Tale of love, intrigue and war

Rentap's followers getting ready for battle.

“AGI idup agi ngelaban!” The legendary Iban warrior Rentap’s war cry, which means “As long as I live, I will fight”, filled the Sarawak Cultural Village (SCV) theatre as stirring battle scenes played out on stage.

His story was brought to life in Rentap: The Battle of Bukit Sadok, a musical drama staged on two nights during the Sarawak Harvest and Folklore Festival at SCV on Aug 18-20.

Festival director Zaini Zainuddin said this was SCV’s second musical after Putri Santubong, whose stage performances were live-streamed to a global audience in 2021.

He hoped the successful staging of Rentap would spur the development of the creative industry and performing arts in Sarawak.

“Our vision for this musical drama is to create a bigger platform for the industry, with the hope that Sarawak can have its own studio one day.

“Hopefully, this will start more things, not only musical dramas but also films, so that we become a hub for Malaysian filmmakers.

“This will be good for us, especially for our local artists,” he said.

Rentap addressing his longhouse community in one of the musical's scenes.

Zaini said Rentap focused on the warrior’s life as a young man leading up to the battle against the troops of the White Rajah at Bukit Sadok.

“Rentap was a historical figure, so we had to be careful with the story. We even went to Bukit Sadok to experience it and get the feel of the place.

“If you look at the history, he fought three battles against the White Rajah. He won twice and was defeated once but he did not die in battle, he retreated instead.

“Our drama is only on the second battle where he lost his brother. The story is very interesting because there was a traitor among them and he lost because of the people around him,” he said.

The musical tells a story of fierce loyalty and sacrifices, jealousy and revenge, with epic battles interlaced with romance between Rentap and his wife Sawai.

The musical also featured the romance between Rentap and his wife Sawai.

Most of the dialogue and songs are in Iban, with the rest in Bahasa Malaysia and English.

Artistic director Hamzah Tahir said he wanted to portray Rentap as a warrior and entertain the audience at the same time.

“For every scene I had to have something spectacular, to move the audience from one scene to the next.

“I didn’t want the audience to relax but see the spirit of the warrior in Rentap,” he said.

The wedding scene of Rentap and Sawai in the musical.

Hamzah also said the duets and solos in Rentap were inspired by West End and Broadway songs.

“The music and songs are very interesting. I don’t know Iban but I could follow the drama because the images and storyline are very clear,” he added.

Zaini said the production was a learning process for everyone, including some actors and actresses who had to learn Iban in a short time.

“The cast was very disciplined, so that made our lives easy. One of the actors, Jay Iswazir, also helped to coach our dancers,” he said.

Sarawakian actor Anding Indrawani, who plays Rentap, said it was a challenge in five parts – acting, dancing, singing, fighting and speaking Iban.

The White Rajah in conversation with Rentap's friend Orang Kaya Nanang in one of the musical's scenes.

“We had to compute all this within two weeks, but everything went well.

“It’s worth the effort because we’re doing this for Sarawak and to showcase this figure from our history,” he said.

Anding said he prepared for the role by doing some research on Rentap and watching documentaries on the battle of Bukit Sadok.

“To visualise the character, I looked at pictures and tried to imagine how he walked and talked.

“The most important thing was to uphold his name as a legendary warrior, so the process of research was important to all of the cast,” he said.

The final battle scene when Rentap loses his brother.

Shakira Stephen, an actress from Peninsular Malaysia, said she had to learn Iban in five days for the role of Suntey, Sawai’s best friend who is also in love with Rentap.

“I was learning it non-stop, even at night I was dreaming about the Iban language,” she said.

Sarawakian singer Melissa Francis, who plays Sawai, said the role was a new challenge as acting in a stage play was different from singing.

“I enjoyed working with the cast, especially Jay Iswazir, who helped me a lot with how to act on stage.

“I’m thankful for the opportunity to work with a great cast and be involved in this production,” she said.

Melissa also said she was intrigued by the story, particularly Sawai’s role when she decided to throw away Rentap’s amulet in order to save her marriage.

“That’s why Rentap failed in the final battle. But I think at that time Sawai did not want Rentap to become arrogant and have a lot of admirers.

“Sawai was very supportive of her husband until she noticed her best friend Suntey trying to attract Rentap. When she saw Rentap and Suntey having eye contact, she was unhappy and dissatisfied.

“She was trying to save her marriage, so she threw away the amulet but it affected the community who lost the battle,” she said.

The main cast included Nick Jansen as the White Rajah, Arwan Umar as Rentap’s friend Orang Kaya Nanang and Abdul Wahab as Iban raid leader Orang Kaya Pemanca Dana Bayang.

About 80 dancers from SCV, apprentices of Sistem Latihan Dual Nasional and students of Sekolah Seni Malaysia Sarawak were also involved in the musical.