Unique performances at the eight-day 2013 Wayang World Puppet Carnival are putting smiles on the faces of carnival attendees. The carnival, organized by the Indonesian Puppeteers Association (Pepadi), is being held on Sept 1-8 in four different venues: Taman Mini Indonesia Indah (TMII) cultural park in East Jakarta, the National Museum and the National Monument compound, both in Central Jakarta, as well as Usmar Ismail Hall on Jl. Rasuna Said in South Jakarta. Some 64 performers from 46 countries are participating in the event, which is free of charge. “I’m very happy because I have just watched a Czech group present a hilarious puppet theater version of Walt Disney’s The Jungle Book,” Susan, an 18-year-old English literature student from the University of Indonesia, told The Jakarta Post at the National Museum on Monday.She said the puppet carnival served as an alternative to the movies and theatrical performances she watched almost every weekend in the city.“This is the first time I’ve watched a theatrical puppet show,” she said. Wiwiek, an English teacher from SD Menteng 01 elementary school in Menteng, Central Jakarta, who accompanied her students to the Jungle Book show, said she was pleased with the show because it helped her students learn English in an exciting way.“The show, featuring dialogues in English and puppets, helped my students learn the language and exercise their imagination,” she told the Post on Monday.Ineke, a 40-year-old expatriate from the Netherlands, said she was excited about the various European puppet shows presented at the event. “But I am very eager to see Indonesian wayang shows. I’m looking forward to seeing a wayang (leather shadow puppet) performance.”Ineke, who is an art gallery curator, said the fact that the wayang shows were performed in the Javanese language would not daunt her from seeing them. “I like to experience different things and walk into different worlds,” she said. Pepadi chairman Ekotjipto said after the official opening of the event at TMII on Monday by Vice President Boediono that the event presented comparative puppet shows from across the globe while preserving wayang culture at the same time
Posted on: Fri, 06 Sep 2013 05:08:59 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015