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The last time W.S. Rendra’s play “ Mastodon dan Burung Kondor ” (“The Mastodon and the Condors”) was staged in Jakarta, a riot broke out a month later, the play was banned and the playwright was detained for 20 days.

Marking two years since Rendra’s passing in August 2009, the late poet and playwright’s widow, Ken Zuraida, plans to bring the play back to the stage from Aug. 11-14 at Taman Ismail Marzuki in Central Jakarta. It will be the first time the play has been staged since the fall of Suharto’s New Order regime.

Rendra is revered as one of the country’s greatest poets, who recorded many important episodes of the nation in his poems, oratories, stage plays and short stories in his characteristically critical and courageous voice.

In 1986, Rendra founded Bengkel Teater, a theater company now run by Zuraida, his third wife, which will jointly stage the play with her own company, Komunitas Akar Rumput (Grassroots Community).

Amid intensive rehearsals at a workshop in Cipayung, Depok, Zuraida said she felt an immense moral burden to present the play well, standing in the shadow of her late husband, who is considered a literary giant.

“I’m just a widow,” Zuraida said. “Who am I compared to Rendra? Losing him made me lose a part of myself.”

While Zuraida herself never had a chance to watch Rendra stage the play, for which he was playwright, director and lead actor, she knew of its legend and understood its importance in his career.

“The play was an important starting point in Rendra’s life,” she said. “It’s a good place to start if we intend to revive him in public memory and introduce him to the next generation.”

“Mastodon dan Burung Kondor” tells of a revolutionary struggle in a Latin American country ruled by an oppressive regime. The ruling government in the play is likened to a herd of prehistoric mastodons, while the revolutionaries are portrayed as predatory condors, waiting for the elephant-like mammals to fall.

“When the apocalypse happens in this country, it will not be marked by earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, nor oceans that overflow, but by the appearance of a galloping herd of mastodons,” reads a line in the play, pointing out the animals’ rampant greed and destruction of the environment.

The main character, originally played by Rendra, is a poet named Jose Karosta, a reference to Jesus Christ. The poet stands between the mastodons and condors as a mediator, calling for the revolutionaries to consider introspection as an important element of protest.

The character of Jose Karosta almost certainly also refers to Rendra himself, who in August 1970 was arrested for staging a silent protest against government corruption and soaring food prices by meditating in the middle of busy Jalan M.H. Thamrin in Central Jakarta.

Exactly one month after the play’s third and (until now) final show on Dec. 15, 1973, at Istora Senayan, South Jakarta, a student protest broke out in the capital, known as the Malari incident — short for Malapetaka Lima Belas Januari , or the Jan. 15 Disaster. Eleven protestors were killed and hundreds of cars and buildings were looted and destroyed.

Rendra was blamed by the government for partly causing the protest, by allegedly sowing hatred against the regime. The play was officially banned.

Zuraida first got to know Rendra in 1974, after the episode of political unrest had eased. She joined Bengkel Teater when Rendra was preparing a production called “ Kisah Perjuangan Suku Naga ” (“The Struggles of the Dragon Tribe”), another play that criticized the government’s exploitation of the people through the metaphor of an oppressed tribe living in a mythical kingdom. It too was eventually banned by the New Order regime.

Through her extensive work in theater with her late husband, Zuraida felt she had a sense of what he would have wanted for the restaging of the play, but also the freedom to interpret the script for herself, having never seen the original production.

“I am Rendra’s disciple, as are the others [in the company]. We have really started working on the play again from scratch,” she said.

One of the hardest things about staging the play, Zuraida said, was finding someone to replace Rendra as Jose Karosta. Remembering the young Rendra, Zuraida wanted to find someone with a lanky stature, gaunt cheeks, sharp eyes, a shrill voice and mop of long, flowing hair.

From the 12 actors who auditioned, Zuraida finally settled on Totenk Mahdasi, who not only fit all the physical criteria but had the stage presence and acting talent to match.

Mahdasi, 25, said that he never imagined he would someday replace the figure of his teacher as Jose Karosta in the play. He said he was close to the late poet, who treated him like a son.

“At first, I was filled with fear and pessimism. I felt I was shouldering such a heavy burden,” Totenk said. “I worried that playing the role could backfire and affect my career. It took months for me to reach a state of nothing, a condition free from the shadow of Rendra.”

Totenk said he eventually settled into the role when he remembered a few words from his mentor.

“When I massaged Rendra’s shoulders one time, he talked to me about love, respect and how he did not want people to try to be like him. Rendra wanted us to be ourselves. He did not want his children and students to become duplicates of him,” he said.

After that, Totenk felt liberated to explore the character and bring his own interpretation to the stage.

Rendra’s daughter, Maryam “May” Supraba, 33, will play the role of Fabiola Andrez, a young girl who falls in love with Juan Frederico, a ruling member of the regime.

May is the youngest of Rendra’s 11 children, born to Zuraida in 1978. The role will be her third in her father’s productions, after performing in the play “Sobrat” in 2005 and touring in 2009 with “Bib Bob,” a production held to mark 100 days from the playwright’s death.

May said she always tried to separate her father’s home life from his life as a leading artist and performer.

“Since I was a girl, I always tried to distance myself from the stage world in order to get closer to him simply as my father. But now I realize I can get close to him on and off the stage,” she said. “I miss him, not only as my father, but as a legendary director and stage actor.”

In her first role with her father in 2005, May did not feel her father’s influence was a burden.

“As a teacher, Rendra did not want his pupils to imitate him. He did not teach me any tricks, except to engage fully with the script,” she said.

The new interpretation of the play aims to encourage the new generation to continue to scrutinize their leaders and demand justice.

“Every revolution eventually gives rise to fanaticism or extremism, as well as new oppressors as the next mastodons,” Eep Syaifullah Fatah, a sociopolitical analyst at the University of Indonesia, said at a media conference for the play last week. “And according to Rendra, it is the artist himself who should inspire those who are fighting and risking their lives to come out on top.”