Soekarno
In Bo Tarenskeen’s new production, we meet Soekarno, revolutionary and the first president of Indonesia, who opposes 350 years of colonial violence. What begins as a dream of freedom grows into a revolution that becomes increasingly difficult to control. How does he manage to bring a deeply divided people together – and keep them together?
Romantic, pioneer, anti-imperialist, intellectual, provocateur, mystic, nationalist, traitor, folk hero, democrat with dictatorial tendencies? His name still evokes strong reactions. Our image of Sukarno is shaped by feelings of betrayal, humiliation, and forced separation. But also by misplaced moralism and a painful lack of political courage.
Bo Tarenskeen and Esther Scheldwacht play the young and the old Soekarno. We witness the formation of Soekarno’s thinking against the backdrop of the Japanese occupation, the declaration of independence, the Bersiap , the colonial war, and the coup that ended his presidency. A daring performance about the yearning for unity, the escalation of violence, and the fragility of democracy.
