Master puppeteer Joko Susilo says shadow theatre stories have many similarities to Shakespeare's epic tales. Photo: RNZ / Robin Martin
In a twist The Bard himself would've be proud of, a Javanese shadow theatre is a star turn at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival in Taranaki.
The intricate puppets - accompanied by a gamelan ensemble - tell the story of an evil king, the beautiful woman he desires and a heroic warrior disguised as a priest who saves her.
Stratford Shakespeare Festival organiser Jo Stollard said she came up with the idea of inviting Wellington ensemble Gamelan Padhang Moncar after discovering they had once performed Shakespeare's Seven Ages of Man.
"I thought puppets, epic theatre, epic stories - Shakespeare is all about epic stories - so I thought why don't I bring the gamelan theatre up here and we can have the work shops for the schools. The kids can get involved with the music, they can get involved in the puppet making and it seems to have worked. It's really good."
Stratford Shakespeare Festival organiser Jo Stollard. Photo: RNZ / Robin Martin
The two theatre styles shared common themes.
"Big stories, you know, big bad characters and good characters and human values and getting the girl, winning the girl and beating the bad guy to get the girl and fighting the lions and fighting the baddies.
"So, I think it's wonderful and the stories are kind of universal. You know about the bad guy, you know about the good guy and the good guy is going to win in the end hopefully."
Master puppeteer - Dunedin-based Dr Joko Susilo - performed a Central Javanese retelling of Begawan Ciptaning - a story from the Indian epic Mahābhārata.
"In the puppets there's so many stories between betrayal, princess getting kidnapped, the warrior prince, who has to be an ordinary guy, and rescue the princess.
"It's exactly the same thing. Shakespeare yeah. Very close. I think the both them is influenced together."
Susilo, who made his own shadow puppets, had reinterpreted The Tempest for shadow theatre as part of his studies.
"The puppet is made from water buffalo skin and the handle made from water buffalo horns. Some make it from bamboo for the stick for the manipulation purpose.
"I make all my own puppets because for the balance, for example, if I do a flick I can make sure I catch it."
An eight generation puppeteer, Susilo said they were works of art in their own right.
The audience at Stratford was invited to come on stage to watch the performance from behind the screen to appreciate their intricate designs and vibrant colours.
"If you watch the puppets from the other side behind me you can see how colourful [they are] and the beauty of the artwork because the puppets are actually fine art, drama and also there's a lot of philosophy behind the words in Javanese."
Year nine students from Taranaki Diocesan School for Girls tried their hand at gamelan and puppet making at a workshop run by the performers.
Taranaki Diocesan School for Girls student Emily Shelton tries her hand at gamelan. Photo: RNZ / Robin Martin
Emily Shelton enjoyed the experience.
"I found it really cool. It takes a lot of effort and a lot of time to actually work out how to do it and the puppets are like very detailed, and it comes together all really nicely once everyone's like doing it together."
Kayla Warmenhove and Billie Smith created mermaid puppets and wrote a Shakespearean-esque script for them to perform.
"It was about two mermaids fighting and then mine dies to show that you don't always have to be bigger to win," said Warmenhove.
Taranaki Diocesan School for Girls tried their hand at gamelan and puppet making at a workshop. Photo: RNZ / Robin Martin
Stollard was sure The Bard would've approved.
"He would've thought that was fabulous. I mean a lot of Shakespeare's plays a little bit later on there was a huge mask element. So, there was fireworks, there was dancers, there was music, there was even puppets and automator [people who operated mechanical special effects such as smoke machines and thunderclaps] and all those kinds of things, so I think Shakespeare would've thought this was fabulous."
The Stratford Shakespeare Festival wraps up on Saturday with Music, Murder & Mayhem at the Stratford Pioneer Village.
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