Punakawan in N. Riantiarno’s Dramas: Revitalization of Local Cultural Values in Modern Theater

Keywords

revitalization, cultural entities, local culture, traditional arts.

Abstract

In the puppet world there are Punakawan figures (Semar, Petruk, Gareng, and Bagong) who represent commoners, loyal servants, and they become a vehicle for raise people's voices to be of concern to all community circles. Behind the Punakawan figures, the values of wisdom and local wisdom are stored in relation to human characters, relationships between people, and human relations with nature and the environment. The existence and potential of the Punakawan are explored maximally in N. Riantiarno's hands as an effective vehicle to raise awareness to the theater audience about the conditions that the Indonesian people are communally facing. The potential of Punakawan is elaborated in the five literary works of the drama which were then staged, namely "Republik Bagong," "Republic of Togog," "Republic of Petruk," "Republic of Cangik," and "Semar Gugat," from which can be derived one perspective voiced by the Punakawan related to various social, political, economic and cultural issues that are developing in the life of the nation and the state of Indonesia. In addition, reading these works revealed Riantiarno's efforts to revitalize the Punakawan as a cultural entity that contained local cultural values, which derive from the nobility of Javanese cultural values. They are present in the treasures of modern theater and are able to articulate local cultural values into the modern urban world stage. In that case, wayang stories are articulated as discourses of traditional art performances embodied in the world of modern theater, especially in the hands of N. Riantiarno as both the playwright and the director.

Copyright

© 2018, the Authors. Published by Atlantis Press.

Open Access

This is an open access article distributed under the CC BY-NC license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/).

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TY  - CONF
AU  - M. Yoesoef
PY  - 2018/11
DA  - 2018/11
TI  - Punakawan in N. Riantiarno’s Dramas: Revitalization of Local Cultural Values in Modern Theater
BT  - Proceedings of the International Seminar on Recent Language, Literature, and Local Cultural Studies (BASA 2018)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 398
EP  - 405
SN  - 2352-5398
UR  - https://www.atlantis-press.com/article/25906114
ID  - Yoesoef2018/11
ER  -