A performance by a good arja ensemble
is a social event in the village. It is at arja shows that young
people meet and love affairs are started, helped by the romantic
atmosphere of the love stories and the late hours. The performance
never begins before midnight, and the villagers wait patiently,
gossiping, flirting, listening to music, or munching peanuts until
the actors have eaten their interminable dinner and are finally
dressed.
The play begins with the appearance of the condong, the female
attendant of the putri, the eternal princess. The part of the
condong is usually played by a middle-aged, homely, male actor
dressed as a girl, who walks in an effeminate way, singing praises
to his mistress and begging her to come out. She is finally persuaded;
the curtains of the little booth at the end of the dancing-space
parted and the much heralded beauty appears. In progressive arjas
she may be a young girl dressed in gold, with a great flower bead-dress;
but generally beautiful young girls cannot sing very well and
in “good " arjas the part is played by a male actor
famous for his high falsetto. Slowly the two work their way across
the stage, dancing and posturing. The servant occasionally kneeling
before the princess, while singing and talking in high, wailing
voices. After this, they go down off-stage “simply by sitting
on a mat in front of the orchestra.
Deep hollow laughter is heard from behind the curtain, followed
by a song announcing the patih, the prime minister of the great
prince, the hero of the play. The patih draws back the curtain
and after what seems like unsuccessful attempts to come out, be
finally emerges, very impressive and sure of his importance. He
struts and grins, singing his own praises, laughing pompously.
His abused and browbeaten younger brother Kertalah comes out meekly
after him. He is a pitiful little figure dressed in an old football
sweater and what look like the old clothes of the patih. Instead
of a gold kris, he carries a stick or some sort of agricultural
implement. His face is crossed with dabs of white paint over his
nose and upper lip to indicate that he is a clown. They hold long
dialogues, giving hints of the story to follow. The patih in his
hollow, pretentious manner postures and struts like a turkey;
Kertalah lisps or stutters. They joke about topical and local
matters, much in the style of circus clowns, with the patih playing
“straight " and acting as foil for the clown. They
are the favorites of the crowd and every time an “off-color
" joke is made, it is the women and children who laugh the
loudest, while the men blush.
Finally it is time for the prince, the ratu, to appear; the patih
recites his praises and with clasped hands begs him to enter.
He describes the prince's beauty as contrasted with his own ugliness,
and flatters him, in standard phrases such as: " I am so
happy to be the patih of such a prince, ha, ha, ha! Come out,
Excellency, the road is clear, please come out, I wait for my
master.
The prince appears, glittering with gold and tinsel, singing in
kawi, dancing in the refined style. The patih and Kertalah follow
every one of his gestures in awe, trying to imitate them, but
succeeding only in a burlesque. By now it is about three in the
morning and time for the story to begin. The ardja stories are
romantic episodes of memorable love affairs of princes and princesses,
generally full of fantastic situations and with a distinct erotic
flavors. The distinguished characters speak and sing in kawi,
which is translated into common Balinese by the comedians for
the benefit of the unscholarly crowd.
The comedy is incredibly funny and rough slapstick, sprinkled
with all sorts of bawdy jokes. Besides the traditional stories,
there are popular new plays such as Sampik and Tuan Wei, adaptations
of Chinese love stories that started in 1924 as bastard performances
with actors in European clothes playing on mandolins. Eventually
these stories became thoroughly Balinese and were incorporated
in the ardja. |
