Shadow Puppets...

Tonight I went to a Wayan Kulit (shadow puppet) show, performed by Wayan Mardika at his family home in Sukawati. He was commissioned to perform by a group of American sociology students. He invited us to come along as some of the people I am staying with are studying with him (on the Dell’Arte program). Suffice to say this group of sociology students were awkward and weirded out that we gate crashed their little private show. Pffft. Anyway.

Wayan Kulit uses one puppeteer (called the dalang, and who also does all the voices), with a couple of assistance (passing him the correct puppets and keeping the fire alight), and a gamelan who accompany the action. It’s hot work- he sits directly under the flame, which is attached to his microphone (a modern addition). Mardika would have learnt his practice through generations of study i.e. his father, his father’s father. His younger brother is currently studying at the university/art college, in order to become a ‘certified puppet master’. The notion of these sorts of schools is somewhat controversial, given that the practice which was traditionally passed down through family/a master craftsman (in an apprenticeship style) is now being taught conventionally in a Westernised institution.

Here is the stage set-up...

Even thought the story was [unnecessarily] told to us [by a obnoxious American woman who thinks she owns Bali because she lives here and is married to a Balinese man], it was difficult to follow, despite the fact there were parts in English. The narrative followed excerpts from either the Ramayana or Mahabharata. It had gambling, killing animals, nymphs with womanly powers, and the Jack Black/John Candy character (fat comic man). The two servant/clown characters spoke in English. It was quite funny, they commented and apologized about how bad their English was, and made some great jokes about finding an American wife, and hamburgers.

Giraffe sequence...

Moose/deer sequence...

A giant bird...

Some naughty horny monkeys...

Some even hornier rabbits...

The fellowship...

During the performance, the family dog got on stage and sat down in the middle. He hung out for a bit, then left in his own time. No one seemed to mind.

Going behind the scenes was where you saw the magic.

You got to see the master working his craft, the gamelan attentive to his moves, and the quick changes between scenes. They don’t mind you wandering around the back to check it out. I must admit, although the imagery of the shadow puppetry is beautiful and dynamic, I much preferred watching the mechanics of the show from the sidelines.



Such a wet evening! Fingers crossed it stops for tomorrow.