Wayang shadow theatre In Bali Part 2

Before the puppet performance, the ceremony is, as always, in full swing with large numbers of villagers milling around the outer and middle courtyard in particular. In the inner courtyard, villagers gather to pray and to present offerings. During the short ceremony, the worshippers place flowers behind their ears as a gateway to the gods and they are blessed with holy water. This ceremonial aspect is an important prelude to the performance as it is a conditioning into the more serious purification process of which the Wayang itself is a part. The offerings contain fruits, flowers, chicken, pork, incense and rice. There is no absolute rule, but generally men use white and fairly neutral-coloured clothes for attending the temple, whereas women wear bright colours such as pink, blue, orange and

green. Women carry the offerings sometimes on their heads and sometimes in baskets or in metal containers.

Everyone finds a place on the concrete floor to pray as they sit and remove their shoes. Each person puts a small offering of flowers (needed for praying) and incense next to them on the ground, usually displayed on bases made out of banana leaf. Some people prepare small bunches of flowers arranged on a cone made of banana leaf. As the ceremony progresses, an allfemale gamelan orchestra plays in the background and a female singer sings into a microphone. After the holy water blessing at the end, the priest gives out rice to the attendants to distribute to the worshipers, who stick the rice onto their foreheads and throats as a sign that they have been purified and blessed. Putting the rice on the forehead signifies a request to the gods to

bless your mind and on the throat is a request to the gods to bless your heart. Once the rituals are complete, the villagers head off to watch the other events around the temple. 

While this ceremony is taking place, the dalang and his team are preparing for the performance that will follow. This dalang has a larger than usual retinue of assistants and, unusually, two trucks and a minibus to transport his equipment and staff; this is an indication of his commercial success and popularity. The orchestra’s instruments are all arranged in a specific pattern and order behind where the dalang will sit, in the centre of the screen 60cm away from it. The screen is made of white, cotton cloth and suspended within a wooden frame that is painted red and gold, decorated with carved animal faces painted in pink, red and green. At the base of the screen on the dalang’s side is a log of a banana tree into which puppets can be stuck at various points during the performance, as the interior is soft. The screen itself and the platform that the dalang and musicians sit on are raised above the level of the concrete ground on which the audience will sit, so it resembles a low Western stage. However, what is entirely different and unique about the performance that will soon follow is that it can be viewed from multiple perspectives. It is not just in-the-round theatre, as the villagers may watch from the front, as though viewing a proscenium stage or from the back where they will not see shadows but the entire back-stage performance of musicians, dalang and his assistants. It is also possible to see from the side that allows partial view of both perspectives and spectators are allowed to move around from time to time and witness from different points as the performance progresses. The audience who stay at the front have an entirely different viewing experience from those at the rear.

The area behind the screen is crowded with musical instruments, electrics and sound-system cables, musicians and microphones on stands for the three female singers/narrators that will support the dalang and four assistants. These assistants will pass puppets back and forth, operate light and sound cues, prepare small props and help the dalang by passing water to him to drink and mop his brow. This is unusual as most dalang work alone on the narrative aspects of performance and are supported only by two assistants, one on each side. For this performance, a maze of entangled wires is everywhere, some connected to a home-made dimming system constructed from domestic light-dimmer switches. Above the screen is a small oil lamp that is mainly there as a decorative token reference to the oil light that usually illuminates the whole show. This dalang favours an electric source light that fits more comfortably with his use of special effects, with coloured lights and a smoke machine that is suspended in the centre at the top of the shadow screen. Within this packed, small area behind the screen the real drama will take place as the performance begins.

A high-pitched note from the gong strikes to indicate the beginning of the shadow performance and to get the attention of the audience. The lights behind the screen are turned off as a signal that all is about to begin. There are now already about 60 onlookers watching the preparations behind the screen, some gently pushing each other to get a better view from behind black, short curtains that extend a metre and a half above the ground and partially separate, without obscuring the view of, the performers from the observers at either side of the screen at the rear. In the main audience area in front of the screen, about 200 villagers are finding places to sit on the concrete ground. The singer and gamelan begin to establish the atmosphere by playing an overture. The music progresses with an interplay between the vocal singing of the three female narrator/singers and the instrumental music.

 Instruments

1 Riong

2 Kepyak (bamboo flutes) x 8

3 Ceng ceng Kopyak (big cymbals) x 6

4 Kantil x 2

5 Gangsa x 2

6 Gender Rambat x 2

7 Kajar (top) and Tambur (bottom)

8 Three medium drums

9 Two small drums

10 Area for women chorus (3) and musical equipment

11 Puppet box

 12 Smoke machine, with oil lamp on top

13 Modern theatre light for special effects and additional red and green light

14 Ornate screen Kelir

15 Calung x 2

16 Klentong (small upright gong)

17 Kempur

18 Gong

19 Klenang (small flat gong)

20 Rincik (small ceng ceng)

Black boxes represent the musicians.

A Dalang

B Left assistant

C Back assistant

D Middle assistant

E Right assistant

The dalang enters the performance space and commences an offering ritual. He takes his position on a small bench and concentrates on the ritual. An assistant has prepared the offerings that sit on top of the puppet box. The dalang’s offering ritual includes lighting incense, praying, offering flowers to the gods and sprinkling holy water and rice on himself, the stage and the screen; he also places petals on his head and on the light box. After the dalang has completed the offering, the assistants also pray and bless themselves with holy water and rice. The clearing of the offerings follows as the flowers and other items are removed from above the box and out of the performance space.

At this point, the assistants unlock the puppet box and carefully bring out the puppets. One helps to untangle puppets while the others help to separate the puppets according to side of entry, as evil characters are taken to the left side of the screen and the good ones are taken to the right (as described earlier in this chapter). The assistants empty the box of puppets and place some against the screen and lay some on the floor by their sides. The overall effect is of a full company of actors appearing on stage at the top of a show. Although not all the puppets will necessarily be used during every performance, they all belong to the story. By the end of preparations, there are about 20 puppets on either side of the screen, framing the all-important Tree of Life puppet in the centre and the other Tree of Life puppets that have different designs, according to their later functions. After 15 minutes of overture, the dalang establishes his presence from behind the screen with

a sharp tap on the hinged side of the puppet box using the rattle that he holds with his right foot. The dalang swirls the Tree puppet around the screen, ritually to begin the performance, and then introduces the main characters one by one until the screen is cleared of the cast. As they are rapidly introduced, the orchestra plays and sometimes the female narrators sing. As soon as the Tree puppet appears, the audience fall silent for a few moments. The dalang of this performance also incorporates a flashing white light from the back and smoke effects from an electric smoke machine. He sometimes uses this effect when he needs to change the character that is on the screen, as it gives an illusion of the character transforming into another, rather than simply being exchanged for another. The audience applauds happily when they see these simple, but effective, special effects. The Tree of Life is the last puppet left and begins the dance again. This time the lights are more embellished. The music becomes louder and the red lights are darker and more intense, smoke effects suddenly appear as the dalang quickly exchanges the Tree of Life puppet with other, scenic, background puppets. The scene is transformed and set for the story and narration to commence. Throughout this preliminary sequence, the audience in front of the screen has already swollen to about 1,500 and the area is packed, with additional villagers standing in rows at the side of the sitting audience. At the rear of the screen, over a hundred observers are jostling to get a better look at the action of the performers.

It is now past 9:40 p.m. and the story itself not yet begun. The excitement in the audience builds in anticipation. These long preliminar sequences, from the blessing ceremony in the inner temple to the rituals

backstage and the musical overture, are an essential part of the performance process; the story that will follow is completely integrated into the other aspects of temple and village life. The morals and meanings buried within the story are automatically understood in this context and need little highlighting by the dalang. In addition, the enjoyment of the performance is increased and heightened by this ritualistic and ceremonial conditioning process, as the villagers have had time to anticipate the pleasures that will come.

The dalang now begins the main, long evening of work as he tells the story through the sequences and events described generically earlier in the chapter. Throughout the performance, the audience in front of the screen grows larger, reaching at its peak around 2,000, including a full range of villagers from babies to their grandparents. Generally, it is a male audience standing around the perimeter and the women and children and some men sitting in the centre. Gales of laughter punctuate numerous scenes with the servant/clown puppets, which carry the main burden of telling the story. In between the traditional scenes are local and contemporary jokes and references, sometimes drawn out for long periods by the dalang by techniques of exaggeration, repetition and pauses; he is clearly enjoying the control he has of the event. His assistants, on either side and behind, frantically pick up and pass the puppets back and forth. He cleverly blends verbal humour and comic voices with deft manipulation of the puppets, sometimes moving them subtly and at other times sweeping them energetically across the screen; his special effect coloured lights and smoke enhance the moments of transformation and drama in an innovative and theatrical way. Perspiration pours from him as he uses immense physical energy in controlling the orchestra by beating his foot and hand against the puppet box, constant speaking and singing and manipulation of dozens of different puppets, some comic characters such as Delem requiring additional manipulation of a mouth that can move along with the words.

The frenzied performance reaches a climax in the final fighting or battle scene between Hanoman and the giant demon. During this sequence, puppets are actually hurled across the screen, some with specific weapons alongside them, as the orchestra builds the tempo to the cues of the dalang. Unusually, this dalang keeps the battle short and it is over within a few minutes, whereas many more traditional dalang elongate it to more than double the length. The audience all know that the Wayang is nearly complete and some then begin to head off home at the end of a long night. The performance quickly comes to an end, close to midnight, with final social comments about present state of life in Bali and the defeat of the evil demon, who is not killed but transformed into a priest.

From the prayers at the beginning of the evening to the transformation of the demon at the end, the purification focus of the temple events has been clear. The performance was a part of an overall scheme and not a separate element in itself. In many ways, the dalang has combined the function of priest and entertainer and reinforced messages about the way the worl should be. The Wayang shadow performance demonstrates extraordinary technical skill and individual, virtuoso performance abilities, but it is also aform of profound and fascinating storytelling that allows intellectual and emotional creativity to flourish. The outer structure is at first sight rigid, but within that framework this dalang, like so many others, has demonstrated a wide range of individual choice, taste and personally developed skill, it is not a central figure that is the focus of performance, but the overall ritual experience of an event. In Sanghyang, the individual performer is not concerned with demonstration of technique or depiction of character. Unlike Wayang, this form, although aesthetically pleasing to the outside observer, is concerned with devotion and intense religious experience for villagers and performers. Unlike Wayang there is in effect no narrative and no concern with entertaining and communicating with colloquial interspersions to the worshippers. Sanghyang is far removed from Western theatre and most other Balinese performance traditions.