Wayang Kulit

the unique world of myths symbols and religious beliefs most difficult to understand the puppet master, or dalang tells his story by projecting the shadows of the puppets he manipulates behind a white screen and a large lamp he plays several characters at once basically an epic narrative shifting from Old-Javanese to the High-Balinese singing and hitting a box to mark the rhythm a good dalang is a one-man-show being in turns smart funny and melancholic borrows the frame of his narrative from the great epics of Indo-Javanese tradition the Ramayana the Mahabharata although other stories may sometimes be used he then creates his own episodes usually concerning a hero's quest for a magical weapon, heavenly secret or partner the hero, accompanied by buffoons succeeds eventually after tortuous adventures in the wilderness and fights with evil giants the two sets of puppets the heroes on the right the villains on the left symbolise eternal struggle between good and evil but for the audience dalang's ability to poke fun at everyone through mouths of the buffoons is no less important than the narrative itself