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Selecting a Play: Its Premise and Choice

Selecting a play is an indispensable first step in preparing a performance. Major elements in the process of selection are; 1) the individual preference of the dalang, 2) the ritual context in which the performance takes place, and 3) knowledge about the patrons’’

intentions or other aspects of the performance situation which will make a particular story appropriate.

The selection of a particular story is partly based on the dalang’’s individual interest and strengths. Later in this Chapter, I will discuss this aspect in greater detail

30 The 18 chronological divisions of the Mahabharata are as follows: Adi Parwa, Sabha Parwa, Wana Parwa, Wirata Parwa, Udyoga Parwa, Bisma Parwa, Drona Parwa, Karna Parwa, Salya Parwa, Sauptika Parwa, Stri Parwa, Anusesana Parwa, Santi Parwa, Aswameda Parwa, Asramawesana Parwa, Moksala Parwa, Prastanika Parwa, and Sorga Rohana Parwa.

under the section dealing with the methods a dalang uses to delivery his improvisation.

The dalang’’s personal taste will be more evident in a ceremonial-secular performance that demands more careful artistic arrangement than in the sacred-ritual-religious performance where religious commitment and devotion are more valued than art-entertainment. However, the dalang’’s inclinations are only one element in choosing a story.

A major determinant in choosing the material is the religious celebration31 during which and for which wayang is performed. A dalang is traditionally expected to elucidate (ngelampahang) the ceremony being held. For example, when the performance is held in conjunction with a cremation ceremony, a dalang is expected to explain the ritualistic arrangements surrounding the journey of a soul, what ceremony can be done (and can do) for the soul, for the family that hosts the ceremony, and for the participants. While a performance at a cremation will deal with issues of death, one for a purification ceremony will show the philosophical foundation of the purification rite and why it is

31 Religious celebration is based on the basic beliefs of Hindus in five things (Panca Srada): God, Atman spirit, Karma, Reincarnation, and Moksa heavenly eternal life. This belief demands five divergent offerings (panca yadnya): for God (dewa yadnya), for ancestor (pitra yadnya), for priest (resi-yadnya), for humans (manua yadnya), and for the lower spirits (bhuta yadnya). The complete celebration for each of the ceremonies also demands five groups of performances (panca prakara): that of the priest with complex and colorful offerings, that of the dalang with his puppetry, that of the masked theatre to play the local chronicle/myth, that of the musicians with their gamelan music repertoires, and, finally that of the singer with kidung and kakawin poetry.

needed by those born within the week of wayang (wuku wayang)32 and in other specific conditions.33

As an example dalang Wija performed Jayantaka for a family-shrine anniversary and in a connection with a contemporary political situation which had occurred in the village. The performance was held on May the 24th 2001 in conjunction with a family shrine ceremony. This type of ceremony is a typical occasion for a wayang performance for each family shrine and/or village temple. Shrine ceremonies usually occur every 210 days coinciding with an auspicious day of the Balinese Wuku calendar (see Eiseman 1996). A family shrine is a familial spiritual affiliation, where people with similar ancestral background and tradition throng every 210 days to worship their ancestors as their invisible protectors. In daily life, this spiritual affiliation conflates with the word siwa. For example, ““I need to pray here because it’’s also my mother’’s siwa, although my father’’s siwa is in that village.”” In the play, all the parties (those affiliated to Jayantaka and those affiliated to Yudistira) glorify the God Siwa as a symbol of spiritual affiliation.

In response to Kresna’’s proposition to react against Jayantaka, Yudistira says: ““I don’’t react because Jayantaka is the worshipper (bakta) of the lord Siwa. I prevent myself from being pramada ‘‘disrespectful’’ to the Lord Siwa.””

The other show on July 25th 2001 in the village of Naga Sepaha, Singaraja, north Bali, dalang Wayan Sudarma (popularly called dalang Darma) performed wayang kulit in conjunction with a tooth filing ceremony. This type of ceremony is another typical

32 Eiseman’’s two-volume of Bali: Sekala and Niskala (1996) deals with traditional calenders in Bali and explains wuku wayang.

33 Hooykaas (1973) describes conditions of a person that requires purification through the performance of the Wayang Sapuhleger story.

occasion for a wayang performance in which a dalang usually elucidates the meaning and purpose of tooth filing ritual based on a number of myths.34

In Sudarma’’s show, the tooth filing ceremony as a ceremony for human maturity serves as a reason for selecting this particular story. The dalang’’s dramatic dialogue provides hints as to the specific purpose of the ceremony and the psycho-cultural significant of the play. In the first meeting scene, Kumbayana tells his father that he has graduated but feels inferior for being unable to secure a job. He feels guilty for begging his parents for money. These are important massages for the audience and specifically for those undertaking the tooth filing ceremony that they must prepare to be financially independent from their parents. Through this ceremony Balinese adults are ritually and symbolically educated to understand that they must file six of the teeth at the top center of their mouth. Those six teeth symbolize the six internal terrorists/enemies (sad ripu) which must be aligned and brought under control. In the beginning of the fourth act, Kumbayana recommends that the five Pandawas and the 100 Korawa brothers stop playing ball and start practicing their weapons. To begin the fighting scene, Kumbayana tests his students by telling them to fight King Drupada.

The third consideration, along with personal interests and ceremonial demand, is the dalang’’s reaction to the objectives of the patron who commissions the performance.

Motives of sponsors may range from simply announcing the new name of an organization or person, to introducing a major public program, to serving in a heated political

campaign. For example, in the late 1970s, the National Birth Control Department of

34 Through a tooth filing ceremony Balinese teenagers or adults are ritually and

symbolically educated to understand that they must file six of the teeth at the top center of their mouth. Those six teeth symbolize the six internal terrorists/enemies (sad ripu), which must be aligned and brought under control.

Indonesia (BKKBN) sponsored many wayang performances to promote birth control in even the most remotest of villages. From l985-95 many wayang performances were sponsored by the National Agency for Promoting Pancasila Ideology. The selection of the story may facilitate the delivery of the sponsor’’s messages to the public; however, dalang are discouraged from allowing the sponsor’’s influence to overwhelm the performance such that they violate demands of the pre-existing story.

Dalang Sudarma thoughtfully improvised his story selection. Although he really planned to repeat the same story that I saw at Bungkulan village on the previous night, when he realized that I had come to another show he dropped the story of Baby

Gatutkaca (Jabang Tatuka) which he has planned to perform on this occasion and substituted Bambang Kumbayana in its stead. Both plays are actually appropriate for the occasion of such ceremonies for the following reasons: For the tooth filing ceremony, the cutting off of Gatutkaca’’s fang or the Kumbayana’’s maturity must be elaborately

expanded. For the wedding ceremony, the marriage of Gatutkaca’’s parent or

Kumbayana’’s vow to marry a female helper must be elaborately emphasized. Elucidating the ongoing ceremony may also be accomplished by inventing or devising additional plots that link the religious-cultural phenomenon to the main story. Using his comic servants dalang Sudarma is very good at integrating additional plots into the main plot.

The literary source of selecting a play is the active repertoire and potential

reservoir.35 Active repertory includes all written pakem plays and stories. I have collected and transcribed 100 pakem balungan in my manuscript, Top Fifty Active Stories (50 Lakon Teraktif Masa Kini). Most performances are based on stories in the existing active

35 I use the term ‘‘potential and active repertoire’’ following Kathy Foley (l979) who uses these terms in her dissertation on Wayang Golek theatre in West Java.

repertoire. More rarely a dalang may select a story from the potential reservoir. This potential repertory derives from all the potential sources of wayang. To understand this wider repertory the reader may conveniently refer to the many kakawin mentioned by Zoetmulder in his book, Kalangwan: A Survey of Old Javanese Literature (1974) (also see the Appendix A: Other relevant dramatic literature).

Most contemporary dalang do not slavishly imitate the play they may borrow from another dalang. The majority of dalang adopt some things from other dalang, but they do not perform it in exactly the same way even though they may adhere to the same story. Dalang will modify the story they select in accordance with the performing

contexts. Inspired by their understanding of kakawin, gaguritan, and viewing of the same episode as rendered by a number of different dalang, most contemporary dalang rework whatever story they select, integrating other elements, plot ideas they have, or

performance techniques that appeal to them as they construct their play. As a result each dalang using his/her distinctive resources, makes each show unique and his/her own.