Indonesian Theater (Wayang – Puppet Theater)

Published on 19 February 2023 at 21:35

Wayang is an Indonesian form of shadow puppetry with the storylines beautifully executed by the puppeteer. Puppets are often made of buffalo hide and are designed down to every last detail so the audience can successfully distinguish between different characters. Storylines commonly surround kings, princesses, ogres, and knights. Many plots are drawn from the Hindu mythical stories Ramayana and Mahabharata.

It has been debated whether Wayang originates from Indonesia or if it was introduced from India or China. Some argue that the jester character in every play can be connected to indigenous ancestral spirits and that carvings, puppets, and gongs are considered by some to be objects that ancestral spirits inhabit.

Wayang plays are usually viewed on important occasions like birthdays and anniversaries. They are still performed annually at the funeral site of the founders of villages. Wayang influenced European puppetry through the work of puppeteer Richard Teschner who fused the artistic qualities of wayang with Germanic technicalities in his form of Viennese puppet theatre.

Puppetry is the most prominent form of performing arts in Indonesia, and even today live acted theater performances follow patterns and stories borrowed from puppetry. Wayang is a critical part of Indonesian thinking and anthropologists have analyzed it in order to gain a better understanding of the cultural values and social structure of Indonesian people.

 

Sources cited:

Wayang Kulit: Indonesia’s extraordinary shadow puppetry tradition. Asia Society. (n.d.). Retrieved May 22, 2022, from https://asiasociety.org/new-york/wayang-kulit-indonesias-extraordinary-shadow-puppetry-tradition

The history of Indonesian puppet theater (wayang). Education. (n.d.). Retrieved May 22, 2022, from https://education.asianart.org/resources/the-history-of-indonesian-puppet-theater-wayang/

Encyclopædia Britannica, inc. (n.d.). Wayang. Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved May 22, 2022, from https://www.britannica.com/art/wayang

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