Abstract
Among all the various dramatic forms of wayang, including wayang kulit, the earliest to appear was wayang beber. Wayang refers to “the shadows that sway in men's hearts,” while beber means “unrolling.” A dalang (narrator) gradually unrolls a long scroll bearing pictures of the narrative he is expounding. This is accompanied by a continuous performance of gamelan music, interspersed with the songs of pesinden (female singers). This form was created in the court of the Kediri kingdom (928-1222) in East Java and enjoyed a high reputation; but gradually it fell from favor and was replaced by wayang kulit, which emerged from around the fifteenth century. Today wayang beber is performed in only two places, Pacitan in East Java, and Wonosari in Central Java. In this paper, I shall present a full picture of wayang beber, focusing on the full translation of the dalang's narrative (from the performance of Panji Asmorobangun), and note its correlations with other forms of wayang as well as touch upon the true essence of wayang itself.
