Last year, Clara Clairine sat in the audience. This year, takes the stage as a lead performer in the Temulawak 2026 musical theatre production.
Clara Clairine, an RMIT student studying a Bachelor of Professional Communication, has spent the past five months in intensive rehearsals for Temulawak 2026, a musical theatre production titled 'Uproar Beneath the Red Sky' (Riuh di Bawah Langit Merah).
The cast will perform the show on Saturday, 15 August 2026 at The National Theatre, St Kilda, Melbourne.
The production draws on the events of Bandung Lautan Api, telling its story through the eyes of an ordinary family. Clairine, known as Erin, plays Sekar, a young woman full of dreams whose life revolves around her older brother, Galih. The two siblings wrestle with duty, ego and grief as tensions between Indonesia and the Dutch escalate around them.
Erin is joining Temulawak for the first time, though she is no stranger to the stage. She trained in ballet and joined a dance studio as a child in Indonesia, and was part of a mini girl group during primary school. She also took on the role of Gabriella Montez in her school's production of 'High School Musical'.
I can't wait to show what I can do to my friends here. I want to make my Temulawak friends proud because we've been rehearsing for so long.Clara Clairine, who plays Sekar in Temulawak 2026.
Temulawak has given Erin the chance to sharpen a new skill. Her background is stronger in dance and acting, but she has been developing her vocals through structured rehearsal sessions over the past five months.
Erin said the originality of Temulawak drew her in. After she watched 'Primadona', the 2025 production, the creative team's approach of writing and building every story from scratch won her over.
Listen to the full conversation with Clara Clairine on the SBS Indonesian podcast.
