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Many people distinguish between several types of plays, wayang, which are performed
with flat puppets made fully or partly from the skin of animals, kulit. All of these are
reffered to by the general term wayang kulit. The term wayang, however, is also used
for the puppets with which the play is performed. Wayang kulit, are shadow plays of
puppets made from leather. They are usually staged to celebrate childbirth and
marriage. A wayang kulit show may last from the sunset to sunrise, with performances
that indulge in almost endless dialogues as they unfold legends, myths and history.
The preparations for a performance are made earlier during the day. A canvas
awning often covers the courtyard in front of the house that has commissioned a
performance. Below this, a white screen, the kelir, is set up. At its base two tall
banana tree trunks are fixed horizontally, the lower one projecting out a little. Long
before the performance begins, a gamelan orchestra would start playing its peculiar
harmonies. The sounds, dying away in the evening, would lure spectators who collect
in groups in front of the house, entertaining themselves with food and drink from
local vendors, while waiting for the performance to begin.
The wayang to be used are on display and stuck in the upper trunk. They are in
two groups, one to the left and one to the right, with the backs of one group turned to
the other. Within each group, the wayang are arranged in order of height, the tallest
one being put at the outer end. The space in the middle is occupied by a huge treeshaped wayang called the gunungan.
The gunungan represents life in all its aspects. Its upper half shows the branches of
the tree of life, its lower half, a closed door which is flanked by two giants. The roots
of the tree of life, which stand for the source of life (God), are concealed behind this
door. The two giants guarding the door are supposed to represent the powers of hunger
and sex. As a whole, the picture is meant to represent man as having to master his
longing for food and his carnal desire before he is able to see God. Monkeys and birds
bustle about in the branches of the tree of life, symbolizing mans visible vanities. Two
snakes and two other big animals, shown in combat with each other, demonstrate that
power and strength, if uncontrolled, are a menace to peace.
The wayang on either side of the gunungan are of different sizes. The bigger they
are, the more violent is their nature. Spiritual characters are slim and small in size. They
have bent heads with delicate noses and eyes which, under nearly closed lids, seem to
look inward. Their very opposites are the physically strong giants who are almost
double their size and have raised heads with fleshy noses and wide-open eyes.
Intermediate forms respond to characters ranging between these extremes.
After nightfall the family and the guests of the host take their places on the
veranda of the house. The villagers enter the courtyard and look for places before it
gets too crowded.
The dalang or performer, generally an old man dressed in a sarong and wearing a
head cloth, sits down under the lamp which, in traditional plays, is a coconut oil lamp.
The gamelan orchestra changes the tune. The dalang makes himself comfortable, then
seizes and brandishes the gunungan and places it to the right. He dances some female
wayang across the screen, sticks first a king in the upper banana trunk, and after that
his counselors on the lower one, in oblique positions as though they are bowing. Then
he starts his performance.
A knock with a stick against the box silences all gamelan instruments, but one,

the soft-ringing bronze slabs, to keep up the melody. The figures now begin to talk.
The dalang lends them his voice, high or low, refined or rude, friendly or sneering. To
make the audience know which one of the wayang is speaking, the dalang moves its
forearm and he indicates the end of its speech by a knock with the stick against the
box. When metal plates clink under the dalangs foot it is either a sign for the orchestra
to start playing, or it represents the noises of battle.
Adapted from Wayang Purwa: Shadows of the Past, H. Ulbricht, OUP, 1970)

23. Pick out the statement that is not true.

26. " The gunungan reprsents life in all
A. The wayang kulit is often performed on
its aspects ". The gunungan
sad as well as happy occasions.
symbolizes
B. The wayang kulit is one way of
A. the source of life
relating a society's past
B. man's journey through life
C. The wayang kulit can tell us about
C. man's visible vanities in combat
the culture of the society
D. power and strength of the two
D. The wayang kulit can be a very
giants
long performance
24. Preparations for the performances include 27. The character of the wayang is
all the things below except
mainly depicted through their
A. putting up the white screen
A. posture B. colour
B. covering the courtyard with
C. shape
D. size
canvas
C. providing food and drinks for the 28. The show is essentially performed
Spectators
by
D. laying down two banana tree trunk
A. The dalang B. The wayang
C. The host family
25. The stories of a wayang kulit are often based D. The gamelan group
on
A. stories about the family
29. Moving a wayang's forearm
B. grand epic tales
indicates
C. stories about ordinary people
A. that the orchestra should start
D. stories about modern day society
playing
B. that a particular wayang is
Speaking
C. the end of the wayang's speech
D. the beginning of battle