THEATER IN INDONESIA
The best known theater and drama in Indonesia is the Javanese and Balinese shadow puppet theater based on the Ramayana epic, with its brilliant puppeteers (dalang) who may manipulate over a hundred puppets in all-night oral performances accompanied by a gamelan orchestra. The famous dance dramas of Java and Bali also derive from Hindu mythology and often feature fragments from the Ramayana and Mahabarata Hindu epics. These highly stylized dances with elaborate costumes are accompanied by full "gamelan" orchestras comprising instruments similar to the xylophone as well as drums, gongs, and occasionally, stringed instruments and flutes.
There are also Batak puppet dances and horse puppet dances from South Sumatra, Rotinese singers with lontar leaf mandolins and dances for ritual and life-cycle events, performed by a variety of ethnic groups from the outer islands. All of these arts use costumes and musical instruments produced locally, the most complex of which are the Balinese barong costumes and the gamelan orchestra's metalwork. [Source: Clark E. Cunningham, Countries and Their Cultures, Gale Group Inc., 2001]
Bali is best known for the diversity of its performance arts. Despite the fact that Bali draws visitors from around the world, and its troupes perform overseas, most Balinese performers are villagers for whom art complements farming. Randai the traditional folk theatre of the Minangkabau people of West Sumatra is performed during ceremonies and festivals. Music, singing, dance, drama and the silat martial art are all incorporated together and are based on the traditional stories and legends.
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Contemporary Theater in Indonesia
Strangled by Suharto-era censorship, Indonesian theater as a mode of expressing topical and contemporary issues almost died. After Suharto’s reign, theater in Indonesia experienced a rebirth. Leading the way has been Jakarta's Teater Koma, known for its biting satire and shows like "Constipation Opera." Plays like “Marsinah”, about a slain political activist that landed its writer Ratna Sarumpaet in jail, are now performed openly before enthusiastic audiences.
Contemporary (and partly Western-influenced) theater, dance, and music are most lively in Jakarta and Yogyakarta, but less common elsewhere. Jakarta's Taman Ismail Marzuki, a national center for the arts, has four theaters, a dance studio, an exhibition hall, small studios, and residences for administrators. Contemporary theater (and sometimes traditional theater as well) has a history of political activism, carrying messages about political figures and events that might not circulate in public. [Source: everyculture.com]
The end of the Suharto era has meant an outpouring of culture and forms of expression and nowhere is this more evident than on the streets and sidewalks of Jakarta. Traditional dancers, ukelele players and coke bottle orchestras stake out territory in front of busy shopping areas and panhandle for change.
Transvestites and guitar-playing youths sing for cars stopped at traffic lights for small change. Drivers are expected to pay and if they don’t they are at risk of having a stone tossed at their window or their hub caps pulled off.
Indonesian Theater in the Twentieth Century
Dr. Jukka O. Miettinen of the Theatre Academy Helsinki wrote: “Until the beginning of the twentieth century much of Java’s traditions of classical dance and theatre had been closely guarded treasures of the courts. Dance was mainly intended for court rituals, and its training was basically a means of educating the aristocracy and the court. The early years of the 20th century brought about a number of changes that have come to be called the “democratization of dance”. [Source: Dr. Jukka O. Miettinen, Asian Traditional Theater and Dance website, Theatre Academy Helsinki **]
In 1918 the first dance society, Kridha Beka Wirama, was founded in Yogyakarta to teach court dances to all, regardless of class. The idea was launched by the son of the Sultan of Yogyakarta, and the teachers included the best dance masters of the kraton. This marked the beginning of a still-active custom whereby the court traditions of Yogyakarta are taught in private dance societies to all who are interested, often for only a nominal fee. At present, the societies receive part of their income from performances aimed mainly at tourists. The leading dance societies in Yogyakarta that actively stage performances are the kraton-related Dalem Pujokusuman and Dalem Notopraian associations.
The Indonesian nationalistic movement awoke during Dutch colonial rule in the 1920s and during the Japanese Occupation in the mid-1940s. After that, when Indonesia was in the process of gaining independence, even wayang kulit, the most traditional form of theatre, was used to propagate patriotism and new political ideas. In the 1950s, the new nation, constructed of hundreds of ethnic groups, sought its identity, which was naturally also reflected in the arts. In the field of dance the new, nationalistic theatre organisations followed the model of the European socialist countries in transforming old traditions into new, “mass-oriented” variants, such as the peasant’s dance, the tea-picker’s dance, and the dance of the fishermen, as has been the case in many countries from the Soviet Union to China, to Cambodia etc.
Western-Influenced Theatre in Indonesia
Dr. Jukka O. Miettinen of the Theatre Academy Helsinki wrote: “A drastic step towards Western stage realism and melodrama can recognised in the Central Javanese ketoprak and the East Javanese ludruk, which are forms of popular theatre evolved around the end of the nineteenth century. Their plots are based not only on the traditional stock stories from the Ramayana and the Mababbarata but also on historical or modern topics. The performances are accompanied by music and include dance numbers, although the main emphasis is on a less stylised acting resembling Western spoken theatre. On the whole, stagecraft is similar to wayang orang, although there is even more of an emphasis on realism and even naturalism. Ketoprak and ludruk are still performed on temporary stages and in the theatre halls of amusement parks in various parts of Java. [Source: Dr. Jukka O. Miettinen, Asian Traditional Theater and Dance website, Theatre Academy Helsinki **]
“Western theatre and dance has begun to interest Indonesians to an increasing degree, and many artists have studied in the West, especially in the United States, since the 1960s. As in many Asian countries, so too in Indonesia the early interest in Western theatre and dramatists was concentrated in academic circles. A student theatre group, called Studiklub Teater (STB), was founded in the university city of Bandung, in West Java, in 1958. Many of the some 60 dramatic works staged by STB were by Western writers, including Chekov, Gogol, Shakespeare, Tennessee Williams, Ionesco, Brecht, and Camus. **
“STB was followed by several theatre groups, which aimed to reflect the rapid change in society and politics. In Jakarta Teguh Karya founded a group called Teater Populer. Teguh had studied in the West, and his work was dominated by realism and political idealism. Realism, often with political overtones, was the trend in several other modern theatre companies. Bengkel Teater, founded by Rendra, was even a target of the government’s censorship in the 1970s. Political criticism was the aim of the Teater Kicil (Little Theatre), founded by Arifin C. Noer in 1968. **
“Some of the pioneers of modernism employed Indonesian styles and aesthetics in their work. One of them is Balinese Putu Wijaya, who founded Teater Mandir (Independent Theatre) in Jakarta. In his work Putu adapted Balinese theatre conventions to his experiments. Yogyakarta, the old cultural and intellectual centre of Central Java, has also had several important early modern theatre groups. They include Teater Alam, Teater Dinasti, Teater Jepik, and Teater Gandrik.” **
Wayang
“Wayang” is the Indonesia word for puppet and in Indonesia is used to describe theater both with and without puppets but is most often used as shorthand for wayang kulit (Javanese shadow puppet theater). The various art forms associated with it has been around for at least 1,000 years. Wayang shows are major social occasions. They have traditionally been featured at weddings, circumcision parties and festivals. Vendors are usually on hand, selling roasted peanuts, clove cigarettes and drinks.
Wayang performances are accompanied by a gamelan, Gamelan is a traditional Indonesian ensemble, primarily from Java and Bali, consisting mainly of bronze percussion instruments like tuned gongs, metallophones, and drums. Known for its chiming, layered sound, this musical tradition dates back to the 4th century and includes vocalists, bamboo flutes, and stringed instruments.
Wayang is very popular in Indonesia. There are main types; 1) "wayang kulit", which features flat leather shadow puppets; 2) and "wayang golek", which uses wooden hand puppets. In both forms, the puppets are used to narrate a story usually based on one of the Hindu epics, but they frequently offer veiled comments on contemporary political figures and events. Puppeteers operate the puppets behind large screens. Oil lamps cast the shadows for the audience to enjoy. [Source: Cities of the World, Gale Group Inc., 2002, adapted from a 2001 U.S. State Department report]
Human Wayang Shows
Some theater dramas are called “wayang orang” (Wayan wong,)—human puppet shows. These are a from of dance drama in which real people perform the roles the puppets play in wyang kulit. Wayang toreng is similar except the performers wear masks (See Dance). Dr. Jukka O. Miettinen of the Theatre Academy Helsinki wrote: “The gradual popularisation of wayang wong began in Surakarta in the 1890s when a Chinese businessman founded a commercial group adapting the wayang wong tradition of the Mankunegaran kraton. This new style, generally referred to as wayang orang, was aimed at ordinary city audiences. The company, now under the name of Sriwedari, still performs in the amusement park in Surakarta. The Bharata Theatre, founded in the 1940s, has maintained this tradition in Jakarta. [Source: Dr. Jukka O. Miettinen, Asian Traditional Theater and Dance website, Theatre Academy Helsinki **]
“Wayang orang is usually performed on a Western-type proscenium stage with heavy illusionistic backdrops, and an abundance of various stage effects. Commercial wayang orang groups are also active in the smaller towns, such as Semarang and Malang. Despite modernisation, wayang orang has preserved something of its original stylised dance-drama character. **
Popular in some parts of Java are all-night dramatic shows performed by elaborately-costumed and garishly-made-up “sandiwara” actors. Typical plots revolve around Hindu-Buddhist kings who converts to Islam or crafty servants who play tricks on their masters. . There is a lot of slapstick comedy and jokes about defecating. During one scene a peasant squats during the middle of a fight and tells the audience "it is a new kind of fertilizer. If you get it from the government, you have to pay. From me, its free." [Source: "The Villagers" by Richard Critchfield, Anchor Books]
Poor Indonesian Become 'Silver People' to Eke Out a Living
After the Covid-19 pandemic crippled the economy some poor Indonesian transformed into 'silver people' ro make ends meet. Reuters reported: At a busy roadside intersection on the outskirts of Jakarta, a single mother named Puryanti performed as a “silver person,” coating her body and that of her five-year-old son in metallic paint and moving stiffly like a robot to attract donations from passing motorists. The act was part of a growing street phenomenon in Indonesia, where performers known as manusia silver relied on visibility and novelty to earn small amounts of money. [Source: Heru Asprihanto, Reuters, February 8, 2021]
Puryanti, 29, began doing this work after the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic pushed many Indonesians into financial hardship. After three months of daily performances, she said income remained uncertain: “Some give, some don’t… Sometimes someone gives enough.” On better days, she earned around 70,000 rupiah (about $5), just enough to cover basic living costs such as rent.
Previously a housewife before her divorce, she worked alongside her teenage nephew to support her family. The silver coating they used was homemade, mixed from screen-printing powder and cooking oil. She said it did not cause health problems and helped make the performance more eye-catching to drivers stopped at traffic lights.
Her situation reflected broader economic pressures in Indonesia, where millions in the informal sector depended on daily earnings. The pandemic triggered the country’s first recession in over two decades, and poverty rose to more than 26 million people across the population.
Despite the challenges, Puryanti said she was not embarrassed by the work. “The important thing is this is all for my children,” she explained. She had confirmed with local authorities that she could continue performing as long as she followed health measures such as wearing a mask. Looking ahead, she said she hoped to save enough to start a small business, though she lacked the capital to do so.
Image Sources: Wikimedia Commons
Text Sources: “Encyclopedia of World Cultures Volume 5: East/Southeast Asia:” edited by Paul Hockings, 1993; “Culture and Customs of Indonesia” by Jill Forshee, Greenwood Press, 2006; National Geographic, New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Smithsonian magazine, Encyclopedia.com, Library of Congress, Indonesia Tourism website (indonesia.travel), Indonesia government websites, Live Science, The Conversation, The New Yorker, Time, BBC, CNN, Reuters, Associated Press, AFP, Lonely Planet Guides, Google AI, Wikipedia, The Guardian and various websites, books and other publications.
Last updated April 2026