Page Four

Lakon

Lakon refers to the plays themselves. Plays are not written down in western script form, but are passed on in an oral tradition through families of dhalang. The stories themselves almost always refer to mythological gods or ancestors, with a little creative license thrown in. Since the dhalang does not have to follow a prescribed text, he can insert his own personality into the evening.

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Seen from the back side, the dhalang hard at work during a performance, the gamelan players supporting the performance with their rhythmic, and at times, haunting music.

Plays are set in mythological times, some relating to indigenous animistic festivals and worship of local spirits, some directly dramatizing episodes from the Ramayana and Mahabharata epics, while the majority—the Pandawa (Pandav in Sanskrit) cycle of about 100 plays—are essentially Javanese creations in which the five heroic Pandawa brothers are placed in different situations. Three and sometimes four god-clown-servants and a set of ogre-antagonists who are not in the epics at all suggest how far removed the shadow plays are from the epics. Formula narrative phrases describe famous kingdoms and characters, and battles are preceded by challenges couched in standard phrases. (Southeast Asian Arts)

Additionally, the lakon do not operate on western, or Aristotelian, principles. There is no neat beginning, middle, and end—the dhalang may take a story from home front to battle field, to a time period in the past to the conclusion of the battle, back to the home, back to the middle of the battle, etc. There is some framework within which each lakon operates, but the dhalang tailors each performance to suit the political situation, audience or celebration. Recent innovations included stories tailored to propaganda in the 1940’s, and as Christianity became more acceptable in the Hindu-based society, the newest lakon depicted the passion of Christ. Newer lakon also tended to follow a more Aristotelian story line.

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Another picture, close up, of an artists version of Hanoman, the monkey king.

Honorable, noble characters have faces much like these. Long narrow noses point downward meekly, other features, such as the eyes, are finely drawn, and the character exhibits more noble movement.

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This character, Kumba Karna, exhibits characteristics of a more crude nature. The large bulbous eyes and chunky nose, as well as the fact that the character is not facing direct profile, indicate his rough-hewn nature.

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All photos on this page courtesy www.indonesianshadowplay.com