The Planet: A Lament for Environmentally Engaged Citizenship?

Abstract

This article focuses on Garin Nugroho’s stage play The Planet: A Lament, which combines song and dance, predominantly from Eastern Indonesia, with video and other visuals that bewail the human destruction of the natural environment. I argue that the performance embodies a call for planetary citizenship that bridges art and spirituality as well as aspects of deep ecology and political ecology. The combination of art and spirituality facilitates intimate connections between audiences and phenomena that are otherwise relatively inaccessible and difficult to grasp due to their specific philosophical, scientific, socio-political or cultural-linguistic character. Moreover, the stage play draws connections between some of the worst environmental disaster zones in Indonesia and the socio-political, religious and cultural suppression or marginalisation of the people living in the affected areas. I seek to demonstrate how its engagement with marginalised ethnic groups, cultural traditions and religions provide a foundation for environmental renewal. At the same time, some aspects of this foundation are weakened by ambiguities around the sponsorship and promotion of the production. This article discusses the play’s structure, aesthetics and representation of race and religion; its position in Nugroho’s larger socially, politically and environmentally engaged oeuvre; and the politics of promotion and sponsorship.