Physical Theater Performance
Teater Api (Indonesia)
Performance:
Friday November 15, 19:00
Saturday November 16, 19:00
Bühnenstudio Hamburg, Bunker
Feldstraße 66
20359 Hamburg
The performance is without words, so knowledge of Indonesian language is not required.
The performance on Friday will be followed by an artist talk.
Workshop:
Cultural Exchange in Motion
Saturday, November 16, 14:00 – 17:00
Tickets: 16 € (normal price) / 12 € (reduced); Workshop fee: 30 € (full price), 25 € (reduced) – For further information and reservations contact us here
In Javanese, the word “surup” refers to evening or dusk, the transition from day to night, when it is time for the children to come home. In another sense the word also means the “evening of life”, coming home when getting older.
Surup is the threshold from light (afternoon) to darkness (night).
The children were supposed to be in the house during this transitional period, as it was believed that Genderuwo, a mythical demon, roamed around at dusk looking for children who were still outside, to hide them under his arms. When people believed that a child was taken by Genderuwo, they would join together to search for them in dark, eerie places while creating music by banging on kitchen utensils. They believed that Genderuwo would release the children if he heared the sound of the kitchen utensils.
The myths of “Surup” suggests that this transitional period symbolizes a turning point where one has to deal with aging, weakening of the body and diseases in the twilight of human life. Therefore, people are encouraged to practice laku tirakat (a form of asceticism) during this transitional period: They begin to restrict worldly activities in order to prepare for a good death.
Teater Api from Indonesia addresses these issues in a visually stunning performance that manages without words – knowledge of Indonesian is therefore not required.
Teater Api Indonesia:
Established since 1993, Teater Api Indonesia is a group with the concept of physical theater. The body is an entity that experiences many contaminations, interventions, intimidations and polarizations against its authority.
The body is shaped by spirituality, myths, dogmas, culture and its ecosystem: How a culture’s society views and treats the body.
In another reality today, the modern world has brought a new culture that is more rational and sophisticated. Modern human life (body) is influenced and shaped by information media, formal government regulations, beauty treatments or other body engineering as well as manufactured/industrial products that reject elements of spirituality and destroy myths.
Interrogation of the body is important to rediscover the identity and authority of the body in order to explore contamination, intervention, intimidation and polarization of the body.