Bangsawan: Creative Patterns

in Production
Rahmah Bujang and Mohd. Effindi Samsuddin

Bangsawan, an operatic form, is a living theatre in Malaysia. This article examines

its structure and creative processes, associates it with social issues and acceptance by a
multiethnic audience, and relates the history of the genre.
Rahmah Bujang is a professor at the Academy of Malay Studies of the University of
Malaya, where she taught since 1969. The first to research on bangsawan as a theatre
form, she received her MA in 1974 from the University of Malaya and her PhD in
1979 from the University of Hull, England. She has received grants from the Institute
of Southeast Asian Studies, the University of Singapore to do research in Indonesia, and
the Japan Foundation for study of theatre in Japan.
Mohd. Effindi Samsuddin is on the Culture Centre faculty of the University of
Malaya, where he is currently the Coordinator of the Theater Program. He has just
passed his doctoral thesis in the field of choreography.

Bangsawan (sometimes called komedi melayu or opera) is a popu-

lar theatre first developed in the 1880s in the city of Penang, which
was at that time part of the Straits Settlements under British colonial
rule. Research on aspects of its history and of bangsawan have been
detailed by Mustafa Kamal Yassin (1974), Rahmah Bujang (1975, 1989),
Ghulam-Sarwar Yousof (1986, 1992, 2005), and Nur Nina Zuhra (1992).
Tan Sooi Beng (1997) researched its music, highlighting the multieth-
nic hybridity of the form. Abdul Samat Salleh (1997) researched the
directing techniques of bangsawan, and Nur Affifah Vanitha Abdullah
(2008) researched its conditions in Sarawak. Cohen (2002), Bragin-
sky and Suvorova (2008), and van der Putten (2009) have contributed
additional insights.

Asian Theatre Journal, vol. 30, no. 1 (Spring 2013). © 2013 by University of Hawai‘i Press. All rights reserved.
Bangsawan: Creative Patterns in Production 123

As articulated by Brandon (1967: 37, 58), bangsawan fits the

form of “popular theatre,” which emerged in Southeast Asia in the
late nineteenth century under colonial impacts. Bangsawan is a Malay-
sian version of such urban entertainments, featuring a combination
of song, dance, and melodramatic narrative; charging entrance fees;
and freely borrowing elements of both the traditional (stories, martial
art styles, and role types) and the then modern (stories, perspective
scenery, new lighting techniques, touring groups, multiple ethnicities/
mestizo performers in the company, and Western musical instruments
or dance styles as well as local Malay, Indian, and Chinese instruments
and movement styles).1
Background: Bangsawan Begins
The advent of British rule in Malaya2 opened the need for leisure
pastimes to appeal to all three racial groups that made up the colonial
population: indigenous Malays; Indians, mostly Tamils brought either
as indentured laborers for the plantations or as recruits in the British
army; and the Chinese, who came as coolies or traders.3 Western and
specifically British control in the Malay states of Singapore, Malacca,
and Penang promoted an intermingling of these three ethnic groups.
Within this culturally diverse social milieu bangsawan found expression.
The form, however, did not originate locally but first arrived
in 1879 under the name of wayang parsi (Parsi theatre) from Bombay
(now Mumbai) in British-ruled India, as entertainment for the Indians
serving the British army, by theatre troupes that sought to capitalize
on an audience in need of entertainment. It used Indian perform-
ers and the Hindi language.4 The troupe disbanded in 1880. Starting
out as an offshoot of the wayang parsi, local bangsawan was formed as
traveling performance troupes and quickly evolved in the midst of the
sociocultural dynamism of the time. Ghulam-Sarwar (1986) ascribes
this dynamism and changeabilty as characteristics of bangsawan derived
from patterns in wayang parsi, which had been given status by its affinity
to the British and the British-influenced Indian troops who were part
of their colonial endeavor. A highlight of the performances was the
Western painted backdrops and wings presented on a proscenium-style
stage, which represented all that was new and modern to local viewers.
These Parsi theatre stage properties, the lore has it, were pur-
chased in 1880 by Mamak Pushi, a rich Indian Muslim in Penang, who
then transformed the performance by using local actors speaking the
Malay language.5 The show was then named bangsawan (literally, “aris-
tocrat”), it is said, to reflect the lofty tales of kings and princes that
made up the early repertory.6 Though properties and sets were from
wayang parsi, eclectic narratives popular with Malays, Indians, and Chi-
124 Bujang and Samsuddin

nese were now added to the repertory, and Shakespeare’s plots, too,
became source material. Meanwhile, music, dance, and other features
appealing to the multiethnic performers and audiences made this
theatre. The form incorporated and reflected the diverse groups of a
nation moving into modernity.
Mamak Pushi’s troupe was well received by the population of
the Straits Settlements of Penang, Malacca, and Singapore, and the
form quickly became popular in the other Malay states of Perak, Selan-
gor, and Johor by means of the touring circuits Pushi developed for his
company. His bangsawan toured to the northern part of Sumatra and
then Jakarta in Indonesia, where it would have interaction with the
stamboel form there (see Cohen 2006).
Elsewhere, Rahmah Bujang (1989) has argued that bangsawan’s
emergence as a national genre superceded the regional performance
forms of the precolonial era:

Each city of Malaysia had a center for presenting bangsawan. In Kuala

Lumpur Sungai Wang Plaza was the foremost place that bangsawan
was presented and the site was known as Happy World. There are
too many groups to name all that have been active from the begin-
ning. The ones that lasted longer are, for example, Nahar Bangsawan,
Malayan Opera, Kinta Opera, Indera (Beautiful) Bangsawan of Pen-
ang, City Opera, Peninsular Opera, Seri Permata Opera (Star Opera),
Jaya Opera (Victory Opera), Zanzibar Bangsawan, Dean Union Opera,
Dean Tijah Opera, Seri Nooran Opera, Norlia Opera, Morisco Opera
(Moorish Opera), Rose Opera, Gray Noran Opera, Indera Permata
(Diamond) of Parit Buntar, Jupiter Opera, Comet Opera, Alfred The-
atrical Company of Selangor, Constantinople Opera, Rahman Opera,
Kencana Wati Opera, Bangsawan Jenaka Melayu (Young Malaysia),
and Bolero Opera. (1989: 3; all translations are by the authors unless
otherwise noted)

The titles alone reflect the trends of the eras: some name the star per-
formers (Dean, Tijah, Nooran, Rahman), some evoke exotic other­
ness (Zanzibar, Constantinople, Bolero, Rose), and some point to
national pride (Young Malaysia, Victory), while others reach for the
stars (Comet, Jupiter).
Bangsawan in its heyday (1920s–1930s) was the prime commer-
cial entertainment, accessible to all; it was performed all over Malaysia
by traveling troupes that emulated that first company and kept on evolv-
ing with the times. Bangsawan performers became popular idols and
set the fashion, modeling behavior for the young and young at heart.
Dean (Khairuddin) and Tijah (Cik Wan Tjiah) were a husband-and-
wife actor team who in this period were much sought after by troupe
Bangsawan: Creative Patterns in Production 125

owners. Alfred, who owned Alfred Theatrical Company of Selangor,

was among producers of bangsawan who would vie to lure top perform-
ers like Dean and Tijah from a rival group. Thus, troupes named after
or belonging to the actors themselves were saved from the struggle of
collapsing due to actors bolting to another company. Given the com-
mercial rivalry, bangsawan troupes did not just revamp themselves by
changing their troupe names (with their lead actors) but constantly
innovated acts to grab audience attention. Innovative troupes were usu-
ally more successful. Tan (1993: 67) gives the example of Menah Yem,
who earned the moniker “Queen of Dance” and would actively learn
the latest vaudeville dances that came to Malaysia via the Philippines by
watching foreign films with rumba or samba and quickly bringing these
dances into shows. Actress Miah Alias was admonished by her mother
that if she wanted to be good bangsawan artist, “[She] must have ambi-
tion to be better than [her] friends” (quoted in Tan 1993: 67)
This paper will highlight the creative process of bangsawan from
the past and then in more recent productions (Plate 3). The samples
discussed will demonstrate responses to historical circumstances and
the form’s flexibility with regard to change. The article seeks out what
is “special” about bangsawan and analyses its creative process.
Capitalism, Commercial Theatre, and Survival
of the Fittest
Indigenous Malay theatres, like wayang kulit (shadow puppetry
found in Ketantan and in Javanese communities along the east coasts),
main putri (“playing the princess,” a Patani-Kelantan healing genre),
menora (a Patani-Kelantan-area dance drama), and mek mulung (“for-
est lady,” a Kedah-area dance drama) were linked to entertainments
at lifecycle events or for curing.7 Performances were subsidized by the
patron who supported the event for ritual purposes or to enhance a cel-
ebration with audiences watched for free. Traditional forms adhered
to taboos (pantang larang) that were commonplace. Other forms, like
inang (a female dance-song genre) and makyung (also mak yung, mak
yong; a Kelantan area female dance-drama supported by aristocratic
patronage), enhanced the status of elites and may have served, in
part, as value symbols of the kingdoms. Additionally these forms often
required gender segregation—with males playing female roles or vise
versa. Bangsawan, by contrast, existed purely for commerce and met
the needs of the times as colonial powers organized resouce extraction,
wider trading circles, and new business possibilities. Likewise, gender
segregation was not practiced in bangsawan. Tan notes one performer’s
acute memory of the embarassment of being in a troupe that did not
have enough women, so that he had to play a female (Tan 1997: 67),
126 Bujang and Samsuddin

but that was an exception; the norm in bangsawan was mixed gender
performance. Groups were “modern”: female players as well as males
were the stars of the group. With the emergence of large urban cen-
ters, audiences with spare cash and leisure time were available and
bangsawan was developed to entertain them. Maximizing the audience
at venues where tickets were sold maximized profit. Appealing to all
groups rather than one ethnicity or a niche market ensured a steady
revenue stream. This created a new world of entertainment in Malaysia
in which the economic incentive predominated. Troupes rose and fell
in the competitive environment of the late nineteenth- and early twen-
tieth-century theatre produced by capitalist entrepreneurs who based
decisions on profit. Ritual and hierarchy, attaining blessings, or raising
one’s status by the hosting of rich artistic performances with gender-
segregated stages were no longer “in” in this free-market environment.
In order to survive each troupe needed to attract its audience,
and new ideas concordant with the times were the choice of popular
troupes. Regarding this issue, Ghulam-Sarwar (1986: 51–55) has indi-
cated some of the innovations made, including the introduction of the
proscenium arch, painted backdrops, and movable scenery; a strict
separation of the playing space and audience with viewers confined to
a darkened auditorium; and paid entrance to the performance event.
Ghulam-Sarwarpoints out that “due to this [mixture], bangsawan can
be characterized as a transitional theatre: that is it has characteristics of
traditional drama and those of Western drama which becomes a large
influence on the development of [Malaysian] modern theatre” (p.
53). As a function of the time required to facilitate the scene changes,
“extra turns” interludes, presented in front of the stage curtain while
the drop and wings were altered, were required.
One staple extra turn is the introductory narration wherein a
performer recited in syair-style verse form the background informa-
tion on the storyline to come. In between scenes the main male or
female star (or both) would fill up an extra turn slot by singing, doing
a comic skit, or presenting a magic show or dance number. The turns
did not necessarily have anything to do with the plot and could just be
a hit song or fashionable new dance. But often extra turns scenes were
manipulated also as street scenes wherein they functioned as segments
that tied the previous scene with the next one.
In some ways one could see bangsawan’s emergence as going
through the same cycle of transition from a ritual- or festival-linked
entertainment to an urban secular, commercial, professional one that
gave birth to other urban popular genres with the rise of modern cap-
ital, such as the commedia dell’arte in Europe in the sixteenth and
seventeenth century, which evolved from elite court entertainments
Bangsawan: Creative Patterns in Production 127

toward popular theatre; kabuki in seventeenth- and eighteenth-century

Japan, which was begun by Okuni, a dancer linked to the Izumi Shrine,
but quickly became a secular genre linked with the entertainment dis-
tricts of emerging cities; or jingju in eighteenth-century China, which
has roots in troupes of aristocratic houses or groups performing for
temple festivals but developed as pure entertainment linked with male
prostitution in China under the Ching dynasty.
These forms may have other commonalities too. Comme-
dia, for example, had comparable use of the role type specialization
of actors, stories that mix fantasy and comedy and are derived from
varied sources, the use of improvisation to generate the text, and the
tendency to combine dance, music, song, and popular spectacle. Like
bang­sawan, commedia depended on a society changing from a more
rural, oral, and land-based society to one that was more urban, moving
toward wider literacy and monetization. This emergent town society
allowed for the commercialization and professionalization of a theatre
that was responsible to a general audience, rather than depending on
aristocratic or religious patronage. In the same way that Parsi theatre
evolved in the Bombay area based on urban commercial models (Han-
sen 2002) or jatra branched out from more religious theatres in Bengal
during the British colonial era in the nineteenth and early twentieth
centuries (Dutt and Munsi 2010: 121–164), so bangsawan developed
into a popular theatre for a mass audience in Malaysia with a close
correlation between audience identity and stage representations. The
inclusion of both genders, multiple stories, and many song and dance
sources could be taken as a sign of its modernity.
The British saw the form as light entertainment. Although they
indeed first helped to promote it for their Indian soldiers, the colonial
authorities largely kept a hands-off policy, letting the market drive the
evolution. If colonialism itself was a capitalist initiative, bangsawan fit
the Adam Smith–like policy of economic liberalism that the market
would be self-regulating and the successful entrepreneur would win. By
1930 bangsawan performances were the mainstay of amusement parks,
where people came in leisure time to be entertained. The form was
both reflecting and generating a secular, multiethnic society in which
democracy of taste and the market held sway. Bangsawan was seen by
the ruling powers then as a popular medium for their purposes, given
the support of the masses for the art form. The Japanese occupation
of Malaysia during World War II (1942–1945) capitalized on this by
using bangsawan to spread the propaganda of “Asia for Asians.” The
form experienced a collapse in popularity in the 1950s with the rise
of sandiwara. This latter genre was a Malay theatre that developed in
the 1940s with written texts that borrow structurally from bangsawan
128 Bujang and Samsuddin

but also from the Greeks and Shakespeare, and sandiwara was used
in building national identity in the postwar period. In addition, both
film and television were adopted as media for mass entertainment in
this period, functions that bangsawan had served in the first half of the
twentieth century, leading to bangsawan’s near demise.
However, beginning in the 1970s the works of theatre research-
ers at the local universities (University Sains Malaysia [USM] and
later University of Malaya [UM] and Akademi Seni Kebangsaan [ASK
National Academy of Art], commonly called ASWARA) and officers of
the government culture bureaus, especially Zaifri Husin in the Jabatan
Kesenian dan Kebudayan Negara (JKKN National Office of Art and
Culture), have delivered support to revive interest in bangsawan. Using
university resources (see Puteri Li Po at the University of Malaya in 1999
discussed below) or goverment funding (for example, Zaifri Husin
through JKKN has used rm500,000, about us$150,000 a year, for ten
productions a year since 2006), a steady stream of productions have
been presented in venues like USM, University of Malaya, Panggung
Bandaraya (City Theatre, Kuala Lumpur), and Istana Budaya (“Palace
of Culture” [National Theatre]).
Bangsawan in Production
The production of bangsawan at present owes many of its char-
acteristics to the rapid development of the theatre form in the 1920s
and 1930s. Any further transformation involved is proof of its creative
versatility and flexibility. Based on the prewar models we can see some
of the basic structural features that are necessary to understand prior
to our discussion of the innovation and creativity that the form allows
even in its present manifestations. In our analysis there are four salient
features to consider: performance, scenario/text, scenography, and
music. Ideally, the bangsawan form that prospered during the British
colonial period can be seen as characterized by the following.
First, performance: This involves the method of improvisational
acting: the use of stock characters, which include orang muda (young
man/hero), seri panggung (female lead), ahli lawak (clowns), raja/datuk
(king/nobleman), permaisuri/datin (queen/nobleman’s wife), mentri-
mentri (ministers), jin afrit (genii king), orang pertapaan (hermits), day-
ang (female palace attendents), and hulubalang (warriors) (Ghulam-
Sarwar 1994: 15); and expansive movement skills, which include
dances from traditional Malay inang (Malacca female dance) and joget
(Malaccan partner dance) to modern European dances like the waltz
and foxtrot in addition to expertise in pencak silat, traditional martial
arts or Chinese kuntau (martial arts using sticks). Slapstick comedy was
needed for clown scenes while noble rhymed dialogue was required
Bangsawan: Creative Patterns in Production 129

for court or love scenes. Singing was another skill of the multitalented
bangsawan exponents. Lagu tarik (a mode of singing to prolong scenes
and dramatic situations) could draw out a scene to its most melodra-
matic potential. Hambat cerita (the technique of shortening the story-
telling when unfavorable weather conditions, audience restiveness, or
lack of audience members prevailed) could tie up the story quickly if
required. Bernasib (a masterful way of demonstrating dramatic situa-
tions of sadness) could make the audience weep (see School of the Arts
USM [n.d.] for video clip of bernasib and other musical features). Play-
ers did not necessarily have to excel in all areas but could make their
names through singing prowess, dancing ability, fighting technique, or
comedy. While the elements below supported the performer, he or she
was at the center of the show and talented artists were the sine qua non
of a successful troupe.
Second, story: The actions of noble lords are the main theme,
but the characters’ interactions with hantu (ghosts), djin (genies), peri
(fairies), and raksaksa (giants) expand the storyline into a world of fan-
tasy. The action and language used must necessarily be in concordance
with courtly style. Bloodshed, gallantry, and power are associated with
the hero’s actions.8
Third, scenography: The set shows the difference between the
elite and the lower class in painted wing and drop sets and furnish-
ings. Bangsawan scenes depicting royalty would show lush palace gar-
dens and decorative palace buildings or rooms. The lower class would
interact in modest-looking street scenes, in marketplaces, and on the
seashore. The fame of a bangsawan troupe was also tied to having an
able scene painter in the troupe’s employ. For example, Rahman B.
(Abdul Rahman bin Abu Bakar, b. 1934) is well known primarily for his
ability to paint and execute bangsawan scenography. He has been hon-
ored with the award of Tokoh Seniman Negara (National Artist 2004)
by the Malaysian government and teaches young Kuala Lumpur artists
bangsawan today.
Fourth, music: This is an important element in shows and,
depending on the choice of stories in the repertoire, the accompani-
ment would be Western (waltz, march, or from the 1920s tango, fox-
trot, or ragtime) or Asian (Malay, Javanese, Indian, or Chinese) as suits
the social background of the story. For Asian stories the music asso-
ciated with desert sands shows a strong tendency toward Hindustani
influence, while Javanese gamelan or kroncong music types might accom-
pany Indonesian stories.
These four points serve as a short background to the bangsawan
history and characteristics. These ideas help one understand bang-
sawan as a creative production. The pattern of opera performance is
130 Bujang and Samsuddin

further accentuated by the characterizations, singing, dancing/move-

ment style, costumes, and scene types. The opera format requires the
establishment of roles into stock characters that fit the heroism theme
in the male (orang muda) and female (seri panggung) lead roles. Heroic
characterization for lead roles requires good looks, the ability to sing,
and refined and balanced movements. Also, these figures must over-
shadow all other roles in the show with their courage and ability to exe-
cute martial arts (by always winning). They will be dressed in brighter
colors and royal attire.
Pitted against the lead roles are the antagonists (jinn afrit, for
example), who by virtue of their negative roles are meant to create
conflict and disturbance. Their looks are less refined and their voices
will be gruffer. They fight and move roughly and engage in hands-on
combats with the hero (only to lose). They will often be dressed in
darker colors. In contrast to the hero and heroine, characters of low
social status must be costumed in simpler outfits in more muted colors.
The acting style is representational, making full use of rhythmic
dialogue, which employs metaphors, similes, rhymed verses, and even a
sing-song mode that is part of the communication technique in perfor-
mance. The show gains dynamism by using methods of exaggeration,
contrast, and unity9 that are usually served to a great extent by music
and sound effects. The whole structure of storytelling in the play is spa-
tially arranged into a stereotyped form of storytelling wherein there is
always a palace garden scene, a court scene, a fighting scene between
the hero and villain, a romantic scene between the hero and the hero-
ine, and an adventure scene wherein the hero is, for example, travel-
ing on a mission. Players use their own devices to interpret why such a
situation or scene occurs and what exactly happens in it. With such ste-
reotyping of characters and specificity of scenic action, it is also easier
for the musicians to prepare their accompaniment or sound effects to
support the players singing or delivering rhymed dialogue. Everything
around a bangsawan performance must support emotional develop-
ment, and the audience is guided step by step into the play almost as
certainly as the scenery provides the milieu.
Scenery itself was an innovation of bangsawan (see Ghulam-
Sarwar 1994: 18 for discussion). Other traditional theatre forms, like
the makyung, menora, and mek mulung, did not employ a backdrop. The
hand drawn and carefully painted scenery clearly delineates the place
of action. The visual display was well loved by the audiences previously
used to viewing an empty stage. As was noted, if time was needed for
changing scenery, the extra turn could fill the gap. For these scenic
changes a drop with the troupe logo or of plain color design would
mask the backstage transition.
Bangsawan: Creative Patterns in Production 131

Bangsawan Modernizes
In the preceding section we noted characteristics of bangsawan
in its early development. We also noted the accelerating changes as the
form expanded through the 1920–1930s, when it reached its prime.
Social changes brought about by the colonial power were shifting Malay
society from its traditional and closed lifestyle through unprecedented
exposure to outside influences. Changes were happening culturally,
politically, and physically in the urban setting, and this entertainment
kept up with the changing times; actors were generally ethnically
appropriate to the roles they played, and the stories presented could be
Western (perhaps portrayed by Eurasians), Indian or Middle Eastern
(by Indians), Chinese, or Malay. As Tan clarifies:

As commercial theatre, bangsawan was innovative and constantly

adapting to the times. Bangsawan performers incorporated many of
the songs, chorus dances, and comic sketches of vaudeville and oper-
etta troupes which toured Malaya. The introduction of stories with
Malay historical and contemporary themes in bangsawan in the late
1920s and 1930s was inevitable, the audience having been exposed
by them to the new type of tonil [theatre] performed by Indonesian
troupes as well as the sandiwara scripted and staged by local amateur
ones [groups]. The audience was also getting bigger and becoming
better educated . . . This changing audience increasingly preferred
reality to fantasy. (Tan 1993: 58)

Bangsawan was by this era of the 1930s a cross-cultural form

that treated heroism from many cultures other than Malay. Perform-
ers were now generally of the cultural background being portrayed in
the narrative. Thus Muslim-Indian players were involved in stories with
a Persian or Indian cultural background, such as Aladin dan Lampu
Ajaib (Aladdin and the Magic Lamp), Ali Baba dan Empat Puluh Orang
Pencuri (Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves), Laila Majnun (The Love of
Laila and Majnun), Gul Bakawali (Princess Bakawali Flower), and Siti
Zubaidah (Lady Zubaidah). Intellectuals schooled in Western culture
were familiar with and used Shakespeare’s plots, such as Hamlet, Othello,
The Merchant of Venice, Macbeth, Julius Caesar, and A Midsummer Night’s
Dream (for example, see Tan [1993: 220–228] for scene breakdowns of
bangsawan versions of Hamlet). From the Chinese repertoire (and per-
haps favored by Chinese performers) the most popular story was Sam
Pek Eng Tai (Butterfly Lovers). From Indonesia stories that were popu-
lar were tales drawn from the stories of Panji, a lover prince from East
Java, such as Panji Semirang (False Panji) and Raden Panji Jaya Asmara
(Prince Panji, Warrior of Love). Of course, Malay tales like Raden Mas
132 Bujang and Samsuddin

Ayu (Golden Princess), which is about a Javanese princess who flees

to Singapore for safety, and Puteri Gunung Ledang (Princess of Mount
Ledang), which tells of a Javanese princess who spurns a Malay king’s
offer of marriage, were also included (see Tan [1993: 209ff.] for exam-
ples of repertoire). Malays or performers of Indonesian descent might
chose such Malay-Javanese tales.
The 1920s and 1930s also saw new entertainment forms being
introduced, like the orchestra and Western operetta forms, Chinese
xiqu, and South Indian theatre influenced by theatre figures like San-
kardas Swamigal (1867–1922), who combined principles of older
dance-sung Tamil theatre with modern proscenium staging. There were
also the technological-based entertainments of gramophone, wireless
radio, and silent film imported from the West, China, and India. These
forms influenced bangsawan and were used by bangsawan artists. The
first Malay film was the Singapore-made talkie Leila Majnun in 1933
(directed by B. S. Rajhans), with a story popularized by bangsawan.
Western film plots could morph to bangsawan episodes. At urban cen-
ters there were amusement parks to facilitate these modern entertain-
ment forms, and bangsawan artists borrowed freely from newer media
for material.
It was around this time, too, that new Malay intellectuals became
more prominent. They were Western educated and working toward
Malay nationalism. They came forth by the 1940s with an essentially
Malay performance form called sandiwara that treated issues of colo-
nialism and history. Sandiwara as a performance type dwelled more
on stories about the common people (as opposed to mythic royals,
although it also uses local history as its source. Script trumped the
stock scene or actor-centric mode of bangsawan story building for
sandiwara. Shaharom Husain was the most prolific dramatist writing in
the sandiwara format, and his historical dramas arguably built toward
national sovereignity in a way that bangsawan’s more actor-centric the-
atre did not. Bangsawan prefers stories that deal with heroism and
legends, though composed sandiwara scripts with clearer dramatic
builds were becoming more desirable and could deliver messages in a
more holistic form that would prevail later. Extra turns were excluded,
Shakespeare was emulated, plots were tightened, and social problems
and national aspirations were interrogated. As Nancy Nanney (Nur
Nina Zuhra) points out, “Sandiwara was a reaction against bangsawan,
especially against the embellishments, interludes, and impovisations
style . . . . Sandiwara playwrights often assumed they were creating
drama with a seriousness of approach to content, as well as a concern
for artisty of form, not emphasized in bangsawan” (Nur Nina 1992:
83). These plays were praised for literary merit and, unlike bangsawan,
Bangsawan: Creative Patterns in Production 133

which was an actor-staged entertainment, a director (often the play-

wright) was core.
The bangsawan performance was a technically advanced theatre
of its time, although later researchers and academics tend to label it as
stereotypical and old-fashioned in its support of the status quo (by con-
trast to sandiwara’s nationalist thrust (see Nur Nina 1992: 23–29). For
example Johan Jaafar (2007) writes that Za’Ba (Zainal Abidin Ahmad,
1895–1973), a nationalist thinker, said there had been practically no
drama in the country before World War II, dismissing bangsawan’s
“fables and fancy stories which make little sense” (quoted in Johan
2007). Johan agrees with Nanney that sandiwara was a step forward:
“Sandiwara marked the emergence of ‘the thinking class’ in Malay
drama production” ( Johan 2007).
From the onset bangsawan was created with a specific form, con-
tent, and scenic format, but having leeway for creative reinterpretation.
That has been its stated aesthetic philosophy, which coauthor Rahmah
Bujang has seen as “sesuai dengan kehadiran bangsawan dalam zaman pen-
jajahan Barat, sedikit banyak tentulah terdapat pengaruh Barat di dalam seni
Bangsawan” (with the appearance of bangsawan in the colonial period,
more than a little in bangsawan was influenced by the West) (1989: viii).
Rahmah has long seen the form as manipulating the contemporary
popular aspects into its performance in order to lure audiences of the
time. The creative versatility of the performance enhances the ability of
the play to offer an aesthetic experience to its audience members while
they vicariously experience the struggle of good versus bad, beauty ver-
sus brawn, and so on. The visual support with full scenic devices and
the updated scenes of palace life, forest encounters, love, and com-
bat can still effectively excite, thrill, and satisfy modern audiences. If
other traditional performance forms remain simple and minimal and
if sandiwara, which often took up contemporary themes, turned toward
a more realistic stage, bangsawan is the very opposite, creating spectacu-
lar theatre.
To achieve this spectacle, the script tailored within the mold of
bangsawan often portrays courtly happenings in a courtly style. Stereo-
typed representations and the language used is mostly rhymed verse,
poetic in style. In concordance with the formula of a bangsawan story, all
royal characters and court warriors are depicted as gallant and heroic.
Bangsawan in Modern Performance:
Selected Examples
Bangsawan had and has a dynamic scope for creativity, building
upon its identity as a spectacular performance medium. Current socio-
cultural, political, and socioeconomic factors influence contemporary
134 Bujang and Samsuddin

bangsawan. This can be seen in the availability of new stories penned

from local history: Puteri Li Po (Princess Li Po, 1992), which, along with
Megat Terawis (Prince Terawis, about the first Bendahara of the King-
dom of Perak) and others, are scripts by co-author Rahmah Bujang for
new bangsawan (for scripts see Rahmah 1989). Puteri Li Po has perhaps
been the most frequently produced of these works. It toured to Mekala
in 1982 (the Malacca sultanate is the site of the story) and to Negri
Sembilan, Selangor, and Penang in 1992, and it was revived in its most
elaborate manifestation in 1999, at the theatre offering to commemo-
rate the fiftieth anniversary of the University of Malaya (see Nur Nina
1994 and Kong 2001 for discussions of the production and questions
about its historicity, respectively).
A change in today’s bangsawan is that plays are fully scripted.
While the character types of the old theatre and the scene types are
used, the ability to improvise in bangsawan style has largely been lost by
modern performers. Most of the actors are young people newly gradu-
ated from tertiary theatre training programs at USM, UM, or ASWARA,
who may have taken a class or two in bangsawan technique but do not
have the ability to improvise their dialogue interspersed with poetry,
song, and dance. They lack the movement base to snap into pencak
silat or kuntau battles without a choreographer to guide them. Though
Rahman B. and a few of the stalwarts of the old bangsawan are teachers
working beside the young directors (who are de riguer for neo-bang-
sawan), most of the performers do at most one or two bangsawan per-
formances per year and play only for a few nights per show. Therefore,
a through-composed script is vital. Actors are guided by a script, direc-
tor, and choreographer toward understanding of the conventions, role
types, and style.
While some scripts aspire to do no more than “tell the story,”
most new bangsawan authors are university trained and aspire to address
the issues of today in the way that the old bangsawan did not. Take for
example Puteri Li Po. The script was based on the Malay Annals, which
relate the history of Malacca. The fifth king Sultan Mansur Syah (1456–
1477) had four wives, one of whom was said to be a Chinese Princess Li
Po, who married him in 1459 when she came with the Chinese eunuch
admiral Zheng Ho (also Cheng Ho). Issues of polygamous marriage,
ethnically diverse groups (Chinese and Malay) who must learn to live
together for the good of the kingdom, and a woman’s personal desire
versus moral duty were some of the topics that the play “took on” in
co-author Rahmah Bujang’s handling. While still using the formulas of
traditional bangsawan, this was intended as a “thinking woman’s” bang-
sawan, and in that way shared some of the characteristics of later Malay
forms, such as sandiwara or the more recent form, modern drama. But
Bangsawan: Creative Patterns in Production 135

where sandiwara was overt in its messaging, this bangsawan script sought
to deal with issues more indirectly.
The plot showed the homesick princess, Hang Li Po (seri pang-
gung/heroine), married to the Sultan Mansor (raja/king) and con-
verted to Islam. She wants her husband to send a message to China,
which he fails to do (court scene). The dayang-dayang (attendants) led
by Dang Wangi try to ease her grief as they pick fruit (Plate 4).
Li Po falls asleep, and her husband reappears in her dream as
the fearful jinn afrit. The play made an innovative and psychologically
motivated use of a stock character. The princess is actually in love with
Hang Jebat (orang muda/hero), a well-known Malay hero who in prior
versions of the Li Po story has no connection with the princess. Here
we learn that Li Po conceived a romantic affection for him before her
marriage. She meets the gallant (the love scene), but, out of loyalty to
the king and because the warrior already promised to Li Po’s atten-
dant, Hang Jebat demurs. With the help of her Javanese co-wife Galuh
Raden and her lady-in-waiting Dang Wangi, Li Po reconciles herself to
a woman’s state as co-wife and naturalized Malay—Sultan Mansor is her
lawful spouse and Melaka is now her home. While her female desire
and Chinese identity are treated sympathetically, Li Po, as is requisite
in bangsawan’s heroic order, choses loyalty to family and national unity
in her adopted home. The general good and not her personal wishes
must be served. Female solidarity and compassion were probably more
visible in this script than in some of the swashbucklers of the past, but
it was still firmly within the form.
The works treats two issues being addressed in Malaysia today.
First, polygamy is a major hurdle that many Malay wives may confront
during their married lives. Second, there is the question of whether
citizens of Chinese heritage should think of themselves as Chinese
or Malaysian first. But here the issues are adressed within the context
of courtly characters with the common people (rakyat) as supporting
characters. The message is for today, but delivered in bangsawan mode.
As an opera form, bangsawan of the early twentieth century had
regularly taken stories from other nations. Writing in the 1990s, Tan
argued that a Malaysianization of bangsawan was taking place: stories
with Malay settings and characters prevailed and other ethnicities were
being left out (though she noted that Puteri Li Po was an exception to
her rule). She stated: “Even though—or perhaps because—bangsawan
is promoted by the State, by State-sponsored universities, and by State-
sponsored television and radio, it is not ‘alive’ . . . . Official bangsawan
of today is performed as cultural show-pieces at State functions, coro-
nations of Sultans, cultural festivals to entertain tourists, and (ocassion-
ally) on television” (Tan 1993: 187). Tan noted that rather than a hetro-
136 Bujang and Samsuddin

geneous, multicultural art, bangsawan in the 1990s was “an increasingly

traditional Malay theatrical form” (p. 186), and she attributed this to
the emphasis given to Malay culture as part of the national culture pol-
icy put in place after the ethnic riots of 1969.
While a Malay emphasis on bangsawan may have been stronger
in the 1990s when Tan was writing and productions were more limited,
we feel that she overstates the case. Indeed the intention in writing Put-
eri Li Po was to deal with a multiethnic society, Malaysia today. What is
more, the more recent burst of bangsawan, prompted by regular fund-
ing for the form by JKKN, has lead to greater diversity in settings. We do
see cultural diversity. Scenes from Perso-Indian climes are frequent. For
example, USM in 2010 presented a bangsawan Sinbad, based on A Thou-
sand and One Nights and under the direction of Rosnan Nordin, whose
hope was to take the form back to its mixed roots: “I wanted to bring
back the glory of the original Malay bangsawan in Penang, which was
call ‘Bangsawan Parsi’ back in 1875 (Rosnan as quoted in Tunku Sha-
hariah Tunku Yusuf 2010). Western sources were invoked, in “wicked
Queen Sheeba, Rosnan recalled his childhood fairytale of Snow White
and the Seven Dwarfs and picked local soprano Shafinaz Selamat. She
was dressed in a pencil slim long dress, which clung to her slim body,
complete with an elaborate headdress” (Tunku Shahariah Tunku Yusuf
2010). The Kuala Lumpur Panggung Bandaraya bangsawan produc-
tions show stories like Bakawali (Indian), Laksmana Cheng Ho (Chinese-
Malay interaction), Siti Zulaika (Middle Eastern), and Puteri Maharani
(Indo-Persian). And extra turns today are as likely to be jazz dance or
belly dance as typical Malay dances (see, for example, YouTube versions
of the 2011 production Alang Buana’s extra turns, Fig. 1).10 Indeed, in
some of the recent shows the extra turns can become the major audi-
ence draw, sometimes outshining the drama.
Dramatization and acting techniques especially cater to the styl-
ization mode. There are movement forms that have become part and
parcel of bangsawan; for example, the court scene needs some elabo-
rate dramatization in the presence of the ruler of the land. The key is
that whatever representation is occuring onstage the movements have
to be adjusted to the role of the moment (see Effindi 2005). Improvisa-
tion and spontaneity have been kept alive within the bounds of bang-
sawan’s stylization process.
New technological discoveries also allowed for better motifs
and drawings for the bangsawan background scenery; backdrops and
side-wings are in some cases still constructed for the proscenium stage.
But modern lighting techniques and computer programs allowed for
the play of colors and hues, providing an intensity that can be con-
trolled to a minimum or maximum brightness, thus giving scope for a
Bangsawan: Creative Patterns in Production 137

Figure 1.  Alang Buana, June 2011 bangsawan

offering funded by JKKN. (Poster: Courtesy of
JKKN)

more spectacular development in bangsawan productions. Bangsawan

finds growth and creativity while keeping abreast of current techno-
logical advances in digital media and contemporary lighting and sound
techniques.
Recent performances at the well-equipped theatre of ASK for
example take a Middle Eastern court with belly dancers in yellows and
against lush curtain drapes of orange—both the dances and the light-
ing are “hot.” This is far removed from the formality of the typical
Malay court (see, for example, YouTube clips of Haris Fadilah and Siti
Zawiyah).11 However, it should be noted that the costumes in current
bangsawan (in the actual drama) may be more enveloping than in the
past, to fit with current Islamic mores. The arms and shoulders of the
female players are more covered than they might have been in bang-
sawan of earlier times.
Creativity in the music and song was also developing with the
138 Bujang and Samsuddin

times. Although bangsawan by nature of its stories must still retain the
traditional song composition of ronggeng asli (an ensemble accompany-
ing the Malay joget couple dance that includes the exchange of verses)
or inang music (a lively dance song of Malay origin, literally “nurse-
maid”), the rendition can be enriched by the accompaniment of other
musical instruments. Bangsawan traditionally used a simple ensemble
of harmonium, tabla (Indian drum), and violin, but there are now a
Western drum set, clarinet, saxaphone, and flute. Yet the tunes pro-
duced are still the old ones; for example, the court scene will have
its requisite “court” tune. As needed, performers have the same wide
sources of the past: there are the Hindustani, Malay, Arabic, Sinitic,
and Western musical forms or a syncretic musical mixing. The musi-
cal treatment is definitiely richer and more complex and approaches
an orchestral assemblage with the addition of more instruments. For
example, in Puteri Li Po, performed for the fiftieth anniversary of Uni-
versity Malaya, the show was backed by the university’s orchestra.
New dances intertwined with the dramatic storytelling were cho-
reographed, but the ever popular bangsawan repertoire of dances, like
the waltz, rhumba, and acrobatic dance moves, as well as Malay dances
that were suited to the stories, are all still performed in bangsawan.
Movement is nonliteral and deeply connected to feeling. Body posi-
tion, movement imagery, and visceral communication are possible in
this medium of movement. For example, use of the dance movement
choreographed by Effindi Samsuddin was made to good effect to dem-
onstrate that even in sleep Princess Li Po was not happy (Fig. 2).
What was once a makeshift staging characteristic of traveling
troupes was replaced with available permanent theatre buildings with
complete facilities. For example, for Puteri Li Po the whole interior
of the Dewan Tuanku Chancellor (the premier hall of the University
of Malaya) was transformed spatially to represent the Malay courts of
the past with the involvement of colleagues from the Faculty of Built
Environment of the University. The availability nowadays of proper
and technologically equipped stages in permanent theatre buildings
fulfills the possibilities of staging of bangsawan. Hand-drawn and hand-
painted backdrops are sometimes still made. For example, in Puteri li
Po we used hand-drawn and hand-painted scenery and built sets for
the room scenes of the palace. When funding allows, old sets can be
replaced by near perfect pictures of the desired locale. Theatres like
Panggung Bandaraya in Kuala Lumpur or Istana Budaya have all the
technological strength to facilitate a good bangsawan performance.
To keep the staging time to as short as an hour or two for shows,
the now slick and swift scene changes can help do away with the use of
extra turns. Nowadays extra turns are often maintained in bangsawan
Bangsawan: Creative Patterns in Production 139

Figure 2.  In Puteri Li Po expressive modern dance was used in the dream scene
to show the princess’s unhappiness. (Photo: Courtesy of Rhamah Bujang)

because they add pizzazz to the program: popular songs by currently

favorite artists add a breath of fresh air to shows. JKKN budgets allow
producers to hire top singing stars who will pull in larger audiences;
bangsawan does not have to remain, as Tan complained in the 1990s,
“boring” cultural heritage, but it embraces, with its flexible format, cur-
rent pop culture and favored stars. ASWARA productions, where the
many young choreographers or dancers are hungry for chances to cre-
ate work, will be replete with extra turns. For Alang Buana in June 2011,
dances by ASWARA students and songs by M. Nasir, Safua Yaaob, and
Sehra Zambri often outshone the limited acting and martial arts skills
of the aspiring actors presenting the script of Rahman B. and under
the direction of Mazlan Tahir. On the other hand, in works like Puteri
Li Po, where Rahmah Bujang felt the interludes would obstruct narra-
tive flow, such random interludes were excluded.
Bangsawan’s gender-straight casting is another feature that is
embraced by modern audiences. Scholars viewing contemporary maky-
ung may, for example, quibble that it is more like menora when a male
takes the role of pak yong (the male hero, traditionally played by a young
female). In bangsawan, past or present, gender debates like this do not
pertain. Bangsawan was not an elite or ritual form; it reflected the time
140 Bujang and Samsuddin

and interests of performers and audiences. The form is more malliable

than traditional genres with their specters of authenticity and religious
or cultural ownership—bangsawan in the past and at present is ready to
teach and entertain.
One of the biggest changes is length; show times are now short-
ened from four hours or more to two hours or less. The concept of
continuing a show for more than one night, which was standard in the
early days, is gone now that people live modern, urban lives with tight
schedules and limited time to devote to attending live theatre.
The above adaptations of bangsawan are needed to suit the pref-
erences of the current audience and to keep up with new forms of
drama and concerts, but the basic form of bangsawan remains intact.
Our work as contemporary artists creating a new work like Puteri Li Po
has been to adapt the form, keeping the heart (character types, stock
scenes, song styles, court movement styles, and setting) intact.
Two features of bangsawan are core: the pattern and method of
acting, and the importance of visual presentation to the stories being
staged. In adapting Puteri Li Po, we found that many aspects of bang-
sawan needed streamlining so the productions could be suitable for
the times and please the audience. Bangsawan cannot remain alive if
it doesn’t move. It must be suited to the audience, and if that means
new technology and shorter playing time, so be it. Creativity is needed
in bangsawan of the present as much as it was requisite in bangsawan of
the past.12 The form of stylization, the use of language, and the presen-
tational performance can be maintained and upgraded to make bang-
sawan rise anew without losing its core identity. Today, contemporary
Malay authors, directors, choreographers, actors, and designers embark
on productions creatively, reworking bangsawan without feeling guilty
about making changes. In the final analysis, bangsawan must live where
it was born—on the Malaysian urban stage playing to the diverse audi-
ence and giving them the spectactular sights, musical moments, grace-
ful movement, proud characters, expansive stories, and sheer wonder
which are at the core of the form.

NOTES

1. Matthew Cohen (2006) gives a detailed analysis of Indonesian stam-

boel, which shares features of this kind of popular genre and was partly inspired
by bangsawan. Thai likay (Virulrak 1980) is another genre of popular theatre
that emerged in the same period. Detailed comparisons of these forms that
interacted historically have yet to be fully undertaken, but would be fruitful.
Brandon (1967) is still one of the authors to look at the patterns of popular
theatre in a cross-Southeast Asian perspective.
Bangsawan: Creative Patterns in Production 141

2. The Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1824 designated areas of the peninsula,

including Penang (then called Prince of Wales Island) and Singapore, as
British East India Company sites, and they were governed through Calcutta.
Meanwhile the Dutch withdrew from Malacca. In 1867 these sites, along with
other British holdings that were collectively known as the Straits Settlements,
became Crown colonies directly under the British Colonial Office in London.
Over the course of the nineteenth century additional areas came under the
control of the British, and by 1896 the peninsula was ruled and protected by a
British Resident General.
3. While Chinese traders settled in ports as early as the fifteenth cen-
tury, the Opium Wars in China in the 1840s began a larger wave of migration.
Chinese started as coolies or indentured laborers in rubber plantations and
tin mines but over time established themselves in trade and the economic
sphere, becoming a third of the population on the peninsula by the 1930s.
4. Wayang of course was the name of traditional Malay puppet theatres
and was appropriated in the Straits Settlements as a generic name for theatre.
The term “Parsi” shows the form’s relation to the popular urban theatres of
India, especially Bombay, where the Parsi (i.e., Zoroastrian) population had
taken the lead in developing urban popular theatre. See Hansen (2002) for
background on Parsi theatre.
5. A reviewer of this paper noted that though this is commonly thought
to be the case in Malaysia, the 1880 disbanding and the buying of stage effects
by Mamak Pushi are not verifiable.
6. A reviewer pointed out that an alternate origin that was more likely
was the term coming from the story “Indra Bangsawan,” which was also the
name of an early troupe.
7. Wayang kulit, main putri, menora, and mek mulung are traditional per-
formances that function as ritual first and as theatre second. Thus, the avail-
ability of shows is confined to the rites associated with each type of perfor-
mance. Of these four forms, only wayang kulit has emerged as a theatre form
in its own right.
8. “Heroism” as a concept never existed in the Malay Annals (1612)
and other old historical writings. What was more important is the concept of
the people’s pious allegiance to the ruler, who had been associated with godli-
ness. Any other being that can be regarded with awe would be the ethereal
kind: dewa (godlike beings) were used by such traditional theatres as mak yong,
mek mulong, and menora. In bangsawan we see a change in ethos that may indi-
cate a more active, enterprising spirit suited to a modern, free-market world.
9. Techniques of movement correspond to ideas of Seldon (1962).
10.  [Link] [Link]
.[Link]/watch?v=3X-dPlShgNE.
11. [Link]
12. For further reading on changes and creativity in the form see Tan
Sooi Beng (1993). Of course, in addition to creativity, funding is important.
Part of the current revival in bangsawan has been due in part to university
support and, more recently, JKKN’s steady funding. Ghulam-Sarwar, in a blog
142 Bujang and Samsuddin

post written on 2 January 2009 (Ghulam-Sarwar 2009), called for a revival of

the form not just in Kuala Lumpur (where JKKN is helping it happen) but
also in Penang, where the genre was born. He writes that what “needs to be
done is simple enough. First must come the firm resolve to make bangsawan
live again in Penang. Next, the provision of enough funding to sustain one
or more permanent companies—say 60 people in all, beginning from basic
training. These would include actors, musicians, dancers and the whole gamut
of technical people from costume to set-designers. They don’t all have to be
full-timers. Third, the provision of space for regular performances, which, for
a start, can be scheduled once a month for two or three days. And finally, some
kind of mechanism to ensure that the whole scheme does not collapse after
a performance or two, as has often happened in the past, not only with bang-
sawan, but, elsewhere in the country, with mak yong, wayang kulit and what have
you. That’s all. And of course, where’s the money going to come from? That
perennial question again; this time, hopefully, without the perennial answer,
given the very special circumstances. Over to you bangsawan enthusiasts, be
you Melayu, Cina, India, Baba, Mamak, Peranakan, Serani, Lain-lain, or simply
Malaysian . . . you who would so passionately claim bangsawan as your own
through your forefathers. Over to you, Penang State and City Fathers of Heri-
tage City George Town. Over to you, Corporate types, who so ever or where so
ever you may be. Surely it would not be impossible, for a start, to raise a million
or two, for such a vital cause—even in these gawat times!”

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