Wayang originated on the Indonesian island of Java and is popular for its elaborate puppets and complex musical styles. For ten centuries wayang flourished in the royal courts of Java and Bali and in rural areas. On other islands, it has developed various local styles and musical accompaniments.
During the performance, a number of different sizes of wood puppets (wayang klitik/golèk) and leather shadow puppets (wayang kulit) are projected in front of a screen. The wooden puppets are characterized by costumes, facial features, and articulated body parts. The master puppeteer manipulates the swivel arms with slender sticks attached to each puppet.
In the past, puppeteers who played complex melodies on bronze instruments were considered literary experts who transmitted moral and aesthetic values through their art. They criticized sensitive social and political issues through the words and actions of comic characters representing the “ordinary person”, which contributed to the survival of wayang over the centuries.
Storytelling in Wayang is influenced by indigenous myths, Indian epics, and heroes from Persian tales. It was passed on orally between families of puppeteers, musicians, and puppet-makers. A master puppeteer is expected to memorize a vast number of stories and to perform ancient narrative passages and poetic songs in a unique, witty, and creative manner.
In the story tradition, there are two kinds of stories: stem stories and branch stories. The stem stories provide information about the social standing and destiny of the characters and are unchangeable. Branch stories, on the other hand, are fabricated. They explain how or why the story came to pass. Their fates are the subject of lively discussion, not least because each puppeteer has his or her own version of the story.
Wayang's initial function was as a ritual, intended to communicate with ancestral spirits of the Hyang belief. However, wayang changed into a medium for social communication. Wayang is commonly used to perform plays that hold several values, such as education, culture, and teachings of philosophy. Wayang functions as an effective medium for conveying a variety of messages and information, in particular, to spread religions ranging from Hinduism to Islam.
The Wayang Puppet Theatre still enjoys great popularity. However, to compete successfully with modern forms of pastimes such as video, television, or karaoke, performers have started to accentuate comic scenes at the expense of the storyline and replace musical accompaniment with pop tunes, leading to the loss of some characteristic features.