Tempest over tradition in take on shadow plays

Text and photos by Ahmad Solikhan

YOGYAKARTA (JP): Halogen spotlights bathe the stage of the shadow play in dark violet light. Four dancers cavort seductively as gamelan music plays in the background.

More befitting a disco, the scene breaks the staid rules of classic wayang performances.

The creator of this performance, 71-year-old Sukasman, insists that this is traditional wayang -- performed by actors and puppets -- merely brought up to date.

Many would disagree with him.

Most Javanese artists consider the wayang to be an accomplished art, meaning it cannot be improved upon.

Sukasman is out to destroy this belief.

He is changing virtually every aspect of a performance: the form, story line, even the duration.

Sukasman calls his art wayang ukur, meaning a puppet measured to adapt to real human anatomy.

The shape of the puppets, formerly flat and disproportionate, is modified to reflect reality. For example, men and gods now bear muscle curves.

Werkudoro, a character traditionally depicted with calves, foot soles, bowed head and a pug nose, has received a make-over to look more human.

Even the props have not escaped Sukasman's attention. Plain mounds are now adorned with trees and plenty of twigs.

The story line has undergone revisions. Classical tales are based on Mahabarata and Ramayana epics from India.

Sukasman provides a more contemporary context and does not hesitate to drop characters whose presence is superfluous.

He limits himself to figures in accordance with the stories.

"I do not want lofty stories that go into the air. They should be close to reality," said the graduate of the Indonesian Fine Arts Academy (ASRI) in Yogyakarta.

The story of Betari Durga (Giant Princess) is a prime illustration of how far he will go to bring a contemporary sheen to the works.

In the classical play, the princess is described as a person with an ugly face and despicable behavior, who befriends genies and ghosts, and was cursed by the gods.

Sukasman literally turns the role on its head.

In his version, the princess is depicted as an angel named Dewi Uma whom Betara Guru wanted to violate. Dewi Uma rejected Betara Guru, scorning him as a dog. Betara Guru responded by cursing Dewi Uma and turning her into a giant princess.

"The one with a bad disposition is not Betari Durga but Betari Guru," Sukasman says. "I adapted the story to describe the current situation in which more women become victims of men's lust."

Sukasman has also shortened the performance length. Instead of an all-night show of up to 10 hours, his show is an hour long.

"Time has become increasingly precious. People don't have much time. A night-long performance can be torturing to spectators. It is the contents that count, not the duration."

A lifelong bachelor, Sukasman has been perfecting his art for 39 years. He does not see it as a work to be conserved, but as a product that can respond to present needs.

He feels people come to see the plays for entertainment value. He makes the shapes of the puppets more beautiful, changes the stage and renders each performance more lively and colorful.

To support this ambience, he does not hesitate to place two dalang (narrator-cum-puppeteer) in front of and behind the kelir (screen).

Lighting, consisting of 70 halogen lamps of different colors, is handled by three or four professionals. The lights create sharper outlines of the characters.

Many senior artists have criticized Sukasman's revolutionary changes.

"Sukasman has destroyed a noble art," said Ki Timbul Hadi Prayitno, 78, a prominent dalang of Bantul, Yogyakarta.

For Ki Timbul, classical wayang is a cultural work that must be close to its source. Its originality should be maintained.

The works, Ki Timbul said, were made at great pains by forebears as they adopted Islam. "Therefore, I'm afraid that the changes made by Sukasman will destroy the originality of the wayang," said Ki Timbul, who commands a fee of Rp 12.5 million for a performance.

He charges Sukasman has overstepped boundaries by changing shapes of characters.

"The shapes were created in accordance with the characters and figures. They were not made arbitrarily."

Despite the criticism, Sukasman continues with his work.

For him, the form and story of the plays changes gradually.

He says that Sunan Kalijaga used the art form as a medium to propagate Islam.

"Sunan Kalijaga's leather puppets were different from the ones of the classical wayang. Their anatomy was closer to that of the human anatomy. But because their forms were awkward, I have continued to modify them to bring them closer to the human anatomy."

Sukasman says he will continue to modify wayang figures to make them as close as possible to ideal shapes. "I will never stop."