Wayang shadow theatre In Bali Part 14

In Bali, the audience is the active subject that invites the artists and also sponsors the performance. In contrast, in the West the audience is a comparatively passive entity that gains the right to watch a theatrical production by paying for admission. The patrons in Bali initiate and arrange the schedule, as well as select the artists. They provide the transportation, arrange for the food served at the event, set the performing venue and provide the fee for the performers, an amount almost never fully established in advance, which they pay immediately after the show. Balinese artists are correspondingly more economically passive than the entrepreneurial Western artists.

All artists are trained in certain specialised repertoires and performance genres, and focus on perfecting and producing their own artistry without any effort to advertise or promote the performance. Artists await the invitation and leave all issues concerning box office and marketing to the patron.

An individual or a group of people with the intention to commission a performance would, typically, first come to an artist’s house and agree with the artist on the performing arts genre to be performed. The theatre genres often commissioned include: Gambuh dance-drama with seven-toned Pelog music, Wayang Wong theatre with Slendro Batel music, Parwa dance-drama also with Slendro Batel music, Calonarang dance-drama with Gong Kebyar music, Topeng masked theatre also with Gong Kebyar music, Arja opera with Geguntangan music, Prembon with Gong Kebyar music and Wayang Kulit with its Gender Wayang music. The genres are distinguished from each other more by the form (style of dance/movement and acting, speech and diction, song repertoires, costumes, stage property and musical accompaniment) rather than by the content (story or play), although each genre implies its related repertoire of stories and the dramatic characters associated with that repertoire. At the time of commissioning a performance, however, the sponsor is concerned with the genre and not with the specific play to be performed or characters to be presented. Once an artist is hired and agrees to perform a given genre, the artist prepares the performing devices, puppets, masks, costumes, musical instruments, etc. belonging to the genre. When the sponsor wants Topeng, the artist is ready with masks; when the sponsor selects Wayang Kulit, the artist brings the puppets.

After the genre is set, the artist considers the story. Many conventions regulate the aesthetic concepts and treatment of story for each genre. The way the story will develop is regulated by the rules of the genre, but the specific plot or presentation will be moulded by the artist’s understanding of the repertoire from having viewed other performances of that play or from the artist’s own interpretation of the episode. The dramatic characters are the last features the artist considers. Although each genre has in itself an implied number of stock characters (king, prime minister, sages, prince, princess, servants, etc.), the specific identity or profile of each character can only be established after the story is selected. The story determines which kingdom is involved and who, in turn, is the king. For example, if the story selected is a Mahabharata episode in the kingdom of Amarta, Yudistira, the eldest of the five Pandava brothers will be the king. Thus, the artist typically thinks first of the genre, then moves to the story and finally thinks of the