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After AppropriationAuthor(s): Craig LatrellSource: TDR (1988-), Vol. 44, No. 4 (Winter, 2000), pp. 44-55Published by: The MIT PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1146861 .

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Afterppropriation

Craig atrell

We tend to think f interculturalransfer r artistic orrowing rima-rily s a one-wayphenomenon, omething one by the West to othercultures.'Much of the critical hetoric

urroundinghis

phenomenonhas

(atleast n theatre riticism) n accusatory one,withWesternpopularculture

pictured s a sort of uggernaut,rollingover helpless ocal cultures, akingwhat t wants nd in theprocess uining ragilendigenous rtforms nd ho-

mogenizing ll culture, urning he world into a lowbrow combinationof

BaywatchndDisney. n thisview,Western ultureelaborating ponEdwardSaid's [1978] famous construction f Orientalism) s inevitably epictedascrass nd unstoppable,while Eastern ultures rerepresenteds refined, eli-cate,passive, xotic,and spirituallyuperior o theWest.The favored ermi-

nology is military,with the West paintedas a bellicose male (plundering,pillaging, nd raping) nd Asia representeds a defenselessand,by implica-tion,female)victim.Thus, thedynamicof colonialismmustnecessarily e

playedout in any nteraction etweenWestern rtistsnd Eastern orms,ndthe traffic n culture s representeds irrevocablyne-way. n this rticleexamine therepresentationf interculturalransfern current heatre riti-cism, nd advocate different,oreflexible,nd ocallybasedmodel.

One exampleof criticism ased in thebinary ppositionofWestern ndAsian cultures sJohnRussell Brown's (1998) article TheatricalPillage inAsia: Redirectingthe Intercultural raffic. Brown likensdirectors eterBrook and ArianeMnouchkine two of thepastdecade's mostvisiblepracti-tioners f interculturalransfer)o raiders cross frontier, emarkinghat

theybring ackstrangelothes s their oot andtry o wearthem s ifto themanner orn 1998:9).The author ecries he use ofartistic orms rom thercultures n two levels:he feels hat

foreignorms annot

xpressherealities

of contemporaryWestern ociety; nd, thepresenceofWesternersn otherculturesnevitablyuins he formsheydesire o explore-they leavewreck-

age behind hem s they preadknowledge fancient heatresmong ournal-ists and tourpromoters I I). In describing he dynamicof intercultural

borrowing,Brown repeatedly mploysthe languageof war and violation,characterizingnterculturalxperimentations looting, as ifnon-Western

performanceenreswereone-of-a-kindbjects, oo fragileo be playedwith,adapted,or otherwisehandledby outsiders.He portraysAsian theatres sdefencelessgainst redatorsrom notherociety, nddenies hevery ossi-

bility fexchange, aying hat t cannotworkequitablyn twodirections e-tweentwo verydifferentocieties nd theatres:West and East,modern nd

The Drama Review44, 4 (T168), Winter 000. Copyright 2000

New YorkUniversitynd theMassachusettsnstitute fTechnology.

44








After ppropriation5

ancient,conomicallydvantagednddisadvantaged12). notherwords,fartisticorrowingetween ulturesannot e accomplishedequitably tshouldn'tappent ll.

Brown's olution o culturalillages to advocate heborrowingfonlythe essvisible lementsfnon-Westernerformance,uch saudience-stage

relationships,ractingtylesfor xample,heuse of mprovisationuringperformance).uchborrowings,efeels,re he most racticalnd will] othe east arm o the target ultures.et Brown oesnot eem orecog-nize hat hese ormallementsre smuch xpressionsf distinctensibilityasany therspect f theatricalorm:ocondemnheborrowingfcertainaspectsfnon-Westernerformancehilepermittingthers laceshim nthepositionf culturalatekeeper,eciding hich lementsre ppropriatefor rtisticxperimentationyforeignersndwhichmust e left lone or henatives opracticendisturbed.Yet t s not ven rown'srgumentomuchs hismethodfrepresentingn-

terculturalransferhatssotroubling.is sthe atestna long tringfremark-ably imilar-soundingrticleshich ave ppearedver he ast ecade,ncludingthose yRustom harucha,atriceavis, arlWeber, autamasgupta,ndmanythers.hesewritersllforegroundndperpetuatemagesf nequalityndvictimizationn nterculturalism,enteringnthe erceivedoliticsfthe he-nomenonothenear xclusionf ny theronsiderations.ne can ncludeeresuchrepresentationss Pavis's 1996:13)descriptionfWestern ulture sDisneylandulture asopposedo non-Westernculturesf dentity )nd

Weber's1991:28)characterizationfWesternulturalxports a secondolo-nization. venwhenwritersdmithe ossibilityhatnterculturalransferighttake lacenculturesther han ur wn, he henomenons still escribeds aprimarilyoliticalne, sfor xample hen hristopheralme ssertsfollowingSalmanRushdie's amous hrase The Empirewrites ack ) nhisbook

Decolonizinghe

tagehat

theatricalyncretisms in

most ases conscious,rogrammatictrategyofashiona new form f theatren the ight fcolonialorpost-colonial xperience 1999:2). In short,nterculturalismisportrayeds somethinghat anonlybe explainedby nequitiesfpowerbetween ast ndWest, nd theultimate ffectf suchcriticisms to keepthe potlightfirmly ocused on the West-- their attempts tinterculturalismustbe motivated y our formercolonization.The idea that rtistsn other ocieties

might e using lements fWestern ulture or heirown reasonssrarelyntertained.

But why should we deny to other cultures thesame sophisticationnd multiplicityf response o

foreign nfluences hat we grant o ourselves n

viewingnon-Western orks?Whyshouldwe assumethat ntercultural ransfers primarily politicallybased,one-wayphenomenon-a culturalmonologuerather han dialogue?While t's true hat heglobal-izationofWestern ulturebywhich s usuallymeantAmericanmovies, elevision,music, ndfashion) asin onewayoranother ffectedearly very ulturenthe world andhas no doubtaccelerated hepace ofinterculturalransfer),heprocess hroughwhichthis

happens s likelymorecomplicated han the simplevictim-victimizerarrativeescribed bove.Whynotstartwiththeassumptionhatothercultures re not

i. Sceneromhe 995pro-ductionfBrokenBirds:AnEpic Longing, on-ceivednd directedyOngKeng en,Singapore.(Photo yLilenUy;cour-

tesy fTheatre orkstd.)








46 Craig atrell

2-4. BrokenBirdswas n-

spired y he ookAlku &

Karayuki-San:rostitu-tion in Singapore (1870-1940) concerningapanesewomen howere rickedr

forcednto rostitution(karayuki-san)nSingaporeandotherarts f outheastAsia at the nd f he 9thcentury.roducedyTheatre orkstd.,Bro-kenBirdswasperformedat Fort

Canning ark,Singapore, -18March

1995. (Photo byLilen Uy;courtesyfTheatre orks

Ltd.)

just passivereceivers fWesterndeas and images, ut activemanipulatorsf

such nfluences,nd that nterculturalorrowingsnotsimply one-waypro-cess,butsomethingarmore nterestinglyialogic? ust sWestern rtists,uchas directors eterSellars, eterBrook,PingChong,ArianeMnouchkine, ulieTaymor, ndmany thers akeformal nd/ornarrativelements fforeignrtforms nd recontextualizehem n theirworks, o too non-Western rtists

knowinglyndself-consciouslyeinventWesternnfluencesnnovel, ophisti-cated, ndsometimes umorousways-and for easons hat rebothpoliticallyand artistically otivated. xamplesof nterculturalismincluding yncretismand itsresulting hybrid or fusion forms) re everywhere. uch formsabound (for xample) n Indonesia,from hepopularJakarta orm fmusiccalleddangdut,ith tsPortuguese,MiddleEastern,ndIndian filmmusic) n-

fluences, o television itcoms lendingWestern onventions frealismwith

Javanese-influencedharactersuchas the transvestitelown. As LaurieSearshaspointed ut,evensupposedlytraditional orms uch as wayang ulit avebeen commodified,o-opted ndmodified, ithtraditional ayang haracters

appearing n television nd in comicbooks.Contemporaryndonesian lay-wrights uch as Nano Riantiarnoblend elementsof Westernrealism ndBrechtiandeviceswithJavanese udruknd references o mythic haractersfrom heRamayana. et the ackof a critical ocabulary,longwith he attrac-tive implicityf thebinary-oppositionodel,have made tdifficulto recog-nize-let aloneanalyze-exactlywhat soccurringn these ransactions.

Recentcriticismn the visual rts uggestshat ne fruitfulpproachmaybetotake more ocalizedview of the nterplayetween ultures. orexample,n

his 1999book Possessions,icholasThomas Director fthe CentreforCross-CulturalResearch t theAustralian ationalUniversity),xamines he arts fsettlerolonies, akingshisstartingointneither he colonizer/colonizediewnorpopular otions fglobalization,which uppose hat rt odaysdefinedy








After ppropriation7

the inksbetween ll partsof the world (1999:8).Thomas's s a more pecificanddialogicpointofviewofthesecommunities. is

book,whichhe character-izes as anthropologicalrt

history, examines the

workings f both colonialand indigenoustraditionsof art through ocal re-

sponses,rather han so-

ciological abstractions(18). Taking similarointof view in her studyof

Javanese wayang kulit,Searsshows how theac-tions of local [Javanese]intelligentsias,as situatedsocial agents,' were im-

pelledbytheir wn logicsand needs and how theseactivities ntersected, b-structed,or occasionallymeshedwithDutch effortsto represent nd control

Javanese iterarynd his-toricalproductions Sears 1996:15). In theirrecognition hat cultural x-

change s a dialogue nvolving varietyfaesthetic s well as localizedpoliticalfactors, hese criticspoint the way to a more sophisticated pproach tointerculturalism.

To take a very imple llustration f thewaynon-Western rtistsnteractwithWestern orms,heMinangkabau raditional usic nsemble t the tour-istcenternBukittinggi, estSumatra,asuallyncludesn itsprogram ver-sion of a Britishdisco hit (the ever-popularRiver fBabylon y Boney M)playedon thegongs,considerably lteringhediscobeat to fit onventional

Minangkabau hythms.n doingso, the musicians re in effecthanging heborrowedWestern orm fdiscomusic s much as they rebeing changed yit; the resultinghybridcontains elements of both Western disco and

Minangkabautraditionalmusic,but it isby

no means apoliticallynspiredproduct. Far from bandoningor tainting ormerly ure local forms, he

Sumatranmusicians re assimilatingew influences,nd in theprocess nter-

pretingwhattheyborrow.Such complicatednteractionsetweenborrowerandborrowed re the rule rather han heexception, nd narrativesfpassiv-ity nd neocolonialism ave ittle lace n thiskindof creative ctivity.

The actofborrowingtselfno matter ho is doing t) is an essentiallyre-ative nd artisticne,and one that eserves o be examined s an aesthetiche-nomenon rather han imply s a demonstrationf (or reaction o) politicalpower.As criticMarvinCarlson 1996)haspointed ut,there remanydiffer-entrelationshipsetween heculturallyamiliarnd theculturallyoreign,ndthis s reflectedn thegreatdiversityfartistic orrowing. uch borrowings

range romppropriationfthemostvisible nd sometimesuperficiallementsof an unfamiliarormcostumesndstagingechniques,or xample) o deeperattemptst syncretism,nd they epresentifferentesthetic oalson thepartof the artist/creator.hat follows reanalysesf three ifferentypes f nter-








48 Craig atrell

cultural ransferllustratingomeof the differentevelsofborrowing ossiblebetween ulturess wellas therole thatocal cultures lay n suchborrowings.

Perhaps he mostfamiliarypeof nterculturalransferccurswhen an artistborrows erformanceechniques rom genre utsideherown culture ndin-serts hem ntonew performanceontextswithout egard o indigenous ul-turalmeanings. his s the ort fcontextlessorrowing hichhas beenvilifiedas looting,plunder, r pillage, nd which s typicalnot ust of such works sBrook'sMahabharata1989)but of televisiondvertising,ndmusicvideos uchas thoseofJanet nd MichaelJackson.Yet thisphenomenon s byno meanslimited o Western rtists. o illustrate,am goingto drawexamples rom

productionalledBroken irds:An EpicLonging,resentedn Singaporen 1995bythat ountry'smajortheatreompany, heatreWorks,nddirected yOngKengSen,artisticirector fTheatreWorksnd ater colleagueofmine ttheNationalUniversity f Singapore.More recently, ng has created a pan-Asian KingLear nJapan,ncorporatingwidevarietyfAsiantheatre orms,and he has alsodirected t New York'sPublicTheatre.

According o theprogram, roken irdswas inspired y thebook Alku&Karayuki-San: rostitutionn Singapore187o-1940)Warren1993) concerningJapanesewomenwho were tricked r forced ntoprostitutionkarayuki-san)in Singapore nd otherparts fSoutheastAsia at theend ofthe19thcentury.The piecewas performedutdoors t FortCanningPark n central ingapore,on a long,sloping awn,with thestructure fthe old fort erving s a back-drop. Huge video screensframed he performancepace, behindwhich adanceroccasionally erformedn shadow-puppettyle, nd on which a videoofa fictionalizednterview ith survivingarayuki-sanasprojected.Nine-teenactorsparticipated,requentlyerformingdenticalmovement equencesand linessimultaneouslyr sequentially,n a crossbetweenacting nd dance.The piece consisted ffragmentedestures,mpressions,ndscenescombined

in a nonlinear ashion,ubsequentlyescribed yone of theactors a studentofmine attheNationalUniversityfSingapore)na review s:

Characterisedyan essentiallyon-realisticerformancediomwithnon-linear ndtemporaltructures.he interest asin creating formalworkwith message, rrangingnd uxtaposing ormalheatricalle-ments, ncompassingction,gesture,rchitecture,haracter,epetitionandtext, s wellas exploringhefrontieretweendanceandtheatre.Fromtheprocess fcreation oreception, rom orm o content, he n-fluence fpostmodernesthetics as clearly iscernible.Tang 1998)

As one mightguessfrom hisdescription, roken irds wed morethanacasualdebt toWestern xperimentalerformanceechniques nd critical on-cepts.Postmodern orrowing otwithstanding,early very heatricallementof Broken irdswas derivedfrom echniques hat volved in theNew Yorkoff-Broadwayheatreceneduring he I96os and 70s andhave sincebecomecommonplacen experimentalWestern heatre.Manyofthese echniques reenumeratedn Richard Schechner's rticle Six AxiomsforEnvironmentalTheatre 1968:41-64). The use oftheexterior pace at FortCanningPark,for xample, llustrateschechner'sAxiom#3: The theatricalventcan takeplace either n a totally ransformedpace or in 'foundspace.' The lengthysectionofBroken irdsnvolving ifferentcenesandmonologues nacted i-multaneously in different ections of the performancespace followedSchechner's ictum nAxiom#4that Focus is flexible ndvariable, nd infact ontained xamplesboth ofwhatSchechner alls multi-focus nd lo-cal focus, .e.,many ventshappeningtonce, andevents aking lacewhichonlysomeoftheaudiencecanhearand see. The heavyvisualemphasis fthe








After ppropriation9

piece, n which ctors reno moremportanthan ny ther lement,sar-ticulatedn Schechner's xiom#5, Allproductionlementspeakntheirown anguage Why hould heperformere anymore mportanthanother roductionlements? sks chechner).chechner'soncept factor-as-visuallement as furtherevelopednwhatBonnieMarrancaalled he

Theatref mages fthe1970s,n worksreatedy among thers)hedi-rectors ichard oremanndRobertWilson,nd hegroupMabouMines.DirectorOng borrowed hese nd other echniquesndpresentedhem n a

decontextualizedashion, ithoutttemptingosyncretizehemwith ocalSingaporeheatricalocabulariesofwhich here re everal),npreciselyhesamewayWesternrtistsorrowlementsfnon-Westernormsndpresentthem s aesthetic ecoration. swith everal fOng'sother xperimentalpieces,Broken irdswassimultaneouslyophisticatedn itsuseofWesternheat-rical evices,nddeliberatelyaiven ts ttemptosee whatnewmeaningscould rise romhese evicesyplacinghemnanAsian ontext.etstrippedinthisway ftheirulturalndhistoricalontextsa partialist fwhichwouldinclude

ff-off-Broadwayf he

1970s, ietnam,ippies,ree

ove,ountercul-

ture, nd 70sminimalistusic, ainting,nd culpture),hese erformancetechniquesavenomoremeaningoa Singaporeanudience han hemove-ments f aJavaneserinmpiance haveto the casualWestern ourist. nd ustas,absentts utochthonouseaning,he rimpi ost ftenervessa genericignof xoticismo theWesterner,hesexperimentalheatreechniqueslso ervedfirstndforemostssignsothe ingaporeudience,nthis aseoftrendiness,sophistication,nd ntendederiousness.erhaps,nfact,what amcallingtrendinessere ervedome fthe ame unctionor ingaporeanss exoticismdoesfor heWesterner,mbodyingeneralizedttitudesowardnd magesfthe other nddemonstratinghat ne s intheknow. This sparticularlyimportantnSingapore,here sWilliametersonrguesnhisbookTheatre

and he oliticsfCulturenContemporaryingaporeforthcoming),esternul-ture ssimultaneouslycornedndheld pasamodel f xcellenceo be emu-lated. n this ype fborrowing,hat s importantwhetherhecreatorsWesternrnon-Western)snotwhat henovel lementmeantnitsoriginalcontext,utwhat t nowsays bout he reatorndthe udience,nd nthissense,he unctionf hemportedechniqueas hanged.

Yetinadditiono the mportancefborrowedlementsssigns,hephe-nomenonfborrowingtselfsat the oot f rtistichangendgrowth.rtistsare ttractedonovelty,nd ikemagpiesheyakewhat ooks rightrflashyor nterestingithouteallyaringbout he ntended eaning.sSchechnerhaspointedut, On the ndividualevel,t'shard or nartist ot osteal,fit'suseful or heir

epertoryf

killsr f

tsuits. hat swhat rtistso. Fun-damentally,hey rebricoleurs1996:45). his s not odeny hat ncoded nsuchborrowingsre ttitudesoward therulturesfor xample,erision,e-sentment,hedesire opositionneselfnrelationoone'sownculture),ndthatheyanbe setwithinhe argerontextfculturesedefininghemselvesaccordingomodernism,r as smost ftenhe asetoday,heglobalnflu-ences fWesternelevisionndfilm. ut t sperhapsess han nlighteningoseethese orrowingsnlyntermsf discoursebout ower elationsmongcultures. vershadowinghecodings ndthediscourse re the ndividualartist'sesthetic otivations,nthis ase hedesireo nnovateyplaying ithnewtechniques,rbyfindingnunfamiliarormallementroundwhich oconstructnewobject rperformance.nthe ttempto ncorporatericolage

into hediscoursefmodernitynd nterculturalism,t s mportantoremem-ber hatt sasmuch nartistics a politicaltrategy:rtistsrenotmorallyb-ligatedopresenthe other na digestedndcontextualizedashion,nd nfact o do sodefeatshe estheticurposeftheborrowing.alling ricolage








50 CraigLatrell

5. & 6. TeaterjenjangPadang's roductionfRobohnyaSurauKami,FestivalIstiqlaldakarta,n-

donesia,1993. Theperfor-mancencorporatedlements

fromWest umatran

randai.Photo ourtesyfTeaterjenjang)

?ilg-

..........

pillage has the effect fremovinghediscussionrom heartisticealm lto-

gethernd mposing simplisticarrativen a complicatedrocess.My second example of intercultural ransfer oncernsa productionof

ArthurMiller's The Cruciblen Bahasa Indonesiaby Teater Koma, one of

Jakarta's eadingtheatre ompanies.This production ook place at TamanIsmailMarzuki rts enter, akarta,n 1992. TheCruciblecalledTenungn this

production)s a verygood exampleofgarden-varietyheatricalealism, per-atingaccording o a linear narrative,nvolving ecognizable haracters,nd

utilizing well-known etof conventions.Realismas a theatrical enrehasexisted ormanyyearsn Indonesia.Afterts ntroductionnJakarta'solonialtheatres,Western-educated ndonesianplaywrights egan by the I95os towrite theirown realistic, ociallybased dramas.The Indonesian National

AcademyofTheatre,founded n 1955,began teachingrealistic cting nd

staging uchWesternclassicplaywrightss Moliere, Gogol, and Chekhov

alongwith more modernplaywrightsuchas Sartre. oday itssuccessor, heInstitut esenianJakartawhere servedon thefacultyn 1992 as FulbrightSeniorLecturer), ontinues o teach realisticcting longsidemoretraditionalIndonesian performancestyles. Young actors study the principles ofStanislavskiancting echnique ndperform widevarietyf Western laysntranslation,hile at the same timestudyingndigenousndonesian heatrical

genres rom hroughouthearchipelago.When Indonesian ctorsperformworkofrealism,heybelievethat hey reacting ealistically,ndindeed, u-diences seemto accepttheacting s real. Yet to theoutsider, heir ctingbarely esembleshe realisticcting tyle o whichwe asWesternersreaccus-tomed. Realism in the context of contemporaryndonesianactingclearlymeans omething ifferenthan t does ina Western ontext.

In Tenung,s well as in manyotherproductionsfdramatic ealism haveattended n Indonesia, heacting ended o veerunerringlyoward he melo-dramatic, ywhich I mean thedepictionofstrong motions uch as anger,guilt, nd self-recrimination.use theword depiction advisedly ere,forbased on mydirecting orkwith ndonesian cting tudents,hey regenerallyfarmore nterestedn

showinghan n

actuallyxperiencinghecalled-formo-

tion n a given cene. WhilemostWestern ealism-basedcting heoriestressthe utilizationof the actor's personalemotionsas a basis forevokingthecharacter'smotions, o Indonesian ctors heproduction f real emotion s








After ppropriation1

much ess mportanthan tsportrayal-thectorgoes directlyor hefireworks,affectingargeemotionsn order o swaytheaudience even fthe emotion stoo intense or hesituation eingenacted.Overblown motions ome out ofnowhere nddisappearustas abruptly,ndfrequentlyctors ometo theedgeof thestagefor mportant oments, oregoingll attemptstnatural ehavior

to showoff heir motional rowess n an almost peraticway.One sees thisstyle ot ust onstage, ut also nvirtuallylldramaticelevisionroductions.

Thereare twopossibilitiesere.Eithereading ndonesian ctors ndactingstudentsreperformingheatricalealism adly, r else thewholeapparatusfrealisticctinghasbeen subtly ransformedntosomething istinctlyndone-sian. n fact, his ctingdepartso radicallyromwhatwe recognize s realismas to constituten entirely ew genre, aising hepossibilityhat ach societydeemsfor tselfwhat canpassas realistic, epending n suchthings s soci-etal attitudesoward motion ndpre-existingerformancetyles.Giventhattheopen expression f emotion s frowned pon in manyparts fIndonesia

(particularlynJava),one might aveexpected hat udiences nd actors likewould avoid emotionally yperbolic cting, hereby ending cting hesame

emotionalrefinementhalus-ness) een at otherformal ocial occasionsandceremonies.Yet perhaps t is because f this avoidance of the showingof

strong motion n everydayifethat uch emotions repermissiblend even

sought-aftern a performanceetting: he otherness fthesetting ivesthe

participantspermission o emote, nd suchexpressionsreof the utmostn-teresto audiencemembers.

This actingstylemaywell be theproductof a blendingofWestern ndmore traditionalndonesianperformancetyles, ying quarelybetweenthetwoandexhibitingharacteristicsf both. Such syncretismould accountforthe mpressionhatWesterners ight leanwhilewatchingndonesian cting,that here s something amiliar ndyetodd about thestyle.Acting n much

(butnot all) traditionalndonesian theatre-dances simplynot intended ofoster he llusionthat hespectators seeinga charactermade flesh, ut in-stead o representhecharacter,howing-as theeditor f TheCambridgeuidetoAsian TheatreBrandon1993:II18) oints ut-its essenceratherhan real-isticportrayal.n lightof thefact hatmanyof the charactersn traditional

performancere eithermythical igures r gods, t is difficulto imagine n-other ortofacting tyle aking oot n Indonesia.This is notto suggest hat

performersn traditionalorms f dance-drama o not experience motions

(theydo), but that he direct xperiencingf emotioncountsfor essthan ts








52 CraigLatrell

portrayal.hus these raditional,epresentationalerformancetyles omprisea vocabularywithinwhich the tenets f realismhave been reinterpretedyIndonesian actors and audiences. In termsof Carlson's scheme of inter-culturalism,ndonesian realistic ctingcould be described s a formwhereThe foreignnd thefamiliarreate newblend,which is thenassimilated

into thetradition,ecoming amiliar 1996:83).In this ase,theelements fWestern cting tyles ave been studied, or-

rowed,reworked, einterpreted,nd combinedwithpre-existingocal stylesto produce somethingwhich is novel yetrecognizableto local audiences.Whatmayhaveoriginally egunwith thekind ofcontextlessorrowing e-scribednthe firstxamplehas herepersistedndundergone sea change nto

somethinghat an be usedto expressocal realities. erhaps,n fact, uperfi-cialborrowing fthe first indmustprecede nysort fdeeperreworkingfa borrowedform: erhaps he borrowedformmustbeginto lose some of ts

novelty nd semiotic otency efore t canbe adapted rcombinedwith ocalforms n a moreprofoundevel. Both kindsofborrowing--contextlessnd

syncretic-areequally mportanto the

wayart

developsand

changes,nd

both areexamples f how artistsxperiment ith newwaysofexpressinge-alities hroughhe ntroductionfunfamiliarormal lements.

Ifthe firstwoexamples aveto do with heborrowingfformalrstylistictechniques,nd howtheymaymove from ricolage o syncretism,he ast x-

amplehas to do withthe ncorporationftechnologyndstaging,pecificallysoundequipment nd theshapeof theperformancepace.Although echno-

logicalelements renotnecessarilylwaysWesternn origin, heyfrequentlyserve s emblems fmodernism,ndin thisrespecterve function imilarothe morepurelyformal lementsdescribed bove. For example,those whohave attended erformancesf ndigenousheatrenSoutheast sia have ikelynoticed propensityor he use ofsound mplificationquipment. his spar-

7.Randai erformance,showingingkaran,alito

Nyalo,West umatra,n-donesia,1997. (Photoby

Craig atrell)








Afterppropriation3

ticularlyruentouristenues,ut ven nvillage erformancesmplificationis common. his s nowheremore pparenthan nperformancesfWestSumatranandaia fusion fdialogue, eligiousoetry, usic,ndmartialrts-derivedance),where heuseofmicrophonesas nevitablyedtoalterationsinstaging.nrandai hedialoguecenes-which ormerlyontained good

dealoffootwork,odily waying,ndfrequenthangesfpositionroundheperformancepace-now tend o be performedna more r ess tationaryfashionnorderoaccommodatehe ctors' seofmicrophones.2

Even with he mall mount f movementhat emainsnthese cenes,there omes timenmany erformanceshere he ctorsmusttop nddis-entanglemicrophoneords r tend ofaultyquipment.his ofcoursehashad the ffectfchangingoth henature fthese cenes nd the udience-performanceelationship,ith he cenes ecomingmuch ess tylizednddance-like.espite he nconveniencesnvolved,nd he hangeshat hemi-crophones ecessitate,t has nowbecomeunthinkableoperformithoutamplification,heer olume nd the emioticppeal f theequipmentut-

weighingrtisticonsiderations.ound

quipment,hichs

usuallyot t all

necessaryrom heaudibilitytandpoint,omeswith certainachet ndsays o the udience hat he andai roupsup-to-datendfullyquipped,

and o it has volved nto necessity.nthisway tresembleshe rtisticor-rowingfthe irst,ontextlessypenthat ts mportanceies nwhatssigni-fiedto theaudience.Perhaps omakeup for herelativemmobilityfdialogue cenes, andai's ightcenes inwhichmicrophonesresetaside)havebecomencreasinglyction-oriented,ith necritic otingeriouslyheinfluencefSylvestertallonenthe engthndflashinessf he ights.nthisway, he ntroductionf ound quipmentascoincidentallyetprofoundlyreshapedheform,which n turnhasadaptedtself o accommodate heequipment.

Similardaptationsccurwhen hevenuesnwhich andaistraditionallyperformedhange. ne ofrandai'smost nique haracteristicss thecircularshape called he ingkaran)escribedythedancers, ithin hich hedra-matic ortionsftheperformanceakeplace,with heaudience atheredaround tsperimeter.s havepointedutelsewhereseeLatrell 999), hiscircularhape asnumerousunctionsndmeaningsnrandai,s well s serv-ingas a potent ymbol,nd tbinds andain innumerableays oWestSumatranulture. andai'singkarans anexpressionf heMinangkabauen-sibility,nwhich nity,ohesion,ndreturnlay ssentialarts,nd hishapeandthe udience-performanceelationshiptdictatesoth xpressndrein-force hese alues.Randaihastraditionallyeenperformednthis ircular

configurationnthe

villagequare,ndeven

oday andaiestivals

oto

greatpains ocreate circularerformancerea.Yetasidefrom illage rfestivalperformances,andais ncreasinglyeing erformedntheproscenium-stylestage avoredncivicculturalentersmany fwhich ake s theirmodelWesternheatretructures)rtemporarilyrected orpecialccasionsrestau-rant penings r weddings, or xample).This change n performanceenuehas eriousmplicationsor hemeaningftheformnd tsplace nsociety.Once theform'serformancepace saltered,andai'sssentialircularitysalsodisrupted,s spectatorsanno longer orm circle round heperfor-mance,ndthedancershemselvesind tdifficultoperformna circle. nthecase ofadaptationsycontemporaryheatreroups ased n therandaiformsuch sPadang's ormer eater enjang),hecircularhape s actually

discardednfavor fa single rdouble ineofdancers,adicallylteringhetraditionalelationshipetweeniewer ndperformanceswell s ts ymbolicconnectionsothe ociety. etaudiencest these econfigurederformancesfrequentlyespondothe ossofthe ingkaran-insteadf ittingrstanding








Afterppropriation5

Peterson,William

forthcoming The Politics fCulture n Contemporaryingapore.Middletown, CT: Wesleyan

UniversityPress.

Said, Edward

1978 Orientalism. ew York: PantheonBooks.

Schechner,Richard1968 Six Axioms forEnvironmentalTheatre. TDR 12, 3:41-64.1996 Interculturalismnd the Culture of Choice: Richard Schechnerinterviewed

by Patrice Pavis. In The Interculturalerformanceeader,edited by Patrice

Pavis, 41-50. London: Routledge.

Sears, LaurieJ.1996 Shadows fEmpire:ColonialDiscourse ndJavaneseTales. Durham, NC: Duke

UniversityPress.

Tang Fu Kuen

1998 'Longing' and 'Broken Birds': A Critical Review. Center for the Arts

Website, National Universityof Singapore <www.nus.sg/NUSinfo/CFA/

arts/I .htm> (linkexpired).

Thomas, Nicholas

1999 Possessions:ndigenous rt/Colonial ulture. ondon: Thames and Hudson, Ltd.

Warren,JamesF.

1993 Alku & Karayuki-San:Prostitutionn Singapore1870-194o).New York: Oxford

University ress.

Weber, Carl

1991 AC/TC: Currents of Theatrical Exchange. In Interculturalismnd Perfor-

mance, ditedby Bonnie Marranca and Gautam Dasgupta, 27-37. New York:

PAJPublications.

CraigLatrell scurrentlyssociaterofessorfTheatretHamilton ollege.He hasalsotaughtt theNationalUniversityfSingapore,niversityfDenver,nd Cor-nishCollege f heArts.Aformerulbrightenior ecturern ndonesia,atrell oldsa DFA from heYaleSchool fDrama. Recent ublicationsave ppearedn AsianTheatre ournalndConvergingnterests:raders,ravelersndTouristsnSoutheastAsia,edited y . Forshee,enterorSoutheastsian StudiesUniversityofCalifornia,erkeley,999).

8. BrokenBirdswasper-formedn a long,loping

lawn t FortCanningPark,with he tructurefthe ld ortervings a

backdrop.Photo yLilen

Uy;courtesyfTheatreWorkstd.)

after appropriation

Documents