DID U KNOW?

Theatre seems to pervade Javanese life. Whenever westerners speak of polite Javanese encounter, with its elaborately orchestrated conversations and choreographed gestures, they fall almost instantly into theatrical metaphors.
But in all dramaturgy, the shadow play stands out as the preeminent art form in Java.

Other varieties of performing ARTS:
topeng – dance with masks
langen mandra wanaran – a performance in which players sing, but gesture only from a kneeling position

INTERESTING FACTS:

a. SHADOW PLAYS & SOCIAL SCIENCE
Wayang Kulit’s influence on other traditional art forms is great.
Much of the court dance tradition consists not only of stories adapted from the shadow play tradition, but also of movements modeled after those of its flat leather puppets.

In fact, such dance is called wayang wong: a human shadow play

When in conversation Javanese speak of someone showing up or leaving a place, they often illustrate the point with a particular gesture.
They hold one hand in front of their chests, fingers pointing upward and the back of the hand facing outward. They then move their arm to the side, raising and lowering it slightly.
The gestures are reflected in the way a puppet moves across the screen.

JAVANESE SHADOW PLAYS, JAVANESE SELVES by Ward Keeler

b. STAGES OF THE PERFORMANCE
Traditionally a performance starts soon after sunset, at about 7.30 p.m., and continues without a break until dawn, at about 6 a.m.

The Wayang Kulit performance is viewed from almost all angles.
In the past there was a tendency to separate the audience according to gender: Women sat facing the screen onto which the shadows were projected
Men sat on the other side with the dalang where they could see the actual puppets.

Private performances:
Hosts & guests view from inside the house, i.e facing the screen
Guests were given a choice to watch either fron the yard, under the stars or inside the house with the dalang.

SHADOW THEATRE IN JAVA, the puppets, performance and repertoire


c. CATEGORIES OF CHARACTERS
character type:
Luruh – refined knight, polite
Lanyap – aggressive
Gagah – muscular
Gusen – generalized
Simians – monkey
Dhugelan – clown

Stature
A large stature symbolizes great physical strength, a violent nature or a lack of self control. This is in contrast to well-proportioned medium size figures, which do posess self control and finesse. Sizes vary from 23 cm to more than 100 cm.
A slim, small body is the indication of refinement. The bodies of moderate characters are medium sized (pideksa), bodies of coarse characters are largest and most heavy (ageng inggil)



Face
Personality is portrayed with the face, especially through the shape of the eyes and the nose. There is great variation in eyes, noses, mouths and shapes of bodies occurring in all sorts of combinations which result in detailed individual expressions.
There are at least 13 different shapes of eyes and noses.

CHARACTERS
The noble:
- elongated, slanted eyes, appearing half closed (liyepan, or jaitan, ‘sewn together’, or gababan, ‘like a grain of rice’)
- a lincip (long pointed) nose
- the mouth is half closed , and the teeth are visible

The intermediary:
- eyes shaped like kedelen (soya beans), rounder than liyepan, but still elongated
- the nose is long and ‘well-shaped’ (sembada) and slightly turned up at the end.

The coarse:
- physically powerful and violent type
- round wide-open eyes (telegan, or with a round pupil)
- base of nose is strongly accentuated, nose is bulbous
- mouth is open in a grin, with the fat lips revealing two rows of teeth, including incisors

Wayang Kulit, Shadow Puppets Characters

5 brothers of Pandawa

Yudhistira (first son)

Bima (second son)

Arjuna (third son)

Nakula (4th son)

Sadewa (5th son)

The Pandawa, especially Arjuna, are always accompanied by their five loyal servants clown by the name of panakawan: Semar, a very fat man with big belly and enormous buttock; and his sons Gareng, with his misshapen arms and cross-eyes; Petruk, a tall man with a very long nose; Topog and Bagong, with a squat body and very big eyes. Semar’s sons have been brought to life by their father’s practice of meditation.
They live in the village of Karang Kabolotan, bolot means human body's dirt. Panakawan (pana means ‘clear vision, clever’ and kawan means ‘companion’), thus, those who have clear vision and that can give a wise advice. Although they are only servants, with ugly faces and disproportional bodies, they are very wise and good advisers.