'Wayang Ukur' enriches shadow puppet play

'Wayang Ukur' enriches shadow puppet play

Tarko Sudiarno, The Jakarta Post, Yogyakarta

In flashes of colorful lights, the arrows fly in the sky, hunting
down their enemies. The arrows seem to have eyes and wings of
their own, fully cognizant of where they are going.

On the battlefield, two knights -- Arjuna and Ekalaya -- were
standing face to face. They attacked each other, fighting until
only one remained.

The scene was part of a Wayang Ukur performance entitled
Durna's Trap by puppet master Ki Sukasman at the Purna Budaya
building in Yogyakarta recently.

The performance was intended to further popularize the shadow
puppet play to a wider audience.

According to the show's production manager Bambang Paningron,
people are mostly familiar with the classical Purwo (leather
puppets), wooden or Balinese shadow puppet shows despite the
presence of other kinds of shadow puppet plays like Wayang Ukur.

"We hope this performance offers a breakthrough," he said.

He said that Wayang Ukur was a manifestation of Ki Sukasman's
restlessness

The puppet master did not agree that the shadow puppet play
had come to its esthetic peak and could no longer be improved. He
expressed his restlessness by measuring his puppets, seeking the
ideal, secret proportions. In his hands, new varieties of puppets
were born, which were then named Wayang Ukur -- with ukur means
measure.

His creative process started in 1987 and since then, Ki
Sukasman has staged dozens of Wayang Ukur shows along with shadow
puppet artists of different styles. He also featured this shadow
puppet play at the International Puppet Theatrical Festival in
Magdeburg, Germany in 2000.

In Wayang Ukur show, the screen (kelir) and colorful lighting
were attractively prepared. The audience could also watch the
show in front of the screen, enjoying dynamic images created by
the puppets and three performing puppet masters.

Though differently presented, Ki Sukasman still blends the
original Surakarta and Yogyakarta style of the shadow puppet
play, but giving his special touch, like exaggerating body parts
of each puppet character.

At the recent show, the puppet master even included a dance
performance, giving a different but fresh nuance to the shadow
puppet show.

"By collaborating with other art genres, this performance will
become more lively. Newly created puppets by Ki Sukasman become
different on the stage. These inanimate objects will come to life
and the screen will look three dimensional thanks to colorful
lighting," Bambang said.

But the show, which was also supported by Hibah Seni Kelola
group, was not solid, flat while the puppet masters, musicians,
dubbers and lighting people failed to work harmoniously.

Every time there is a change of scene, the screen was left
empty, and the use of Indonesian in dialogs, which made the show
understandable to most audiences, disturbed puppet show lovers
who were familiar with the Javanese dialogs.

In general, the performance, which took three months to
prepare, was not as successful as its previous shows, like the
one at Taman Ismail Marzuki arts center in Central Jakarta
several years back.

The story itself started with Durna who was teaching the art
of shooting an arrow to the children of Hastina Kingdom at the
palace's yard. From far away, a young man watched the practice.
He was Ekalaya, the crown prince of Parang Gelung Kingdom.

Ekalaya wanted to study with Durna but rejected, since the man
promised only to teach children of Pandawa and Kurawa. Still,
Ekalaya was not angry nor revengeful. His strong will to study
from Durna influenced him go to the forest and create a statue of
Durna as a symbol of Durna's presence.

With this statue as his imaginative teacher, Ekalaya learned
how to shoot arrows by himself. The result was astonishing,
Ekalaya turned very skillful in shooting arrows just like Arjuna,
Durna's favorite student.

Ekalaya finally encountered Arjuna, who was hunting in the
forest. Arjuna was surprised to find than an arrow struck the
animal he was hunting. It turned out the arrow belonged to
Ekalaya. Innocently, Ekalaya said he was Durna's student.

Durna was surprised when Arjuna told him about Ekalaya. When
he met Ekalaya, Durna trapped him, saying he would admit Ekalaya
as his student if he cut off the thumb of his right hand as
evidence of his loyalty to his master.

Ekalaya followed the request but then realized he had been
cheated. Angry and disappointed, he knew Durna did not want
anybody to rival Arjuna.

Ekalaya became angrier when he was told by his wife that
Arjuna was in love with her and challenged Arjuna to the duel.