Saturday Museum visits: Part 2 Museum Wayang

The other museum we visited that day was the Museum Wayang.

Wayang is a generic word for theater but this is not the traditional human performed theater we usually think of today. Wayang is puppet theater.  Experts debate whether puppetry originated in Indonesia or was introduced.

Wayang kulit (shadow puppet) theater is the focus of the museum though other types of puppets and puppets from other parts of the world like China, Vietnam, India, Cambodia and Europe are also on display. Indonesian shadow puppets tend to be the most intricate.  A tour guide suggested we use the light on our phones to create the shadow. (More about the "guide" later.) It worked very well. This is the shadow created by a puppet from Cambodia.

In contrast, this is the shadow from an Indonesian puppet. The picture isn't very good but if you look closely, you can see far more intricate carving especially at the top.

This photo shows it better. This is the Tree of Life puppet character and shadow.

Wayang kulit uses 2D puppets and light and shadow to tell a story. Traditional shadow puppets are created from buffalo hides mounted on bamboo sticks.  Additional sticks work the arms. It can take 3-6 months to create a shadow puppet. Buffalo hide is used because it does not crack and the colors don't fade. We were able to see one puppet that is 400 years old and definitely does not look it's age.

During the performance, the stage  is dark and the audience sees shadows cast by lights striking the puppet forms. The play is accompanied by musicians playing Gamelans.They are colorfully decorated with plant dyes even though the audience doesn't see the color. The color is there to help with rapid ID by the puppet master (dalang) during the performances. There is only one puppet master working a story. He does have several assistants. 

By the 1800s shadow puppetry was not used as much. Rod puppets known as Wayang Golek were favored. These characters are 3D and can be performed in daylight.

A typical Wayang story will have 120-200 puppet characters. Shows can last hours and hours. Here is a typical cast for one performance of Wayang Golek:

Closeups of the "good" and "bad" characters:

The good vs. bad characters are visually different but even individual characters can be distinguished by the different nose, eye and ear shape. Here are eye (mata) and nose (hidung) ID charts:

There are even larger puppets, like this puppet character known as the "white monkey."  I'm pretty sure these require one puppeteer per puppet.These are pretty large.

About the "tour guide"
Immediately on entering the museum a man said he was a volunteer tour guide and he started telling us all about the puppets. He said he was from a generations old family that created the puppets.Turned out it was the truth. B saw his photo at the airport in a display about Wayang. What we didn't like was that he kept on talking. As we finished up at the museum he wanted to take us to his studio to show us his work. We declined as we were not interested in buying a puppet.

UNESCO named Wayung Kulit (shadow puppet theater and best known of the Indonesian Wayang as a Masterpiece of Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity. In return, Indonesia must preserve this heritage. Current dalang and puppet makers are usually descended from older puppeteers and have been trained by their elders.  It is rare that someone other than a multi-generation family creates the puppets.