A Dalang in Search of Wayang (Part 2 of 3)

Open rehearsal of "A Dalang in Search of Wayang" by Kanda Buwana. Created and performed by Matthew Isaac Cohen, in response to Indonesian traditions. Wayang kulit, shadow puppetry from Java (Indonesia), unmoored from the puppet screen, unplugged from the accompanying gongs and chimes of the gamelan, without even a banana log for support. Illusions of omnipotence are shattered, the cosmic imbalance of myth made fact. Finding himself in a Pirandellian dilemma (how to achieve a Javanese wayang without a Javanese audience?), a London-based American scholar-practitioner turns to his old friend Semar for counsel, like knights-errant of yore. This interactive performance is a comedy of ideas, a discourse on tradition in modernity and a stubborn enactment of time-honoured practice in a transnational context. Performed at the Centre for Creative Collaboration, London, UK, 28 March 2011.

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• wayang
• wayang kulit
• puppet
• puppetry
• puppet theater
• puppet theatre
• Indonesia
• London
• United Kingdom
• Matthew Isaac Cohen
• Kanda Buwana