[Event] Dia Di Atas Sana: Different Believes between A Lady and Innocent Boy

Out of boredom, I checked Substation website and found out there will be a play showing from Thursday till Sunday. Furthermore when I read the details, it is directed by a person that I knew, Agnes Christina. In fact, I love to watch this kind of play once in awhile, because it is not main stream kind of things you have in your to-do-list for leisure, the topic usually kinda sensitive issue, and support minority group of people as well. Well, I watched it on Thursday night, the plot was amazingly scattered in a good way, where you need some of brains to connect between one scene with another one, not blindly watch.

Nice simple design, but no idea why there are 3 blank rectangles, trinity concept maybe?

The play has a title "Dia Di Atas Sana" By Panggung Arts and The Substation. The play was something that you shall put in your must-watch list if you are someone who want to know more about some angles about God and religions issues, but just a warning: you need to understand basic Malay language. The subtitle was provided only for the video (this play is a mix of video and acts on the stage). For me because my mother tongue is Indonesia language, I have less problem to understand Malay, but still I did not really catch everything. And here is the thing I found during that night: although there was subtitle, my brain has tendency for not reading it, because somehow my brain told me that sure I will understand it without reading and I want to see the video without any distraction of the subtitle, so ignoring the subtitle is the only way. There were only 2 casts for the whole play. I cant imagine that actually a play can be made only by 2 characters (I do not count the one in video). And the cast was a great choice, because she acted just nice for her "stage age" while the boy act really as an innocent 9-years old-boy, while he is in fact is 24 years old (I asked him after the play, coz I thought he might be younger than me, such a baby face if compare it to my face =.=). There are some stereotyping issues such as God supposedly have a man figure, not woman, how different group will think differently about a person actions towards religion, and etc. Overall I like the scenes when they talked on the same table where in the stage the table was being literally cut into half and was positioned oppositely each others, yet their acts was consistent with the direction that they should see accordingly. Another scene will be when the boy talks to his imaginary friend (I assumed it is, no chance to ask the director after the play) in playful-innocent manner yet meaningful. And the silent in between conversation builds the play to a deeper meaning and more real-life scenes.

Below is a short write-up I took from the website about the script of the play:

“Where is God?”

Man has been asking, and has been asked this particular question ever since he was introduced or some would strongly believe, re-introduced, to the concept of the higher being. The higher being, God, Elohim, Jesus, Gaia, Vishnu, or Allah has led Man to spend his existence approving or disapproving. In the name of a particular God, beliefs have been forced and reinforced, to be embed in the hearts of Man and then reiterated in blood. But, those dramatic episodes in Man’s history, most probably start with that one simple question. ‘Where is God?’. That same question gradually spawns an entire variation of itself; ‘Where is my God?’, ‘Where is your God?’, ‘Where are you God?’, or ‘Where the hell are you God, in times when I needed you the most?’.

“Where is God?”

Brought up in a pious family, Abdul has always been surrounded by the will of God. ‘insya Allah’ (if God wills it) his father says, when asked if he’d take the family on a holiday. ‘Bismillahi tawakkaltu ‘alallah’, (in the name of God, to whom we surrender) his mother would remind him every time he kissed her hand before leaving the house to go to school. Those words of wisdom, gives him that warm fuzzy feeling inside. That same feeling has given him strength to face the obstacles in his life, thus far. Until his parents decided to commit suicide, each after the other. They’d have taken Abdul along too, if it wasn’t for the botched execution of a meticulously crafted plan. Abdul is left behind. He survives. But ultimately, he has stopped asking that question, or its variations. He now seeks that one answer. From The One Up There.

If you have the time and want to watch something different, you should consider this play as one of your activities this weekend. Can contact the director via her twitter as well. :)