Wayang Kulit is a traditional form of theater that uses the principles of light and shadow.
The shadows of the Wayang Kulit statues consisting of various mythological and imaginary characters are played by a Tok Dalang (puppeteer).
The story contained in Wayang Kulit Kelantan is based on the story in Hikayat Seri Rama.
“Sensory Wayang Kulit - Traditional Theater Beyond Sight” is a project organized by Year 3 Bachelor students, Faculty Management of Arts, Culture and Heritage, National Academy of Art Culture and Heritage (ASWARA) under the subject of Final Year Assessment (PeTA).
This online Wayang Kulit project, accompanied by Audio Descriptions, will be held for the first time in Malaysia with the initiative to introduce the traditional art of Wayang Kulit to the visually impaired and blind community.
This project includes programs such as Wayang Kulit Sensory Workshop, Sesi Hikayat Storytelling “Shadows” with Kakiseni and "Sensory Wayang Kulit - Traditional Theater Beyond Sight" performance.
Wayang Kulit statues produced for the two-day online workshop held last November are quite different from the addition of textures on the Wayang Kulit statues so that people with limited vision and blindness can better understand the characteristics of Wayang statues' skin through their sense of touch.
Participants were exposed on how to color wayang kulit statues, how to hold and how to play wayang kulit to become Tok Dalang by reading story dialogues in the Kelantan dialect.
This workshop was attended by nine participants with visual impairment as well as one participant with learning difficulties from Dialogue In The Dark Malaysia.
This Wayang Kulit Sensory Workshop is led by Kamarul Baisah who is the Young Mastermind in the Kelantan Wayang Kulit theater performance and is also a lecturer at the Traditional Arts Center of the Academy of Arts, Culture and National Heritage (ASWARA).
The final performance of the participants can be watched online on January 30th, 2021 from 8:30 pm to 10:00 pm on the Youtube platform @sensorywayangkulit.
For more information, please visit Kakiseni's Facebook page.
