" WAYANG KULIT" , It means SHADOW PUPPET. A Wayang Kulit play usually takes all night. It may begin at eight ore nine o`clock in the evening and end nine hours later. A few stories take more than one night. In many countries Shadow Puppet shows have been becoming less popular in the last fifty years, but these shows are still very popular in Java Island , Indonesia.
The dalang, who is the leader of the show , must be a clever man, He must have agood knowledge or his langguage , a good sense of humour and agood ability totell stories . There are about 400 characters and each has his or her own way of speaking. And the Dalang must sing, too. People want the Dalang to be good , and He knows that They usually want to watch the show all night if everything goes well.
We can not , of course , think of a Wayang show without Gamelan Orchestra. It helps the Dalang to make the Situations, some sad, some happy ,some seriour, some dangerous, as many kinds as you find in life.
The Pesinden or Lady singer is also someone to listen to, sometime She sing alone , sometimes to gather with The Men who play in the Gamelan Orchestra, some people think that The Pesinden is as important as the Gamelan Orchestra. They say that a Gamelan Orchestra withour her may become boring.
The Dalang sits inf front of a screen. The part of screen in front of him, the middle , is the place whe He moves the Puppets.
In some Countries several people move the Puppets but in Jave the Dalang moves all of the Puppets himself. To the left of The Dalang are the bad characters, the good ones are to his right. The Big Giants with there sharp teeth are on the left and the ksatriyas or knights on the right. Thes two sides always fight each other. The bad side may win at first but It is the good side that always wins in the end.
Most of the Wayang stories come from the Indian Books, the Maha Barata and the Ramayana. They have changed since They come here. Let us take for example the character Durna. In The Mahabarata , He is A good Theacher and a good Soldier. In The Present Javanese W ayang stories He is a clever but bad man.
The three Clowns : Semar, Garen and Petruk are not in the Mahabarata. They are the Servant of The Pandawa Family, a group of knights. During the shows these Characters appear in the early morning when every one is beginning to feel very sleepy. After many seriours fights It is good to see these Clown with their humour. People lagh and laugh , and soon They are not sleepy any more. Petrus is a tall clawn with e very long nose , Gareng a shot ones with a nose like a pingpong ball, and Semar , their Father, a short and very fat one. People who do not know wayang stories very well think. That Semar is just a servant like the others, He really has to thinas to do. He is a servant, but He is also the Man who advises the Pandawa family when They need help and He can enter the country of the Gods, and discuss things with Them.
The most serious fights happen just before the end of the play. Then the biggest of the Giants fight the strongest of the knights.
People expect that the Giants will lose , and They alsays do at about six o`clock in the morning the play ends and every one goes home but happy.
WRITTEN BY MASHURI email: mashuri2010@gmail.com
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PLEASE WELCOME TO INDONESIA MY BEAUTIFUL COUNTRY THANKS FOR READING.
