THE SHADOW-PLAY
MYSTICISM AND SLAPSTICK

When everything is ready, at the tock-tock of the daIang's toe-hammer, the orchestra begins to play the delicate, watery music of the wayang, rich tone-colours and suspended tempos like bells and fountains playing a Debussian melody. A strange shadow appears suddenly on the screen. It is a leaf-shaped silhouette in which the trunk, branches, and leaves of a tree can be distinguished. There are various theories as to its significance; may represent a mountain, a forest, the Tree of life or the gate to the Supernatural; but in Bali it is simply called kayon, a tree, or babad, the story.

The mysterious shadow sways in a circles and waves to the compass of the music, its trembling shape distorted and thrown in and out of focus by the flickering flame of the lamp, until it stops and is fixed motionless the middle of the screen. Whatever mystic significance the kayon may once have had, it is now only the link that connects the various parts of the play; standing still in the of the screen it indicates the beginning and the end; by its motions or by the angle at which it is set it may show the mood of the scene to follow or represent wind, fire, -water.

When the kayon is removed, the dalang brings the marionettes out of the chest, one by one, taking his time to introduce the characters. The shadows of each puppet are fixed on the screen by sticking the ends of their support into the banana stem. On the right the dalang places the good and noble characters: the gods, kings, princes, princesses, and their attendants.

On the left the evil characters are lined up: giants, demons, witches, and the villains of the play in general. The puppets are silhouettes in profile, delicately cut out of buffalo parchment and beautifully painted. They are handled by three long suports of horn or bamboo, one for the body and one for each arm. Only their arms are jointed, and their acting is reduced, to rhythmical arm gestures, while the dalang recites their lines.in Bali, but not in Java, some comic characters can move lower jaw.

The puppets are then removed, leaving the screen empty,and the play begins. It may be the episode from the Ramayana in which the divine prince Rama tries to rescue Sita, his beloved bride. From the clutches of the giant Rawana, the raksasa king, a monster of wickedness and lechery. Here Rama is assisted by a great army of monkeys in terrific battles in which " they discharged so many arrows that they could not see each other any more.

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