KATHIMERINI
(daily newspaper)
Thursday
26 August 2004
A
Theatre Bus from Indonesia
A bus
whose passengers are images and performances from the Indonesian culture
which is rich but unknown to most Greeks, is touring the Peloponese as of
yesterday. The Stage Bus, an unusual bus - theatre stage - will be moving
around the towns of the Peloponese for three weeks, with numerous artists
who will be performing songs, music, dance, Indonesian traditional shadow
theatre and video projections, bringing to Greece a taste of the 17.500
islands of Indonesia.
Stage
on wheels
The
bus, 12m in length, “unfolds” on one side and forms a stage … on
wheels, on which all performances take place. The Stage Bus tour started
yesterday from Nafplion and continues in Argos today while until the 14th
of September there will follow towns in all the parts of Peloponese.
The
Stage Bus performance, as Indonesia’s ambassasor to Greece, Faishah
Soeftendi said, is an offering from the Indonesian government in the
framework of the Cultural Olympiad. The collaboration between Greece and
Indonesia on the level of cultural exchange started with the visit of the
President of the Indonesian Republic to Greece in 2002 and
the arrival of artists’ groups in Greece.
As
the president of the Cultural Olympiad, Mr Stamatis Mavros mentioned in
his presentation of the programme, “Two months ago, the Ministry of Tourism of
Indonesia proposed to the Greek government to send the Stage Bus and this
progamme was included in the programme of the Cultural Olympiad. The Stage
Bus performances are taking place outside Indonesia for the first time and
they are part of a more complex show, produced by the cultural
organization JakArt which traveled around Indonesia”. As both the
Indonesian ambassador and the president of the Cultural Olympiad said, the
Stage Bus tour marks the beginning of a two-way collaboration in the
cultural arena through the exchange and performance of productions in both
countries. It is planned to send a Greek delegation soon to Indonesia. The
collaboration between Greece and Indonesia was made official by the
signing of an agreement last June.