INTERCULTURALISM IN THE PERFORMANCE OF ADAPTED DRAMA TEXTS

This research entitled “Interculturalism in the Performance of Adaptation Texts: A Case Study on STB” is an attempt to analyze the transformations of texts undergoing the processes of translation, adaptation and performance. The analysis is framed by the seminal work of Elam (1980) on semiotics for theater and drama. With reference to Elam, texts and performances were semiotically analyzed to examine the socio-cultural meanings underpinning changes made by the adapter/script-writer and director. The scripts and performances under analysis were Camar, a translation by Asrul Sani from Chekov’s Chayka (Seagull), which was adapted and directed by Suyatna Anirun, and Inspektur Jenderal, a translation also by Asrul Sani from Nikolai Gogol’s Inspector General, adapted and directed by Arya Sanjaya. The research also reveals that STB’s survival is attributable to the fact that they have remained faithful to realist texts with intercultural concepts. This means that they make their performance as true to daily reality as possible and as close as possible to the local culture. These two factors are eventually regarded as the attempts to make performance more easily understood by the targeted audience. The choice to do this has been carried out since the era of Suyatna Anirun, STB’s central figure, and has been maintained by his successors ever since. This is a commitment which has resulted in STB’s prevailing existence in Indonesia’s modern theatre. This is also a distinctive factor separating STB from its contemporary Indonesian modern theater groups which commonly die out when their central figure left or deceased. Based on the research, it is safe to say that the ways opted by STB could be recommended to other modern theater groups in the country as they are evidence to STB’s survival in the dynamic of Indonesian theater world.