Indonesians in Focus: Marwoto

By Barrie | September 16th, 2007 | No Comments

It was the very last scene of a ketoprak (Javanese folk theater) production at the Yogyakarta Arts Center. The clown figure, played by Marwoto, had been defeated by his opponent. Wounded and bleeding, clearly dying, he staggered a few paces and fell to the ground.

The audience whistled and applauded. But, when the curtains closed, Marwoto was put on a stretcher and carted off in an ambulance.

A few days earlier, the comedian who starred in TVRI’s Humorous Ketoprak in the early 90s, had been seriously ill following a binge-drinking episode.

“I drank a lot tonight, doc. It was too much,” he told the doctor who examined him. “I am an alcoholic, but a repented one. I swear I’ll kick the habit.”

Famous throughout the country, but particularly in Yogyakarta, Marwoto is often sent bottles of alcohol by fans. That evening, he had received two bottles of bourbon, sent to him through his wife, Tatik Marwoto.

“Many actors, including in traditional theater, are big drinkers. It calms stage fright and helps to make you more confident,” Marwoto said.

He was in hospital for three days. The doctors said his kidneys were damaged from years of excessive alcohol consumption. Yet Marwoto found a way to get alcohol even in hospital, saying he needed a drink to get to sleep at night.

Soon after leaving the hospital, he went to Wonosobo, Central Java, to perform with his friends from the Yogyakarta-based Conthong Ketoprak Community. Unknown to the 3,000 people who packed the Wonosobo playhouse, Marwoto was so weak he could not walk without the support of his wife.

Marwoto surprised himself by performing well.

“It turns out, that you can act OK sober. You can really focus on the stage.

“I will reduce my alcohol consumption, little by little. I am not ready to give up ketoprak just yet. I have been on the stage since I was a kid and I want to die doing what I love.”

Marwoto’s parents, Sujadi Cokroatmojo and Sujilah, were the founders of a traveling ketoprak troupe.

In 1967, at the age of 15, Marwoto dropped out of school to join his parents, who put him in charge of props. Later, he became their promoter, traveling around the village in a cart, shouting out show times through a megaphone.

“I’d announce the details of that night’s performance. Boy was I proud,” Marwoto said.

Eventually he was given small parts in fight scenes. Though his appearances were brief, he knew he had to make his fights look real and quickly mastered the craft of fighting on stage with a sword, a spear and a stick.

“Audiences in Central and East Java really enjoyed my fight scenes. They would clap their hands when I surged forward, leaping and chopping my sword in a very realistic way. It seemed the world was mine,” he recalled, adding that he had practiced acrobatic jumps every day in a swamp.

The leader of the Darmo Mudo ketoprak group, Yusuf Agil, soon took Marwoto under his wing.

“He taught me how to be a good actor. He taught me how to use my voice and to be creative; he also taught me about religion,” Marwoto said.

Before deciding in 1981 to concentrate on his solo career as a comedian and ketoprak player, Marwoto had moved from one traveling group to another, including the Margo Utomo ketoprak group and the Siswo Budoyo ketoprak group in Kediri, East Java.

Even though life on the road was tough, Marwoto said he had been reluctant to give it up. The ketoprak tobong players were often regarded as eccentric by strangers. They considered themselves one big family, sleeping in the space under the stage, with a sheet pinned up as a wall. Sometimes there was nothing to eat.

“We would look longingly at things like watches or cassette players,” he recalled.

The ketoprak tobong players, Marwoto said, lived in a world of their own.

“I was with the ketoprak tobong for decades. A few months ago, I watched a ketoprak tobong performance near my house in Gamping (Sleman, Yogyakarta). It broke my heart. I had tears in my eyes watching my old friends. Just imagine, in one night they make Rp 3,000 (less than US$0.30) each. What can you buy with that?

“What they say about ketoprak tobong being the world of the absurd is true. They only ask if they can perform ketoprak tomorrow, not whether tomorrow there will be something to eat,” Marwoto said.

During his time with the ketroprak tobong troupe, Marwoto picked up lessons on how to survive as an actor in the real world. Today he often appears on stage with the top-billed comedians in the capital. He has also performed before President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and former president Abdurrachman Wahid.

When he performed before Yudhoyono in Bogor, Marwoto, who played opposite Kirun from East Java, asked the President to pay more attention to traditional theater like ketoprak, ludruk and wayang.

Tarko Sudiarno