Review: KAPAN RESIGN Helps Us Laugh at the Farcical Corporate World

The musical community JAKSICAL’s first original musical KAPAN RESIGN (“When Are You Resigning”) had a great marketing campaign. For months, the creative minds created designs and content that invite us to laugh at the bitter world of modern corporate life. From October 6 through 8, the show finally took to the stage at Teater Salihara. Did it succeed in its mission to promote workplace mental health?

Welcome to Smile, Inc., a dystopian creative agency run by the cold hands of one Siska (Windy Liem). As cunning as she is commanding, she cooks up a scheme to push the company’s top employees further. Also known as Team A, they are Amel (Kita Pritasari), an ambitious go-getter pushed by her even more ambitious parents; Adit (Firman Lung), a young man hoping to save money for his impending marriage to his fiancée; and Rara (Reska Primadita), who’s the main breadwinner as her father is greatly ill.

Siska promises a promotion to whoever can make the winning proposal for the company’s top client, Elaine (Karen Beverly). This competition pushes the three friends — who had been friends since college — to work themselves to the bone, creating great distress and even physical exhaustion.

After an especially harrowing moment where Rara fainted after hearing her father’s condition worsening, the trio opened up to each other and decided to stand up against Siska’s plan. They worked together and collaborated, creating a thorough plan that won the heart of Elaine and put Siska in a difficult spot. She’s even, potentially, considered to be fired by the board of directors. Will she get to stay, or will she be kicked out?

KAPAN RESIGN is produced by Farah Labita and Olivia Dwiyanti. The script is written by Yemima Krisantina (Eggnoid the Movie) and Jessica Claudia. Wishnu Dewanta, as the music director, also created the original music and score. Rounding up the creative team are Angela Joanna Louisa as the creative director, Nisa Haryanti and Michael Julianto as vocal directors, Safa Prasodjo as acting coach, and Ellè Arnesia as choreographer.

First of all, KAPAN RESIGN is a greatly entertaining musical. As an original work, it is well-crafted and creative, not only through its script and songs, but also the way the show immerses the audience in its world. The show uses a U-shaped seating plan, putting the frontmost viewers on the same level as the set and, of course, the cast members.

Moreover, it has moments where the cast directly addresses the audience as ‘new recruits’ to the company. Typically, these moments are led by the ‘HR’ representative (Jovita Octa), and often includes improvised lines. The cast would even invite members of the audience to join them in dance, or — more terrifyingly — in a short review session with Siska.

But the most memorable audience interaction is towards the ending; as mentioned, Siska is facing termination due to the employees revealing her years of nasty machinations. Each of the audience members is given a small card, reading either ‘Stay hired’ or ‘Get fired’ on each side. The HR then asks the audience to vote using their card. The result is tabulated and leads to the different endings.

On the showtime I attended, the audience agreed to get Siska fired, leading to a finale where the employees celebrate her termination, much like the Ozians celebration of the Wicked Witch of the East’s demise in “The Wizard of Oz”. The other ending (as I heard from a friend) had Siska return, now humbled and in a very unexpected attire for her.

Of course, the show wouldn’t be as entertaining as it is without a great cast. Thankfully, everyone in the cast is wonderful, from the try-hard Amel, who’s played by Kita Pritasari (a brilliant casting choice) who managed to show Amel’s softer side later on; Adit, as played by Firman Lung, has really sweet and tender moments with his fiancee Michelle (Debra Tamara Pontoh); while Reska Primadita’s Rara delivered one of the hardest emotional moments in the show, as she’s dealing not only with work stress but also her father’s sickness.

However, the glue that binds everything together is undoubtedly Windy Liem’s Siska. Siska is a menace. The way she intimidates and manipulates people is delivered perfectly by Windy, and with an astounding vocal performance as well. She’s a character you just love to hate and hate to love. As a pretty accurate representation of much-reviled middle managers who nag people without actually contributing much, it’s very satisfying seeing her taken down a peg, in big part due to the impeccable acting.

The supporting cast is also praiseworthy, playing each role with aplomb. The HR is especially a crowd-pleaser and is great at interacting with the audience. The ensemble (consisting of Mitch Hadju, Debra Tamara Pontoh, Narendra Pryottama, Kania Alisjahbana, and Fabrizio Ravanelli) also likewise brought their A-game, with solid harmonies and zestful choreographies.

Another stand-out aspect is the set, which used real office furniture to bring Smile Inc.’s office building to life. The set is separated into three main parts: the cubicles as the main workspace, a meeting room, and a break room. Combined with the projection design, it makes for an appropriately theatrical approach of a chic, yet soul-crushing, office.

Wishnu Dewanta’s original music doesn’t disappoint. Probably one of the best music directors in the scene, his score for Kapan Resign is contemporary and catchy, especially the title song. His modern, uptempo approach really fits with the setting and energy of the show.

However, the blocking doesn’t always work great for all scenes. As the black box theater is set in an U-shape, some scenes therefore played out on only one side of the stage, closer to one side of the audience but far from the others. If these were only comedic or interstitial scenes, that wouldn’t be a problem. But a very pivotal scene, where the three friends opened up their feelings, played on one side, which might have lessened the impact for the audience on the opposing side.

Additionally, due to the brisk runtime (only a little more than an hour), there is little time to develop the characters further. Even the aforementioned turn-around point felt not as hard-hitting, as the characters solved their problem in just one 5-minute conversation. The main cast is really good at exploring their characters even with the short duration that it would be a treat to see how far they can take it with more depth.

Nevertheless, regardless of these minor grievances, KAPAN RESIGN is still a hugely entertaining show. As a first original musical, it is everything I could’ve hoped it would be: fun, meaningful, expertly performed, and with great music.

I believe they also succeeded in bringing greater awareness to the burnout problem plaguing so many millennials and Gen-Z right now. And I appreciate the message of a united front against tyrannical people in power.

If this is where Jaksical starts, I can’t wait to see them go even further in the future, just like Amel, Adit, and Rara.

Photos by Kapan Resign team.
 

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