged in an open space, it would be impractical to have cumbersome sets to lug about, besides, there is no dire necessity for one. In Act I, Scene V, the stage is bare and Lady Macbeth takes center stage with her dancers.
Props can be used to enhance the visual spectacle. The murder scenes will be performed with kriss knives. The mounting for journeys horses can be gestured so that the audience is not completely alienated from the Balinese's illusion of reality on stage.
In order not to bastardise the Balinese dance and drama forms, I have suggested to keep the dance forms and drama patterns, save for using a uniform language. The translated Shakespeare script will keep the rhythmic delivery of its lines done Balinese style, with the addition of melody. I do not think that this form of presentation is unfaithful to the original text as it has kept closely to the plot, performed in a classical traditional form with rhythm and pace. It is also a culturally rich spectacle of the play albeit lines were omitted and physically manifested instead.
Bibliography
Dance and Drama in Bali by Walter Spies & Beryl de Zoete
Aesthetic tradition and cultural transition in Java and Bali edited by Stephanie Morgan & Laurie Jo Sears
Balinese Dance in transition by I Made Bandem & Fredrik Eugene deBoer
http://www.balivision.com/Article_Resources/Gambuh2.asp
http://www.balivision.com/Article_Resources/DramaMask.asp
