BWW Previews: D'ARTBEAT to Debut Original Musical PERON at GRAHA BHAKTI BUDAYA This Weekend

Performing art community D'ARTBEAT will debut original musical PERON ('TRAIN PLATFORM') at the GRAHA BHAKTI BUDAYA theater, Cikini, Jakarta on October 12 and 13. The musical will run for three shows.

PERON's tagline 'many have the courage to die, but few are willing to brave the challenges of life' hints at its narrative theme. Snippets posted at their Instagram showcase a brief moment in the lives of three characters: Samad, Asih, and Jarwo.

Samad dreams of becoming a member of the house of representatives, a position of immense wealth and notable power. Despite liquidating his assets to fund his campaign, he scarcely managed to get any support come voting day. In desperation brought upon by bankruptcy and shame, he ended his life by jumping off the platform of a local station.

His death inspires two other people to toy with the idea of ending their own lives: the first is Asih, a former prostitute who lives bot only with stroke attacks but also a deadbeat husband who disfigures their own child to incite more people's pity and generosity.

And the second is Jarwo, who's struggling with the financial dilemma to either pay off his debts, pay for his child's college tuition, or to treat his mother -- who is in excruciating pain from bone cancer and asks him to end her life.

As train platforms are symbolical of meetings and partings, we can expect that the titular PERON will have these characters meet and their problems clash with each other. This show is directed by Ibas Aragi (director and writer of feature film HORAS AMANG), with music and arrangement by Yoan Theodora and choreography by Felicia Chitra.

Founded in 2003, D'ARTBEAT has produced many musicals adapting the stories of Indonesians from different walks of life, including the showbiz story of boybands and girlbands in SUSI (2013), the star-crossed love between a Chinese heiress and a Javanese heir in PUTIH HITAM LASEM (2014), and a fateful meeting between the rich and the poor in SIAPA KAYA SIAPA MISKIN (2016).

For more information and ticket purchase, head to their website at https://d-artbeat.org.

To post a comment, you must register and login.