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PrintChanging attitudes to women through theatre
Members of the cast of a travelling Oxfam gender equality show entertain villagers in Lhokseudu. Photo: Jim Holmes/Oxfam
At three in the afternoon, a black pick-up truck comes to a halt on the grass pitch at LhokNga’s school. In the back, under a blue tarpaulin, is a public address system.
Minutes later, another truck arrives. Its cargo is a three-metre high green wooden box, made to resemble a television. Stenciled on either side of the box are the words, TV ENG ONG.
Across the road, feedback whines over the mosque’s speakers. “Come and watch Agus PMTOH of TV ENG ONG perform today. His show on equality between women and men,” bellows an announcer.
Thirty-six-year-old Agus, one of Aceh’s most famous storytellers, uses theatre as a vehicle to promote human rights and peace. Right now he’s working on a 150 million rupiah ($18,690) Oxfam production to help change attitudes toward women in Achnese society – while at the same time entertaining more than 5,000 people in 20 locations.
“The show reminds us that women and men have equal rights,” Agus explains before the start of the show.
Irreverent, warm, witty, and humorous, the small troupe led by Agus performs three vignettes during each 60-minute performance. It’s a simple story that mirrors the reality of life for the majority of men and women in Aceh.
The central linking character is Apa Kaoy, a slothful, dim-witted man. All day, he sits in coffee shops drinking and smoking. “It’s a kind of joke with Achenese people that a man will be sitting smoking in the coffee shop. That’s our main character,” giggles Agus.
The performance takes place from within the wooden box, TV ENG ONG. It’s a bit like watching a puppet show, only with people.
In one scene, Apa Kaoy, who cannot cook, grumbles when his wife, exhausted from working in the rice field, has not prepared supper. In another, he disapproves of his daughter’s ambition to study at university. Instead, holding a newspaper upside down because he cannot read, Apa Kaoy tells his daughter it’s important that she learn to cook, clean, marry and have children.
Eventually, though, his attitude towards women softens as other more enlightened men point out the error of his ways.
The show, aimed at 15–24 years olds, is meant to entertain but its central message is serious. Studies show that women in Aceh struggle to break out of the cycle of unpaid domestic work and that the position of women in society is generally low. That, explains Risa Yudhiana, Oxfam’s Gender Officer, is a problem, "because inequality leads to poverty."
For 18 months Oxfam has been promoting equality between women and men in Aceh. The campaign started with a series of radio plays, but community feedback was mixed. People were looking for something interactive such as traditional Achnese storytelling.
After considering all the options, Oxfam chose to work with Agus PMTOH and his theatre company, TV ENG ONG. With total artistic freedom, Agus scripted a play on the role of women in society. It was, by his own admission, a difficult task.
“To make a good drama about women’s empowerment is very difficult because first you have to understand what gender equity is,” he says.
Oxfam’s gender team met frequently with Agus to help script the play. Then to perfect the show and iron out any wrinkles, TV ENG ONG performed a full dress rehearsal at Oxfam’s office in Banda Aceh.
Shortly afterwards, the show opened in Calang to an enthusiastic audience of 500. Since then, thousands have seen the engaging and thought-provoking performances. The attendance is smaller at today’s show in LhokNga because it has threatened to rain all afternoon.
As the show draws to an end, it’s news hour on TV ENG ONG. The studio anchor crosses live to Agus, its reporter in the field. Mingling with the crowd and looking for someone to interview, Agus holds a plastic orange basket that doubles as a satellite dish. A TV cameraman, an actor, improvises with a large red funnel attached to a cardboard box.
“Do you want your daughter to get married as soon as possible or go to the college?” he asks one women. "I want my children to go to college after finishing high school and maybe one day become a doctor or an engineer,” she responds.
To another he asks, “Why should your daughters go to college?” “Because women also want to be empowered,” she replies.
Handing back to the studio TV ENG ONG ends. "It was a good performance today. The people accept our message, especially the mothers,” smiles Agus.
That’s a view shared by Syukriah, 40, mother of two daughters aged 12 and five. “My favourite part was when they discussed how the man needs to improve and support the daughter who wants to get higher education.”
Story by Ian Woolverton