Welcome to Balinese Dance

A new theatre form - Topèng Pajegan Istri

 

The Five Masks of Topèng Pajegan Istri

 

Masks by I Wayan Tangguh and I Madé Sutiarka

The Condong, like her male equivalent the Panasar, is the conventionally the first actor on stage. Her role is to set the scene, fill in the background to the plot and to link the audience to the performance. She also speaks for her mistress, the Puteri, who dances and sometimes sings, but does not speak. The Condong is a lively character, who must be skilled at repartee and defending her mistress against innuendo and attack. Depending on the story the Condong may be a Lady in Waiting, a maid or a friend. Throughout the play it is she who keeps the audience up to date with what is happening and she may comment on events as needed. The Condong is a demanding role, as she is the anchor for the whole play.

Condong - the Servant

 

The Puteri is the refined female role. Depending on the story, she may be a princess, the heroine or the love interest. She normally exemplifies female virtues and is of good character. Although occasionally she may sing, as she has a full mask she usually only dances, her thoughts and feelings being expressed by the Condong. The Puteri is always a refined role and she has a counter-part in a coarse character who is down to earth and says what she thinks. The Puteri, by contrast, must express everything through her dance and movements.
Puteri - the Princess (or Heroine)

 
Whereas the Condong and Puteri are established female roles, for example in Arja, the Dagang Ancung is usually a minor Bondrès character. She is an itinerant peddler of the kind who tries to sell bric-a-brac to tourists. She is practical, forthright, talkative, vulgar and with little sense of her own gaucheness. Ni Madé Pujawati has decided to turn her into a major figure in Topèng, because she can fill a wide range of roles from a light comic interlude to the Desak in Arja who can tell the blunt truth to stupid or mad characters played by the Liku in Arja.
Dagang Ancung - The itinerant peddler

 

The Limbur is the role of an elder woman. Depending on the story, she may be the Queen, a mother or some other older female role. The Limbur may be either a good or a bad character, but, as the mask suggests, is normally of good or at least respectable birth, and a figure of some authority. She often plays the mother or step-mother of the Puteri. In Topèng Pajegan Isteri, where there are no male characters such as kings, the Limbur represents the voice of power and the establishment.
Limbur - the Queen (Or Elderly Lady)

 
The Luh Tua (literally 'The Old Woman' in Low Balinese) is an ordinary elderly village woman. As her face shows, she is worn out by a lifetime of hard work and difficulty which is the lot of most women in Bali. Like such women, although she is old and complains of her ailments and problems, she also has great common sense and an ability to see through the boasts and fine claims that people make. Her role in Topèng Pajegan Isteri is flexible. She can play the role of elderly retainers etc. She also provides the opportunity to offer commentary on the pretensions of the rich and powerful.
Luh Tua - an Old Woman

 

Female Masked Dance

Topèng Pajegan - masked dance - is a very important form of theatre, which is used to retell history and is often used to complete religious ceremonies like temple festivals. A serious problem for with Topèng, as with most Balinese theatre, is that it is inaccessible for non-Balinese because of the language used, which is difficult even for many Balinese. For this reason, sadly, appreciation of Balinese theatre and dance (they do not distinguish between the two) is restricted largely to virtuoso dance (tari lepas) and genres designed for tourism, like Kècak (mass vocal chorus).

Customarily Topèng has also always been performed by men. It exists in two main forms: Topèng Pajegan and Topèng Panca. Topèng Pajegan comprises a single actor who plays a series of male roles in turn telling a particular story. In Topèng Panca, five actors play the various roles, all male.

Recently women have started to question this exclusive right; and actresses such as the celebrated Arja performer, Ni Nyoman Candri, have begun to perform Topèng Pajegan instead of male dancers. So far women performing Topèng but portraying women instead of men is effectively unknown. Doing so promises to open up new ways of reimagining history and relations between women and men in Bali.

In order both to make Topèng accessible to English-speaking audiences and to create a whole new world of possibilities of performance, Ni Madé Pujawati has commissioned the mask-maker, I Wayan Tangguh, to make a series of female Topèng masks for her. The first performances include a comic character, an itinerant female peddler (Dagang Ancung) in a UK tour in May 2008 by Ida Bagus Alit and company, followed by subsequent full solo Topèng Pajegan.

For those who are interested in learning more about masks and the creation of a new theater form, below are a series of photo-sets with short musical extracts.

For more information, please email Ni Madé Pujawati at madepuja@aol.com.

 

 Making the Masks
Sets of Masks

 

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