WAYANG KULIT
On
an island where cinema screens and TVs haven't yet percolated through to the
smallest villages, a wayang kulit performance, or shadow puppet drama, still
draws in huge crowds and keeps them entertained well into early hours of the
morning. The stories and techniques are familiar to all, but the sheer panache,
eloquence and wit of a good dalang ( Puppet master ) means the show is as
likely to break news, spread gossip and pass on vital information as it is to
entertain.
A typical wayang kulit show takes place after sundown on the occasion of
creamation, or a temple odalan,
stage either in the outer courtyard of the village temple, or in the bale
banjar meeting area. The dalang (nearly always
a man) sets up a white cloth screen, lights faming rags dipped in paraffin for
his illumination and assembles his collection of puppets (Wayang). It's not unusual for a dalang to own 150 different
wayang, each of them fashioned from flat lengths of buffalo hide, carved and
perforated to create a lacy effect before being painted and mounted on a stick.
As in many other Balinese dramas, Wayang characters can be divided into those
belonging to the refined and noble camp (royal
personages, holy men and women, heroes and heroines) and those that are
coarse and vulgar (clowns and servants).
The refined characters speak in the ancient
courtly language of kawi, while the coarse characters use Balinese. One
character may be represented by a number of different puppets, each one showing
him or her in a particular mood or stance.
The Dalang mobilizes all the puppets behind the screen, speaking for each of them and moving each one in character
as well. Well-educated and humorous, with a quite astonishing memory for lines,
not to mention an impressive range of different voices, the Dalang also rehearses and conducts the special
four-piece orchestra that accompanies his performances, the gender wayang. Not
surprisingly, dalang are greatly revered by other villagers, who see them as
being invested with great spiritual power.
From the complete wayang cast,
the dalang selects between thirty and sixty puppets for any one show. The torch
- lit screen represents the world:
The puppets are the humans that inhabit it, the torch stands in for the sun,
and the dalang acts as god. Puppets which
represent good characters always appear to the right of the dalang, and those
who are evil appear on his left. A leaf-shaped
fan - like puppet, symbolizing the
tree of life, marks center stage and is used to indicate the ends of a scene as
well as to represent clouds, spirits and magical forces. The most popular wayang
kulit stories are taken from the Mahabarata.
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