Yogya on Stage

Since its first performance in 2008, German theatre company Rimini Protokoll’s 100% theatre project has travelled the world, mobilizing a hundred residents of diverse cities, each representing 1 per cent of the population, to play themselves and express their views on stage. In 2015 the show came to the Indonesian city of Yogyakarta, staged by Rimini in collaboration with local theatre company Teater Garasi. Reviewed in the context of recent social developments, 100% Yogya is seen to have created a vibrant picture of a city undergoing modernizing changes, absorbing global influences, while bringing together participants of diverse backgrounds to express their views, revealing and necessarily accepting differences. A global dramatic model applied locally produced impressive theatre. What its impact and ongoing significance may be, however, as key social divisions revealed by the production continue to shape Yogyakarta life, challenging the designation ‘city of tolerance,’ remain unanswered questions.