Shadow Puppet Theater

Watch the videos and answer the questions:

Video 1: What are the students doing? What are the puppets made of? How to make them?

Video 2: What does the dalang say about Indonesian shadow puppet?

SHADOW PUPPET THEATER

1 Shadow puppet theater is a traditional show in Java, Indonesia. The Javanese have been making these puppets for over a thousand years. Before movie theaters, it was a way of telling traditional stories to whole villages.

2 Some of the puppets are 3D, but most are flat and made of leather. Sticks are used to move the arms and sometimes the legs, too. You don't need make-up or costumes for these performances, or a lot of people to put on a show, but the puppets take a long time to make. They have complicated and unusual hairstyles, and their costumes are decorated with a lot of little holes for the light to shine through. The artists have to cut out the leather by hand, and sometimes they paint them with beautiful designs.

3 The set is very simple. It's just a big white sheet of cloth with a strong light behind it to create the shadows. The people who control the puppets stand backstage, behind the cloth. The audience sits in front of it, where they can see the shadows. Sometimes there's a fight in the story, and usually there's music, too.

4 People in Java have been using shadow puppet shows to celebrate festivals and holidays for many years. They haven't changed much in all that time, and people still enjoy these shows today. It's part of their culture. In 2003, UNESCO recognized Indonesian shadow puppet theater as an important performing art, and asked the Indonesian people to take care of this tradition.