Wayang

Wayang is a traditional Java-origin dramatic performance genre invented by the indigenous Javans, the term referring both to the show as a whole and to the puppet itself. Performances of wayang puppet theatre are accompanied by a gamelan orchestra in Java and by gender wayang in Bali, and the dramatic stories depict mythologies such as episodes from the Hindu epics the Ramayana and the Mahabharata, as well as local adaptations of cultural legends. Traditionally a wayang is played out in a ritualized midnight-to-dawn show by a dalang, an artist and spiritual leader, with the audience watching from both sides of the screen.