John Michael Gian

Indonesian Theater

John Michael Gian

 Content
Introduction sOrigin

Elements of Wayang Kulit

Elements of Performance

Common Character
 Introduction
• Wayang refer to kinds of
puppet theaters, sometimes
the puppet itself is referred to
as wayang.
• Performances of shadow
puppet theaters are
accompanied by a Gamelan
orchestra in Java, and by
Gender Wayang in Bali.
• Wayang Kulit, or shadow
puppets, are without a doubt
the best known of the
Indonesian Wayang.
• Kulit means skin, and refers
to the leather construction of
the puppets that are carefully
shaped with very fine tools
and supported with carefully
shaped buffalo horn handles
and control rods.
 Origin:
The shadow theatre has existed, in the lands between Turkey and
China.
 Indonesian shadow puppet performances originated in India
 Came to Bali from Java between the 11th and 14th centuries.
An 11th century Balinese royal inscription mentions a wayang
performance.
Earliest record: Central Java, 907 AD with story: Bimmaya
Kumara
 In Bali, Wayang Kulit performances are sacred and form part of
many ceremonies in village and family temples.
3 functions : instructive, entertaining and religious.
 Elements of a Wayang Kulit
Show Puppets

Puppetee
r
“Dalang”
 The Performance
• The audience is the most important person in
a Wayang Kulit performance.
• The dalang prepared all the materials used
like the cloth and the light for the shadow.
• The puppet on the right side signifies the good
character, on the left hand side is the bad.
• The open space between them, about 2
meters wide , represents the stage.
 Elements of
Performance
• The Dalang:
o Is the puppeteer
o He is characterize by his being creative, humorous, and
flexible.
o He manipulates the puppets, sings, and taps out signals to
the orchestra.
o He also speak the parts of all the characters.
o The used of voice interchangeable is the main ability of
dalang.
o He give more life to a different characters.
o The dalang is also the chief performance who told a story to
the accompaniment of several instruments, including the
present-day Gamelan ensemble
Elements of Performance
(Stage)
Kelir

Blencong

Puppet

Gawang

Gedebog

Cempala

Dhalang
Kothak
Suluk are never accompanied by the full gamelan ensemble (mood songs).
Often a single instrument accompanies the singer, never more than three or four.
Gamelan ensemble is comprised mainly by bronze percussion instruments, augmented by
other percussion instruments, strings, and flute. A full Javanese gamelan ensemble consists of:
a. saron - xylophone of heavy bronze bars
b. gender - bronze xylophone with resonance chambers beneath
c. bonang - set of bronze bowls
d. gong and kempul – hanging gongs
e. kenong and ketuk – single inverted bronze bowl
f. gambang – wooden xylophone
g. rebab – two-stringed fiddle
h. suling – flute
i. kendang – horizontal drum beat with the fingers on both ends
j. tjelempung – a zither of thirteen double strings
 
The Ramayana is a popular story to tell with
shadow puppets. Here are some of the
characters from the Ramayana:
Garuda
Rama
Sit
a
Hanuman
Raksasa
Ravana
In addition:
Wayang Kulit as one of “the grandfathers”
of modern cinema.
1. It is the shadow puppet of
Indonesia.
a. Kabuki c. Peking Opera
b. Nang d. Wayang Kulit
2.The Indonesian shadow puppet
theater shows are based on the
stories of .
a. Biag Ni Lam-ang
b. Nagarakretagama
c. Ramayana and Mahabharata
d. The Tale of the Heike
3. The puppeteer of Java,
Indonesia is called
.
a. Blencong c. Gawang
b. Dalang d. Kothak
4. The performances of shadow
puppet theaters are accompanied by
the music of .
a. Gamelan c. Piano
b. Guitar d. Rondalla
5. Indonesian puppet theaters are
performed with shadows that are cast on a
.

a. cotton screen and an oil lamp

b. Japanese paper and lampshade
c. Tarpaulin and spotlight
d. Transparent plastic and flashlight