Gamelan, Dhalang, and Characterization

The puppeteer works within one of the world's most carefully organized performing arts, making possible a virtually solo performance without intermission, from around nine at night until the gray before dawn. Each play is in three parts, coordinated with three keys of music played by the gamelan ensemble. Certain standard scenes appear in a standard order, though some may be dropped. "Opening Audience" introduces the play's conflict, "Inner Palace" shows the king meeting his queen(s), and in "Outer Audience" the army is dispatched. In "Forest Clearing" the first battle scene occurs, and in "Foreign Audience" the antagonist kingdom, usually one of overseas ogres, is introduced. Concluding part one are "Foreign Outer Audience," in which the second army marches forth, and "Opening Skirmish," a battle scene between the two armies. The puppeteer chooses from among 150 musical selections, matched to scene type, character, mood, or action. (Southeast Asian Arts)

It must be noted that performances normally start around nine in the evening and finish just at dawn, eight to nine hours later, the next morning. The dhalang moves the puppets and creates their voices and dialogue, and directs the gamelan as well, but he is not expected to speak dialogue for nine hours straight. The movement of the puppets in the battle scenes, and the music that accompanies the action or provides interludes, takes up fully two-thirds of any performance. The music tempo increases during battle scenes, and is slower and more lulling in interludes. The music helps the audience know what to expect in the play, and how to interpret a specific scene. (Brandon, 1980, 51)

Although the puppeteer works only from a brief scenario, he is able to extemporize each performance, adding contemporary jokes for the clowns and molding the performance to suit the occasion and the audience. He and his supporting musicians and female singers are improvising within completely known, although exceptionally complex and subtle, artistic conventions. (Southeast Asian Arts)

A dhalang is always male. He is expected to hold to tradition, and has an honored place in the community. People will pay respected dhalangs larger sums of money to come from far away towns to conduct a wayang for a special ceremony or event. The role of dhalang is patrilineal, and a son will perform day rituals at temples and private homes until his father either gives him permission to perform at night, or dies. A dhalang is a more educated member of society, having knowledge of classical literature. Training is highly specific, and dhalangs must train for a long time to be able to manipulate the puppets correctly and sing all of the correct voices for the characters. (Hobart, 1987, 27-32)

Another way the audience knows how to interpret a scene is by analyzing the puppets in play. Puppets may be larger if they are a character of status or an oaf. The way the puppet is facing indicates attitude—a puppet whose face juts forward may indicate either boldness or arrogance. If a puppet is facing meekly downward this indicates humility. These characteristics apply whether one is viewing wayang kulit or wayang golek, but the one true way to know a puppet’s character is to see it in performance. A character may, as humans may, possess a humble nature in normal play, but when challenged may become bold. The dhalang’s voice also indicates the strength or weakness, intelligence or stupidity, and even the gender of the characters. Thus, a dhalang must be not only extremely well versed in their scripts, but must also be well aware of the nature of the characters—and there can be over one hundred and fifty puppets in any wayang kulit performance. (Keeler, 1987, 188-191)

The movements of any puppet are incredibly intricate, and movement plays a tremendous role in the characterization of a puppet.

The primary requirements of a dhalang are strength, dexterity, control, and knowledge of the characters and character types. The physical skills are effective, however, only when they are matched by the dhalang’s knowledge of the character. The choices a dhalang makes when selecting or varying basic movements such as walking or fighting are dictated by the traditional relationship between movement and character. During sections of improvised movement, or when the puppeteer is rushed, he must instinctively select the appropriate action for any given character. (Long, 1982, 22)

Wayang golek version of Hanoman, the monkey king
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