Wayang Listrik to stage ancient tale for modern era

Wayang Listrik to stage ancient tale for modern era - The ancient tale of a dog, A-Shu, from the closing chapters of the Mahabharata epic, which will be presented at the inaugural Jakarta International Puppet Festival (JIPF) on Nov. 16-17, resonates in today's political, religious and social climate, offering cause to reflect on the dogma of good and evil.

Performed by world-renowned shadow puppetry troupe Wayang Listrik, an arm of the Cudamani performing arts group, the story of A-Shu touches on the idea of what is an enemy and challenges our belief systems in a ""non-accusatory way"", said Cudamani stage director Emiko Saraswati Susilo.

Under the direction of internationally acclaimed Balinese director I Dewa Putu Berata, Wayang Listrik mesmerizes audiences with its mix of wayang kulit, traditional carved leather shadow puppets, and masked human dancers. The shadows created by the dancers emulate the two-dimensional forms of the shadow puppets, with the dancers' masks designed to mimic the facial characteristics and movements of the shadow puppets.

Performed against a theater-sized screen, the shadow puppets and shadow dancers are larger than life, utterly absorbing viewers in the tale of A-Shu and Yudistira, the eldest of the heroic Pendawa brothers who discovers his wife and brothers have entered Hell while his enemies have entered Heaven.

Movingly danced by I Made Widana, Yudistira's realization that everything he believed throughout his life may have been wrong, is a moment beautifully wrought by Wayang Listrik. The audience cannot fail to agonize with the character and reflect on the accuracy of hard-held notions of right and wrong, enemy or friend.

""When Yudistira discovers his enemy, the Korawas, are in Heaven, while his wife and brothers are in Hell, he cannot understand what is going on. The story is a reflection on the lives of the two warring families and their human weaknesses, despite being heroes,"" said Emiko.

""The story shows even heroes have human flaws, but it also shows their enemy may have had redeeming qualities that were overlooked by the heroes,"" she said, adding that the story of A-Shu and Yudistira is very rarely performed.

""Wayang Listrik presents this traditional story in a new way. It's a very philosophical work, with little of the warring action you see in other wayang performances. Dewa (the director) came up with the idea to do the story after 9/11 and the first Bali bombing,"" said Emiko.

She pointed out that the events of the first two years of the new millennium had a profound impact on Dewa, as they had on many people around the globe.

""Following those events, Dewa was reflecting on what it is to be a great leader, an enemy or a hero, and this story speaks loudly on our own assumptions of who is right and who is wrong,"" said Emiko. ""Wayang has always made some kind of commentary on what is happening politically and socially, but in a non-accusatory way, a reflective way,"" she continued, and due to the abstraction of wayang, the message in performances is not didactic, but rather opens doors to other ways of viewing situations.

The shadow, lighting and puppetry techniques employed by Wayang Listrik allow for stories on the scale of A-Shu to be performed almost in a cinematic fashion.

Set against the shadowed backdrops of 42 different scenes created by a team headed by 21 year-old Gusti Ratna, the puppets and dancers move between forests, homes, deserts, mountain-scapes, and Heaven and Hell, effectively placing the viewer within the changing environments of the action.

Emiko pays tribute to American puppet master Larry Reed of Shadowlight Productions who, she said, was instrumental in assisting Wayang Listrik in the techniques required to mount large-screen shadow theater. It was also due to Larry's sharing his skills that Wayang Listrik was able to create a production on this scale for the JIPF.

An 18-piece gamelan orchestra musically binds the action of the players, carrying the audience across deserts and mountains in Yudistira's search for understanding, loyally accompanied by an unwanted dog in the character of A-Shu.

""The dog is mangy and ugly, but it is ... A-Shu who is the defining character in the work. This is seen clearly towards the end of the show, but to tell would be giving the plot away,"" said Emiko.

Gamelan orchestras are traditionally at the heart of Indonesian puppetry performances, and Wayang Listrik maintains that tradition while bringing the same contemporary elements the company applies in its visual esthetic.

The gamelan composer for A-Shu is director and founder of Cudamani and Wayang Listrik, I Dewa Putu Berata.

Dewa is highly respected in the Balinese music world for his compositional skills in both traditional and innovative gamelan styles. With Cudamani, Dewa has performed in the U.S., Greece and Japan, and has also collaborated musically with Kenny Endo, Andrea Centazzo and several international dance companies.

""Musically, the production is very fine,"" said Emiko. ""The music, while based in traditional Balinese gamelan, has been recomposed -- there is a quietness...""

This ""quietness"" is almost whispered through the overlapping and haunting sound of a bamboo flute that crests and sails the swells and waves of the composition, almost like the soul of Yudistira journeying ceaselessly in his quest for understanding.

This combination of shadow puppets, shadow dancers and gamelan in Wayang Listrik's performance of A-Shu is powerful, deeply moving and beautifully formed and informed. ( thejakartapost.com )