Songs of Silence: Young actors perform Indonesia's first deaf musical

In a Jakarta theatre, the music pulsed from speakers as young artists danced in a musical, bathed in multicolor stage lights. But no one was singing.

On Saturday, the theatre troupe Fantasi Tuli (Deaf Fantasy) performed Indonesia's first musical, which featured mainly deaf artists and crew. Screens around the stage showed dialogue and lyrics as actors performed with facial expressions and hand signs.

The musical "Senandung Senyap" (Songs of Silence) depicts the plight of students in a middle school for children with disabilities. Directors Hasna Mufidah and Helga Theresia created it to raise awareness and promote the use of sign language.

"My hope is, going forward, inclusivity can be strengthened, that between deaf and hearing people, hearing is not superior - we're equal," Mufidah, who is deaf, said through Indonesian sign language.

The musical, which took three months to prepare, involved more than 60 deaf actors and crew aged 16 to 40. It was inspired by Deaf West Theatre in the United States, Helga said.

Members of theatre troupe Fantasi Tuli (Deaf Fantasy) perform a show titled "Senandung Senyap" (Songs of Silence), during Indonesia's first musical with mostly deaf artists, in Jakarta, Indonesia, October 26, 2024. REUTERS/Heru Asprihanto

The performance examines special-needs education in Indonesian schools, where deaf students are often taught with an emphasis on speech training and lip-reading rather than on sign language. This is amid a wider debate about the best education methods for children with hearing disabilities.

Some in the deaf community argue that oral education can lead to a sense of alienation and that sign language is a more natural way for them to communicate. Proponents of such a method say it could better integrate people with hearing disabilities with the more dominant hearing community.

For deaf actor Hanna Aretha Oktavia, the musical was her introduction to sign language and the wider deaf community.

"Throughout dialogue rehearsals, we had to use as many expressions as possible and to follow the storyline," Hanna said.

"What's interesting is that in rehearsals, we have to feel the tempo and vibrations and match them with the choreography. I think that's the most intriguing part because I love to dance. And we paid close attention to the beats with the help of hearing aids. We use big speakers to help guide us," she said.

More than 2 million of Indonesia's 280 million people have a hearing disability, including 27,983 students in special-needs schools.

(Reporting by Johan Purnomo, Heru Asprihanto, Zahra Matarani; Writing by Gayatri Suroyo and William Mallard)