The only other scenic properties the dalang
traditionally uses are the temple-gate candi puppet and the kepuh tree puppet.
The candi puppet represents a holy place, heaven or a meditative space and is
always found on the right side of the scene. The kepuh tree puppet represents a
cemetery. The kepuh tree is thought to be occupied by many magical evil spirits
and is conventionally placed on the left. In recent years, some of the younger
dalang have experimented with other projections, coloured lights and objects,
but this practice has not yet been fully developed and only a minority uses it.
The traditional dalang would argue, in a way that is familiar to proponents of
bare-stage Shakespeare, that the narrative alone is sufficient to trigger the
imagination of the audience and that such devices are unnecessary.
At the heart of most Wayang Kulit performances is the
close relationship between the dalang and the audience, transmitted mainly
through humour, which is often one of the key elements that determine the
success of a particular dalang. The dalang combines satirist and stand-up
comedian as he creates the central dialogue between the servants who carry the
burden of narrative and comment on it. The rich humour covers all manner of
territory including puns, malapropisms, humorous voices, comic puppet
movements, misunderstandings, mistaken identities, sexual innuendo, stupidity,
arrogance, infidelity, corruption, deliberate trans-linguistic mistakes, etc.
Even tourists and foreign media may come under his withering scrutiny. It all
depends on time, place and circumstance. It is essential that the dalang is
topical and current in his social, political and local outlook and this affects
directly the way the audience responds. Many (perhaps most) comic dialogues are
composed separately and interpolated into a variety of plays. As a dalang
expands or modifies his jokes, some improvised comic dialogues made up at a
particular performance may be retained for other performances since there are
no rules as to which comic dialogues can be used with any story. Interestingly,
the Balinese see no problem for a serious temple event, such as a purification
ceremony, to also involve a Wayang performance rich in humour: the serious and
sacred can comfortably cohabit with the secular. It is tempting to compare this
with the Elizabethan ability to switch back and forth between the holy and the
tragic to the comic. The subtle separation in Bali is achieved simply by moving
from the pre-performance ceremony in the sacred inner section of the temple to
the middle or outer temple for the performance.
The four dominant comic characters in Wayang (the
black, fat Twalen with his quick-and-sharp son Wredah, the braggart boisterous
Delem and his slow younger brother Sangut) are, however, not just clowns. In
some ways, they relate more to the philosophical clowns of Shakespeare than to the
Commedia dell’Arte counterparts to which they are often compared. These court
attendants, known as Panasar (foundation or base) characters, embody honesty
and truthfulness and suggest ways to end corruption and dishonesty (de Boer,
1987b: 79–105). These dominant comic characters in Wayang often appear as
moralistic agents who offer useful suggestions to their kings in times of
misery or pressure. Historians suggest that these servants are indigenous
Indonesian characters, since they are not part of the Indian epics but are
always dominant in Wayang shows presenting the Indian epics. These historians
also use the characters as evidence that Wayang may have originated in
Indonesia.
The ancient manuscript Darma Pawayangan asserts the
microcosmic and macrocosmic significant of these characters. In the
microcosmos, ‘Delem belongs to the point from which the heart hangs down,
Twalen to that of the liver, Wredah to that of the kidneys, and Sangut to that
of the bile’ (Hooykaas, 1973: 21–2). In the macrocosmos, they are often
identified with four aspects of the Highest Being; Twalen is the god Acintya
who occupies the black part of fire; Wredah is the god Sanghyang Tunggal who
occupies the white part of fire; Sangut is the Sanghyang Suksma who occupies
the yellow part of fire; and Delem is the god Brahma who occupies the red part
of fire. The clowns are thus in one sense aspects of the performer’s own body,
yet simultaneously they make up the cosmic fire of the High God. These comic
servants often also have a role as a saviour, interceding between humans and
God and they act as advisors to those who rule.
The common comic characters in Wayang are not all
hypocrites, impostors and cowards of the Western comic theatre tradition that,
in other ways, share some characteristics with the Balinese clowns. Rather,
they are the voice of the civilised and divine. While a set comic character in
Western comedies may appear in a few separate plays (Brigella in Commedia
dell’Arte, Karegoz in Turkish puppetry, Jan Klaasen in Dutch puppetry, Don
Christobal in Spain, Petrushka in Russia, Vasilache in Rumania, Pavliha in
Yugoslavia, Pulcinello in Italian puppetry or Policenelle in France) these
characters in Wayang always appear in each and every performance of the
Ramayana- and Mahabharata-based repertoire. It can be argued that ultimately
Wayang uses comedy to comment on society, expose negative emotions and thoughts
and suggest a better way to live. In this sense, most dalang would see that
humour serves a more serious overall function, although many of the audience
might only respond on the immediate, comic level.
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