Ki Enthus Susmono offers innovative puppetry performance

Ki Enthus Susmono offers innovative puppetry performance

Suherdjoko, The Jakarta Post, Semarang

The younger generation mostly considers wayang (shadow play with
leather puppets) dull and boring.

Yet, that is apparently not so in the case of performances by
noted puppeteer Ki Enthus Susmono from Tegal, Central Java.

His recent performance in the auditorium of state radio
station RRI Semarang proved so. The audience, who were mostly
students of elementary and junior and senior high schools, did
not leave the venue until the two-hour show had completely ended.

And that was not all. Throughout the show, laughter and
applause were often heard in response to the puppeteer's
performance.

It was not because of the language he used -- Javanese.
Instead it was due to the stunning theatrical performance of the
wayang show.

In the hands of Enthus, who is also known as a dhalang
gendheng or dhalang edan (mad puppeteer), the puppets undeniably
look very alive. They can fly into the air beautifully, kick
energetically, avoid attacks nicely, or even jump into the
audience in an amusing way.

The accompanying music, too, usually played by some 75
musicians, was no less interesting. It did not simply consist of
gamelan music, as in a conventional wayang performance, but also
involved music produced by modern musical instruments like the
keyboard and drums.

"I just don't want to be dictated to by the so-called pakem or
the dramatic conventions of wayang performance. I can construct
my own pakem. To me, it's the philosophy that matters in
puppetry," Enthus said.

That is also the reason why Enthus can open his performance
with almost any scene -- not always with what is called the jejer
scene, which portrays, climatically, scenes of war.

Enthus can start his performance with a war scene or the
comical scene of Limbuk-Cangik, humorous dialog between two
wayang characters, Limbuk and Cangik, which represents grassroots
society. This particular scene is usually played as an intermezzo
in a conventional wayang performance.

In terms of language, too, Enthus does not restrict himself to
high Javanese. Instead, he often uses languages that conventional
puppeteers might consider as coarse. Javanese in Banyumas, Tegal,
or Semarang dialect, Indonesian or slang are not unusual in
Enthus' wayang performances.

The way he moves the puppets, too, is an integral part of the
dialogs. Instead of using long, boring speeches, he incorporates
it into meaningful movements of the puppets. It is as if he
changes the pakeliran (screen) into a film screen in which he is
the director and the puppets are the players.

Many have referred to his style as the pesisiran (coastal)
style, which is completely different to the mainstream Yogyakarta
and Surakarta styles.

The fact that he has been addressed as Ki Enthus Dhalang Saka
Tegal (or puppeteer Ki Enthus of Tegal) indicates his coastal
style of Javanese shadow puppet performance.
"I want this particular style to become a kind of virus that will
quickly infect other puppeteers," he said, laughing.

Besides language, the difference between the pesisiran style
and that of Yogyakarta or Surakarta also lies in the puppets
themselves. Although most of the puppets used still have the same
appearance, those in the pesisiran style mostly have much
brighter colors.

Enthus, too, has created some 500 to 600 new wayang characters
for his play. These include military tanks, helicopters,
Superman, and other comic strip heroes. In a performance held in
East Java, for example, he once portrayed then East Java Governor
Basofi Sudirman.

On other occasions he presented the characters of world
leaders like George W. Bush or Saddam Hussein.

It is probably because of these innovative steps that Ki
Enthus' play is more easily accepted among younger people and
schoolchildren. One thing is for sure: It is because of this he
is also often nicknamed Dhalang mbeling (naughty puppeteer).

Originally from Dampyak village, Kramat subdistrict, Tegal,
who grew up mostly in the village of Bengle, Talang subdistrict,
Tegal, where he runs Sanggar Satria Laras, Enthus was born to a
puppeteer family.

His father, Ki Sumaryodihardjo, was a noted puppeteer in
Tegal, while his elder brother, Sudirman, is one of the most
popular puppeteers in Pemalang, also in Central Java.

His skill in puppetry was learned mainly from his father.

"My father always reminds me to insert religious messages into
my plays. And I have done so to date," said Enthus, who also
claims to have received support from noted Muslim cleric, poet,
and culturalist Musthofa Bisri, or Gus Mus as he is
affectionately called, from Rembang, Central Java.

That accounts for why he often brings in qasidah, religious
chants in Arabic sung to the rhythm of the gambus (a kind of six-
stringed, plucked instrument of Arabic origin), in his
performance. He even requires his sinden (singers), of which
there are usually eight, to cover their heads while performing in
his plays.

Strong criticism has, however, been aimed at him, especially
regarding the way he performs wayang and the language he uses.

What is his response?

"What matters to me is that the messages we want to convey
through the performance reach the target audience. Please don't
analyze a wayang performance in terms of its individual
components," said father of four, Enthus.

Thanks to his innovation, he was elected best performer during
the Central Java Professional Puppeteer Festival held in
Surakarta last year. He was also awarded with an honorary
doctorate from The Institute of Business Management & Arts
(IBMA), which is affiliated with The International University
(TIU) Missouri, U.S., in January this year.

"I consider myself as still young. I still have much time and
opportunity to develop," he said on his future career.