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South-East Asian Theatre

South-East Asian Theatre, the traditional theatre of South-East Asia, offering a rich variety of dance drama forms, most of them derived from Indian models. Stories are generally taken from the two great Hindu epics, the Ramayana and Mahabharata. There are records of performances in parts of South-East Asia as early as the 7th century AD. The theatre comprises classical dance dramas, traditionally performed for the court, folk theatre forms performed in villages, and western-style contemporary drama.

Indonesia-Java Indonesia boasts some of the finest theatre in South-East Asia, the most ancient of which is the wayang kulit (shadow puppet theatre), where silhouettes of the puppets are projected on to a linen screen. A rarer form is the three-dimensional wooden puppet, called wayang golek. In Java during the 18th century wayang orang, also known as wayang wong, was introduced; here the puppet characters are portrayed by actors, adorned in glittering costumes, who dance and sing to the music of the gamelan orchestra. Until the 20th century, performances were confined to the royal palaces, though nowadays the wayang orang, like most of the classical theatre of South-East Asia, operates on a commercial basis. The most popular folk theatre in Java is Ketoprak, an improvised comedy not unlike commedia dell'arte. Found only in Central Java, it is thought to have originated in the 19th century as a rustic celebration (it takes its name from the wooden beaters used to pound rice) but by the early 20th century it began to adapt stories from the wayang orang. Influenced by Dutch colonial theatre performances, ketoprak eventually moved indoors and used a similar staging, with elaborate backdrops, cut-out scenery, and footlights. In Eastern Java, ludruk companies perform improvised plays with contemporary themes, but the female roles are played by male actors in a luridly transvestite style.

Bali Theatre in Bali takes place in a deeply religious context. Even when performances are staged for tourists, prayers will be said and offerings made. Unlike neighbouring Java, Bali never converted to Islam and has evolved its own brand of Hinduism. Bali has a bewildering variety of dance forms and dramas, usually performed at temple festivals to the accompaniment of the gamelan orchestra, louder, faster, and more raucous than the Javanese gamelan. The key to the resilience of Balinese theatre is that it has always shown a capacity to adapt to changing conditions and evolve new forms without losing its identity. Many of the dance dramas use masks and involve trance states, as in the Barong play which ritually enacts the battle between good and evil. When the hideous witch, Rangda forces the men of the village to turn their swords on themselves, the Barong, a mythical beast, spreads its beneficent power and prevents the blades from piercing their flesh. In the ketjak, created in the 1930s, up to 200 men sit in concentric circles, waving their arms and chanting to imitate the sounds of monkeys. In the centre, dancers enact a popular episode from the Ramayana in which Queen Sita is abducted by Ravana, to be rescued by Hanuman and his army of monkeys. One of the most refined theatre forms is the tari topeng (mask dance) in which a few actors each portray several different characters, wearing beautifully carved full-face masks. Their actions are often interpreted by comic actors wearing halfmasks and improvising their dialogue in the manner of commedia dell'arte actors.

Thailand and Cambodia Thai classical dance dramas, dating back to the 14th century, evolved alongside those of neighbouring Cambodia. Lakon Nai is a court dance drama performed solely by women, who play both male and female roles. The performers, who are exquisitely costumed, speak their own dialogue and a female chorus sings the verses of the dance. A pi phat musical ensemble of bamboo xylophones, gongs, cymbals, and drums, provides the accompaniment. Lakon Nai is thought to be based on the Cambodian Lakon Kbach Boran, which is also performed by women. Khon is a court dance drama traditionally performed only by men wearing elaborately carved masks with towering crowns. Nowadays, actresses play the female roles and those of the refined male heroes. The stories are taken from the Thai version of the Ramayana. The Cambodian equivalent is Lakon Khol which, like Khon, is a masked dance drama performed by men. The court shadow-puppet theatre, Nang Yai, is like a giant version of wayang kulit. Life-sized leather puppets of Ramayana characters, and even larger silhouettes depicting scenes from the stories, are carried by ten or more puppeteers and manipulated behind a huge screen. These plays are very rarely performed nowadays. The Cambodian version is called Nang Shek. A smaller shadow-puppet theatre in Thailand, similar to the wayang kulit, is Nang Talung. The popular Thai folk opera, Likay evolved in the early 20th century when it was based on court plays. Nowadays it is performed in run-down theatres by travelling troupes who improvise the dances and songs. The popular theatre of Cambodia is Lakon Bassak, which dramatizes classical legends.

Vietnam The Vietnamese classical opera Hat Boi was derived from Chinese opera in the 13th century. It closely resembles it today. More remarkable are the Vietnamese water puppets, an ancient tradition where wooden puppets on floats are articulated by means of rods, levers, and pulleys which are concealed under the water. The puppeteers, who stand up to their waists in water, are hidden behind a screen. One of the most popular effects is a dragon that emerges from beneath the waves belching fire.

Contributed by: Kenneth Rea

"South-East Asian Theatre," Microsoft® Encarta® 96 Encyclopedia. © 1993-1995 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

Erstellt am: 18-Oct-1996 von: Agon S. Buchholz < asb@zedat.fu-berlin.de>
Zuletzt bearbeitet am: 26-Nov-1996 von: AgonS. Buchholz < asb@zedat.fu-berlin.de> mit: Hab.
Projekt: Einführung in den Gebrauch neuer Medien für Südostasienstudien/ Kultur/ Theater
URL: < http://userpage.fu-berlin.de/~asb/Politik/SO-Asien/Kultur/theatre.html>/