Wayang Kulit Shadow Puppets
WP Puppet Theatre was thrilled to host Sustrisno Hartana, an arts educator, ethnomusicologist, researcher of shadow puppet theatre (Indonesian wayang kulit), and a Javanese performing artist (dalang, gamelan musician/composer) at our Family Puppet Festival Day on June 7 2024.
Sustrisno performed an excerpt from the famous Hindu epic, the Ramayana, using large buffalo hide puppets, brightly painted on both sides. The story goes... Ravanna, the demon king, had cunningly shape-shifted into a wounded deer and lured kind hearted Sita into the forest, and then kidnapped her! Rama, her husband, went to look for her, helped by Anoman, the white Monkey King. Javanese clown characters, Semar, Gareng, Petruk, and Bagong, as well as Togog and Bilung, offer advice and commentary.
The music during the performance was composed and largely played by Sutrisno himself.
Fun to know:
Wayang kulit is an ancient theatrical tradition performed with flat leather shadow puppets. It is popular in Indonesia (especially in the island of Java and Bali) and other countries of Southeast Asia. The theatre arrived in the Indonesian archipelago in the first millennium of the Common Era from India along with the Hindu and Buddhist religions, writing and wet rice farming.
UNESCO designated wayang kulit as a Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity on 7 November 2003. In return for the acknowledgment, UNESCO required Indonesians to preserve the tradition
Performances in Java typically last for 7 hours or more, spectators watch selectively, and will gossip or nip out for a bite to eat during sections that lack interest for them. Puppeteers know that, and will periodically reiterate plot points to keep spectators up to date with the action.
For most of traditional Javanese shadow puppet theatre, the dalang is in complete charge of the performance. He manipulates the puppets, delivers all the dialogue in many different character-voices, describes the scene, comments on the meaning, and signals the orchestra what and when to play.
A gamelan (gong-chime) orchestra typically accompanies performances throughout, playing loudly during battle scenes, and softly under dialogue. Much of the gamelan repertoire is derived from the wayang kulit theatre.
For more information about this unique type of puppetry check out the World Encyclopedia of Puppetry Arts