Shadow Puppet Play

Wayang Kulit or Shadow Puppet is one of the oldest and original arts in Bali. This art of performance has developed with the time and still has many funs. No one knows excatly whay this art can be existed in our modern day. A friend has ever told us that this condition is caused by the exist of the Mahaberatha and Ramayana legend. During the two stories still life, Sadhow Puppet will still have its own funs in society. Right or wrong, that is not the one we want to tell you. At the last four years this art has had a close attention to many people in Bali. Even now the actor or Dalang of this art is an educated modern person. If you are forigners please don't worry for being confused in understanding the story of the performance. The actor could use foreign language such as English, Japanese, or French.

Start time

This performance will start on 8.00 pm. So if you are staying in Nusadua, Jimbaran or Ungasan, we will pick you up on 6.45 pm; Sanur on 07.00 pm; Kuta, Canggu and Kerobokan on 7.00 pm. For those who are staying in Ubud area, we will pick up you on 7.30 pm.

Your Journey
The location of the performance is in Ubud. So your journey to Ubud from Jimbaran, Nusadua, Ungasan, Kuta, Kerobokan, Canggu or Sanur will through Denpasar City, Batubulan and Singapadu.

About the performance

The shadow puppet play is not only magically powerful, it also serves simultaneously as entertainment and moral education. There is an endless selection of both historical and mythical stories that can be performed, and the Dalang or puppeteer, generally chooses his story to suit the occasion, ceremony or ritual that the Performance is honoring. The hero of the performance is definitely the puppeteer, who must have incredible powers both as an orator and as manipulator, as he must master the voices and actions of over a hundred puppets for one performance, as well as remembering word for word the entire story that is being enacted on the screen, and performances very often go on all night. 


The dalang sits behind the screen, with a flickering kerosene light at eye level providing the shadows as the orchestrates entire battles, slapstick scenes, and love stories, assisted only by four musicians and a couple of helpers who pass him the puppets in rapid succession. 

For the uninitiated an entire performance may be difficult to sit through, especially without a thorough knowledge of the language. However, it is fascinating to watch and an experience which should not be missed. There are performances of the wayang kulit now given on a regular basis in simple English, but they lose a lot in the translation, as a great deal of Balinese humor is based on play on words and subtleties of meaning.