Critical Thinking, Community and the Arts in Southeast Asia

10 Things You Should Know About: Wayang Kulit

By Soultari Amin Farid and ArtsEquator | June 27, 2022 | 5 minutes of reading

For the latest part of our popular 10 Things You Should Know series,
we delve into the world of Wayang Kulit performances that are
popular across Southeast Asia. This series on Malay cultural forms
is commissioned by Wisma Geylang Serai.

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10 Things You Should Know is a series of short animated videos on aspects of
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In our latest video of the series, we share 10 facts on Wayang Kulit, a shadow
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puppetry performance popular in numerous regions across Southeast Asia.
The text below includes facts compiled by Soultari Amin Farid for a more
thorough exploration of this art form.

10 Things You Should Know About: Wayang Kulit

This video is also available on Youtube.

1. Wayang Kulit is a shadow puppetry tradition that is found in maritime

Southeast Asia. It is believed to have been introduced to the region from India
with the spread of Hinduism as evident from the texts that have traditionally
inspired the stories of the Wayang Kulit. There are few versions of Wayang Kulit
in the region: the most studied and popularly known is the Javanese one and
others include the Wayang Kulit Siam of Kelantan, Malaysia and the Nang Taung
of southern Thailand, as well as the huge static variants such as the Nang Yai
of Thailand and Nang Sbek of Cambodia.

2. The practice involves the enactment of puppets by the puppet master,

known as the dalang, who is most often a respectable male figure and he sits at
close distance facing a white screen called the kelir. A light source which is
traditionally an oil lamp hangs above him so that he is able to cast the shadows
of the puppets onto the screen to narrate the story to an audience who is
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sitting on the other side of the screen.
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3. The dalang
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stories with live music accompaniment consisting of an ensemble of gamelan
musicians sitting behind him. He cues the ensemble with the kepyak, a cymbal-
like percussion instrument, placed at his feet. As the orator, he must also
master more than a hundred voices of different characters and their
temperaments to help tell the story.

4. Wayang Kulit is ideally performed in an open air theatre, when it is dark

enough for the source of light to cast shadows upon the screen. The
performance may last for hours and shown in phases with its continuation to
happen in subsequent days.

5. The puppets are made from cured cowhide and the puppet handles that are
fastened to these flat figurines are made of cow horns. Each puppet is unique
with specific differences in the shape of eyes, nose as well as the colours and
shades painted onto the puppets to distinguish it from other characters and to
define its personality.

6. These puppets are carved out from the imagination of puppet-makers who
integrate indigenous aesthetics with the descriptions of characters inspired by
the stories that came from ancient Indian texts. Wayang stories borrowed
characters from local myths, Indian epics and heroes from Persian tales. Some
of the popular texts that shaped the corpus of traditional Wayang Kulit stories
were the Indian epics of Mahabharata and Ramayana as well as the East
Javanese Panji cycles. Although these stories have their own adapted and
localised versions, the bulk of the stock characters remain very similar.

7. Sceneries are also carved out to become shadowed entities in the Wayang
Kulit. The most important and prominent is the Gunungan (mountains), or
known by other names in the nusantara such as Kayon (tree) or the Pohon
Beringin (banyan tree). This conical mountain-tree structure inherently depicts
life and consists of intricate designs of a stylised tree. Often it includes animals
and mythological creatures that are symbolically regarded as sacred.

8. The Gunungan is usually featured in the beginning and the end of a

performance. It also functions as an entry point to bring people into a world of
fascinating stories and characters. Other than that, it is used to depict a

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mountain, a cave, a forest or obstacles that hinder the journey of characters.
When it is waved in circles, it gives an impression of a huge fire or
thunderstorm.
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characters.

9. The Wayang Kulit of today acts as a bridge to an age-old tradition that is

gradually evolving to incorporate new stories with characters that are more
relevant to today’s multicultural and globally attuned audiences. It is no surprise
to see puppets of familiar superheroes such as Superman and Batman appear
as guest puppets in adapted stories.

10. Regardless of the innovation of stories, favourite stock characters of

yesteryears such as Rama, Sinta, Arjuna, Hanuman and others, continue to
resonate with an intergenerational audience. This proves that Wayang Kulit
despite it being a traditional art form, continues to be a tradition that is
adaptable and ever-evolving.

Resource List:
[1] “Wayang Kulit: Indonesia’s Extraordinary Shadow Puppetry Tradition” by Asia
Society

https://asiasociety.org/new-york/wayang-kulit-indonesias-extraordinary-
shadow-puppetry-tradition

[2] “The shadow puppet theatre of Malaysia : a study of wayang kulit with
performance scripts and puppet designs” by Beth Othnes (2010)

https://catalogue.nlb.gov.sg/cgi-
bin/spydus.exe/FULL/WPAC/BIBENQ/347628603/88317596,0

[3] “Dimensions of Shadow Play in Malay Civilisation” by Faridah Noor Mohd

Noor (2006)

https://catalogue.nlb.gov.sg/cgi-
bin/spydus.exe/FULL/WPAC/BIBENQ/347628603/773004,26

[4] “A Wayang Kulit of Our Own” by OffStage Esplanade

https://www.esplanade.com/offstage/arts/a-wayang-kulit-of-our-own

[5] “Wayang kulit with a superhero twist” by Casaandra Wong (August 19, 2017)

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https://www.todayonline.com/entertainment/wayang-kulit-superhero-twist
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[6] “Wayang, The World of Shadows and Puppets” by Asian Traditional Theatre
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& Dance

https://disco.teak.fi/asia/wayang-the-world-of-shadows-and-puppets/
10 Things You Should Know is the first of a series of videos on Malay culture
and heritage, created by ArtsEquator and commissioned by Wisma Geylang
Serai. It is a continuation of an earlier series by ArtsEquator, featuring Dikir
Barat, Nanyin and Kavadi Attam, which you can check out here.

The videos in this series are sponsored by Wisma Geylang Serai. The money
earned from paid advertising goes towards covering ArtsEquator’s running
costs and paying our writers and content creators. We have a strict policy
regarding which content which can and cannot be sponsored. To read more
about our editorial policy, please go here.

Tags: 10 things 10 Things Malay Culture Malay culture Wayang Kulit

About the author(s)

Soultari Amin Farid

Website

Muhd Noramin Mohd Farid (Soultari) is a

choreographer, arts educator and researcher from
Singapore. He received his Doctorate in Theatre and
Dance studies (2021) from Royal Holloway, University
of London, UK. He is a recipient of the ASEAN-India
Youth Award (2018), Singapore Youth Award (2017),
National Arts Council Scholarship (2017) and Goh Chok
Tong Mendaki Youth Promise Award (2016). Amin is
the Joint-Artistic Director of Bhumi Collective, a
multidisciplinary performing art and producing
company. He writes occasionally for Arts Equator,
Straits Times and the Esplanade Theatres by the Bay.

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