Jakarta, IO – Norbertus “Nano” Riantiarno, founder of the Teater Koma, has staged both original plays and world-class plays since its inception in 1977.
One of their most popular works are the “Trilogi Opera Kecoa” (Cockroach Opera Trilogy) comprising of “Bom Waktu” (Time Bomb), “Opera Kecoa” (The Cockroach Opera), and “Opera Julini” (The Julini Opera). As an homage to the late Nano, Agus Noor with Indonesia Kita and Teater Koma revived Julini in a new play called “Julini Tak Pernah Mati” (Julini Never Dies). In the orginal play, transgender Julini died because of a stray bullet. However, the new play sees her coming back to life when her grave was dug out.
The play was held at the Taman Ismail Marzuki Grand Theater on 16-17 June. It was sold out, as witnessed by lucky Independent Observer when we watched the show on Saturday (17/6), the seats from the ground floor to the third floor were packed.
I was immediately piqued when I noticed that the cast included great names like Butet Kartaredjasa, Djaduk Ferianto, Cak Lontong, Akbar Marwoto, Rangga Riantiarno, and Jajang C. Noer alongside Teater Koma’s own actors and actresses.
The show was a semi-musical, meaning that only some of the scenes are sung and danced. Arie Pekar crafted the score, Josh Marcy coreographed the dances danced by Dansity Dance troupe, with Agus Noor directing.
Briefly, the story was that several construction workers accidentally dug out a grave. The corpse in the grave was whole despite it being buried long ago. It turns out to be the corpse of Julini, a legendary transgender woman who has many fans. Everyone was surprised, scared, and amazed that the corpse came back to life and acted normally.