Balinese wayang parwa performance
Divinities,
Demons, Kings and Clowns:
Puppetry of India and Southeast Asia
Curated by Kathy Foley with the assistance of Michael Schuster
Wayang kulit
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Balinese wayang parwa performance |
Balinese wayang parwa puppet In
Bali, wayang kulit or wayang parwa performances are in daylight with no screen. These
daylight performances have a religious connotation and are often performed at
cremations. Balinese wayang kulit or wayang parwa shown in the illustrations above and at right represent what the shadow theatre looked like before the Islamization brought greater abstaction
to the representation of the human form. Most performances tell
of the Mahabharata which focuses on the struggle between the five noble
Pandawa brothers and their hundred Kurawa cousins. But some dalang tell
stories of indigenous heroes like the great Javanese Prince Panji, or tales of
Amir Hamzah, an uncle of Mohammed. The clowns give
caustic political commentary and with reformasi, the political movement
which ousted President Suharto, the voices of dalang have grown more
strident about social and economic inequalities existing in contemporary
Indonesia.
Wayang (Javanese for "Ghost" or
"Shadow" puppetry has existed since at least the 11th century. Legend
holds that the Islamic saints
(wali) used the art of wayang to teach religion. There
are several types of Wayang- shadow images projected on a screen (wayang
kulit-kulit means s "skin"), three dimensional rod puppetry (wayang golek)
and performances by actors
(wayang orang)
Today shadow puppetry predominates in Java and on
Bali, while rod puppetry is most popular
with the Sudanese in West Java and with the Javanese speakers along the north
coast of the island. The wayang kulit uses
two-dimensional puppets made of buffalo or goat parchment- usually between 10
and 30 inches tall. They are often
stylized representations of humans and animals. The puppets are made in
sets with many puppets- ranging from about 100 in a simple village
set up to 500 in a palace set. The "dalang"
(puppet master) narrates the story and manipulates the puppets.
Performances are hired for
weddings, circumcisions, and other life cycle celebrations. Certain dalang
are felt to be magically powerful and are hired to do exorcisms via
performance. Thousands of viewers turn up each night of the month for
performances by top puppetmasters.
