Review: Jakarta Player’s (DIS)CONNECTED: An Authentic View of Modern Human Life

Written by Nabila “Hana” Hananti with contribution from Marcheka Ranggaura Ramadana. Edited by Rakaputra Paputungan.

From 13-15 February 2026, the oldest English-speaking theater group in Jakarta, Jakarta Players, brought (Dis)connected onto the stage of IFI Jakarta. The show ran a total of four times. We, the team from Broadway World Indonesia, had the opportunity to watch their first show on the night of the 13th, and here is our review.

(Dis)connected was a script co-written by Andrew Trigg and John Packer and directed by Andrew Trigg, with both also performing as actors. Kania Alisjahbana produced this show with the help of co-producer Maureen Simatupang. 

(Dis)connected was a play about an authentic view of life and social connection in the modern world. It was a very well-delivered social critic, brought through a collection of unrelated stories that, ultimately, all delivered the same theme of disconnection felt within our individualist landscape. While it could be read as a collection of “skits”, (Dis)connected was a discussion about the future of tech, the modern era, the Internet, as well as the idea that the whole world is at your fingertips. 

There was no singular storyline that was delivered from the beginning to the end, and yet each scene that was played at the front played a role of its own. I would like to highlight certain scenes that left quite an impression on me.

The first one was the scene between a husband (Rizal Iwan) and wife (Ashley Aisyah) who are facing a rocky patch. It started out as a comedy when the wife found out that her husband had been watching porn because of unfulfilled sexual needs. The awkward moment led to a confession on how the husband truly feels about their marriage, how he thinks that their relationship is falling apart, even how he feels disconnected with her. For a moment, it almost felt like they were going to amend their connection together, until the revelation in the end when the wife had actually been cheating on him. That conclusion brougt a sense of irony to the attempt at reconnection that we now know would be all for naught.

Another memorable scene involves a Shamazon worker who has been cheating through life by exploiting AI. Everything about him is fabricated: his public image, the work he ‘does’ within his job, and even his wealth. By using AI, he becomes willfully disconnected to his life. This scene ends with the AI eventually going rogue and destroying the man’s life, effectively annihilating the fabricated life that he’s built through exploiting the AI over the years. 

The writers sought to convey that the modern era is a time where people are so easily detached and disconnected from the world. But then, all these “skits” about disconnection come full circle in the end, when we see a moment where two people connect with each other.

The last scene tells a story through two different perspectives, back and forth: between an old man who is reminiscing about his time with his wife in Bali, as well as an obnoxious influencer vacationing there. The old man felt lost from the loss of his wife and youth, eventually feeling disconnected from reality. However, his lamentation is broken when he experiences a heart attack, and the obnoxious influencer helps him with his medical emergency. Turns out, she’s just a stressed-out ER nurse trying her best to relax. Through this incident, the old man and the nurse are put in a position to connect with each other on a deeper and personal level, bringing in the connection in (Dis)connected. 

The conclusion of the play almost feels like a slap of moral to the audience’s face, but perhaps the beauty lies in its very simplicity. Human connection can only happen when people are willing to be vulnerable with each other, which is increasingly difficult to occur in this digital era where almost everything is put on display. 

Now, despite it being a collection of “skits”, (Dis)connected had impeccable pacing and tone control. The director knew how to use his actors effectively to bring the vision to life, to bring the fragments together into a unified show. The actors were also incredibly committed to this ‘crazy’ play, being able to deliver such serious performances of mostly humorous circumstances. 

Contrary to the complexity, the artistic choice of this play was very simple and yet very effective. The auditorium only had black boxes for tables and chairs, as well as projectors for the background. Delivering multiple stories with multiple different settings requires a very versatile set, and the simplicity of the black boxes helped with the suspension of disbelief.

To conclude, (Dis)connection is a very well-crafted show. It’s a play that forces its audience to think and consider things from a more critical perspective. It delivered a yearning for authenticity in a world that’s continuously turning superficial. Performing this ‘digital world’ play as a theatre also added layers to the theme it wanted to convey. It’s a very important type of art that exists in these contemporary times, and I’m interested to see what they will be bringing next. 

Broadwayworld Indonesia was a media partner for (Dis)connected.