Review: D'Artbeat's Rencana Jeng Listy Serves a Casual Sunday Entertainment

Review and photos by Nabila "Hana" Hananti.

Adapted from Aristophanes’ “LYSISTRATA”, D’Artbeat Community crafted a musical titled Rencana Jeng Listy (“Lady Listy’s Plan”) as their 13th production. The show held its performance on July 20th & 21st at Miss Tjitjih Theatre. Kevin Jones serves as the director and Yessy Natalia as the writer. With songs written by Marta Liauw accompanied by Robby Kowira’s choreography, D’Artbeat brought forth a Sunday night entertainment complete with simplicity and joy.

Right as you enter Miss Tjitjih’s auditorium, you are welcomed pleasantly with the warmth that they built. The upbeat instrumental from the show’s song was played by the musician, introducing us to the energy and general atmosphere of what Rencana Jeng Listy is about.
It tells a story about a group of five women and their husbands who are neighbors and live in the same area together. The husbands of the women like to gather at a guard post on the side of the road until very late at night. However, things changed when the government intended to remove the guard post because of the safety hazard it posed. The men opposed the demolition and intended to prevent the post from being removed by any means necessary—namely, by bribery. Their wives found out about them bribing the officials and in response, started to refrain from doing their responsibility as wives to their husbands.  This resulted in a fight between husbands and wives as they all tried to resolve their problems together.

Bribery, feminism, and marital issues were the main focus of Rencana Jeng Listy. D’Artbeat managed to deliver the story with its meaning while retaining the comedy of the play. It was a fun show filled with satire and provoked laughter. The pacing was quick from the beginning and retained that pace until the end. It made for a very entertaining play with rarely any wasted moments.

The chemistry between the characters also built the homely nature of the show. The cast understood each other very well, especially the husbands and the wives. The moments between the women and the men were the definite highlights of the show and could simply be improved by expanding each actor's and actress's skills in future production.
The simple choreography of the music brought forth the casual feel of the show. It’d be better if all dancers shared the same power with each other to bring forth the harmony of the choreography. Still, it was a simple and feel-good play, and the dance served its purpose in the play.

As I had the opportunity to watch from the balcony, the body language of the actors wasn’t quite extensive, which made it hard for me to make out exactly what the characters were doing. Specifically, the women; the kebaya they wore unfortunately restricted their gestures and reduced their actions. However, it should be applauded that despite their costume restrictions, the women kept their posture well—notably, Caroline, who played the heavily pregnant “Teh Mila”.

The cast members of Rencana Jeng Listy have very distinct and strong vocals. However, due to the sound system coming from above, it became hard to know who was talking if you weren’t paying attention to the stage. Certain cast members also lack stage presence which added to the confusion. Still, the cast was able to use their voice appropriately for certain moments, especially Neneng (Inri Flo) who was able to make her voice sound flirtatious while also keeping it friendly for the younger audience.

The artistic of the production was simple and made use of three revolving sets: an open field, Jeng Listy’s house, as well as the guard post located on the side of the road. The lightings were mostly generals with effects that make it seem like there are leaves on the ground. It was simple and supported the purpose of the play. I would also like to applaud the stage crew for the very quick set changing, as it kept the tempo of the show flowing well. 
It should be noted that during the performance, due to the venue being located at the side of a mosque, the sound of the call for prayer could be heard inside the auditorium during the first act of the show. There was also a minor sound imbalance at the beginning of the show which didn’t quite get resolved by the end. Fortunately, neither of these issues affected the watching experience as a whole.
Lastly, there was also a lack of distinction between each pair of husbands and wives. There weren’t expositions for any of the couples, so it was difficult to pair the women with their husbands. Each couple (except for Neneng and her husband who was wearing a red shirt) didn’t have any matching outfits with each other, which makes for a lack of association between husband and wife. For Rencana Jeng Listy which had a large ensemble cast, it would make for a better exposition if there were distinctions in each couple’s costume or to have a moment between each husband and wife to establish their relationship at the beginning of the story.

The process of adapting a realist play into a musical is always tricky, and unfortunately, Rencana Jeng Listy fell into that hole. The music in Rencana Jeng Listy is there as an added flavour as opposed to making the story flow. It entertains and has beats bringing forth the energy of a lively village. It does not, however, serve the purpose of a musical. A few songs in the play were also diegetic, which makes it something that serves as entertainment for both the audience and the characters in the story rather than as a purpose in the storyline, and that’s why Rencana Jeng Listy is not a musical.

As a stage performance and a play, Rencana Jeng Listy receives its applause as a successful performance. But as a musical, it unfortunately lacks the core of what makes this production a musical. Still, when you put those minor details aside, it was a very entertaining and lighthearted show to be watched on a Sunday night.