Straw puppets to appear at Atma Jaya

Straw puppets to appear at Atma Jaya

JAKARTA (JP): After taking his wayang suket (straw puppet)
skills to Bogor, Bandung, Riau and even as far away as Berlin in
Germany, puppeteer Slamet Gundono is bringing his hilarious
contemporary show to Atma Jaya Catholic University campus on
Monday evening.

The piece, which is entitled Kelingan Lamun Kelangan, is taken
from the epic Mahabharata and will be staged in Indonesian rather
than Javanese, the traditional language of wayang.

The story centers on the ordeal of Kunthi, who has to a make
difficult choice between her sons Arjuna and Karna in the
Baratayudha war. Arjuna is her son from her husband Pandhu, while
Karna was born out of an affair with the sun god Batara Surya.
One of Kunthi's sons must die in the war.

"Kunthi represents the Earth Mother, while Arjuna and Karna
can be anyone -- students, Acehnese, Jakartans, Ambonese or even
East Timorese ... ," explained Slamet philosophically in a
statement made available to The Jakarta Post.

The puppet show, which starts at 7:30 p.m. and finishes at 10
p.m., is jointly organized by the university and Eksotika
Karmawibhangga Indonesia (EKI) productions.

In his exploration, the puppeteer, who has elevated the status
of straw puppetry to a performing art, will be assisted by
dancer-choreographer Mugiyono, playwright Manindawan from Gidag-
Gidig Theater in Surakarta, Central Java, and artistic directors
Sugeng Yeah and Henky Rivai.

After the show at the campus, Slamet will get himself ready
for the straw puppet and multimedia puppet shows that will be
staged at the Puppet Festival 2000 at Taman Mini Indonesia Indah
park in East Jakarta. Other popular puppeteers, such as Sujiwo
Tejo and Ki Manteb, are also scheduled to take part in the
festival. (ste)