Body of rod puppet - Semar, with a wooden face painted white with a tuft of black hair. Black wooden torso with long mauve and yellow batik skirt. Bought MEM for the Education Centre in 1980.
In west Java the traditional puppet theatre, Wayang Golek, uses carved wooden rod puppets. The puppets have three rods: 2 are visible and are used to manipulate the puppet's arms. The third hidden under the batik sarong, passes through a hole in the wooden body and emerges at the neck where it slots into the head. It is used to support the puppet and manipulate the head. The stories come from the Hindu Mahabarata and the Ramayana and also stories of an Islamic hero, Amir Hamzar. Performances last all night and the puppeteer speaks all roles, sings & narrates the story. The puppeteer often adapts the traditional stories to add in references to current political and social conditions.
