{{Short description|Indonesian theatre}} {{More citations needed|date=April 2024}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2025}} {{Infobox performing art | name = Wayang beber | image = Abb36,Gedompol.jpg | caption = | medium = | types = Traditional puppet theatre | ancestor = Javanese culture | descendant = | culture = Indonesia | era = Hindu–Buddhist civilisations }} {{Infobox intangible heritage | ICH = Wayang puppet theatre | State Party = Indonesia | ID = 00063 | Region = APA | Year = 2008 | Session = 3rd | List = Representative | Note = {{tlit|jv|Wayang kulit}} (the leather shadow puppet), {{lang|id|wayang klitik}} (the flat wooden puppet), {{lang|id|wayang golek}} (the three-dimensional wooden puppet) }} {{Indonesian mythology and folklore}}
'''{{lang|id|Wayang beber}}''' ({{langx|jv|ꦮꦪꦁꦧꦺꦧꦺꦂ|translit=wayang bèbèr}} {{smaller|(in the ''ngoko'' register)}}){{sfn|Robson|Wibisono|2002|pp=803-804}} is an Indonesian wayang performance art whose presentation is manifested on stretched sheets of paper or cloth, with pictures in the stylized wayang accompanied by a narration by a dalang.<ref>{{citation|url= https://indonesia.go.id/kategori/keanekaragaman-hayati/509/kisah-wayang-beber-wayang-tertua-di-indonesia|title= Kisah Wayang Beber, Wayang Tertua di Indonesia|work= Indonesia.go.id|access-date= 28 January 2022|archive-date= 28 January 2022|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20220128131154/https://indonesia.go.id/kategori/keanekaragaman-hayati/509/kisah-wayang-beber-wayang-tertua-di-indonesia|url-status= dead}}</ref> Wayang beber performances emerged and developed in Java in pre-Islamic times but continued into the Islamic kingdoms (such as the Sultanate of Mataram). The stories shown are taken from the ''Mahabharata'' and the ''Ramayana''. After Islam became the main religion in Java, more Panji tales were performed.<ref>{{citation|url= https://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2013/04/19/the-metamorphosis-wayang-beber.html|title= The metamorphosis of wayang beber|work=Jakarta Post}}</ref> Wayang beber bears a strong resemblance to narrative in the form of pictorial ballads common at annual fairs in medieval and early modern Europe. They too suffered the same fate—nearly becoming extinct, although there are still groups of artists who support wayang beber in places like Surakarta (Solo) in Central Java.
==History== The first foreign records of a wayang beber performance were reported by Ma Huan in his 1451 book, ''Yingya Shenglan'', which tells of Zheng He's visit to Java in about 1413–1415, during the Majapahit empire, as well as by Fei Xin. They saw crowds of people listening to someone tell a story based on pictures displayed on a partially rolled sheet of paper. The storyteller would hold a piece of wood and use it to point to the pictures on the sheet. Such practices are still the same as wayang beber performances in later times.{{Citation needed|date=April 2025}}
The pictures of the wayang scenes are depicted on sheets of cloth, or ''deluwang'', each containing several scenes (called ''(pe)jagong''), according to the order of the story. The images are unfurled one by one, with the ''dalang'', or puppeteer, narrating the depicted scenes, including dialogue.<ref>{{citation|url= http://kebudayaan.kemdikbud.go.id/bpnbyogyakarta/sepenggal-sejarah-wayang-beber-kesenian-yang-hampir-punah/|title= Sepenggal Sejarah Wayang Beber: Kesenian yang Hampir Punah|work= kebudayaan.kemdikbud|access-date= 21 February 2022|archive-date= 25 March 2023|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20230325005120/https://kebudayaan.kemdikbud.go.id/bpnbyogyakarta/sepenggal-sejarah-wayang-beber-kesenian-yang-hampir-punah/|url-status= dead}}</ref>
==Today== In the present day, wayang beber is only performed in a few locations, such as Gelaran hamlet in Bejiharjo village, Karangmojo, Gunungkidul. The performance is a dying art, and few young people have learned it from the original dalang.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://lifestyle.kontan.co.id/news/wayang-beber-di-bentara-budaya-jakarta |title=Wayang Beber di Bentara Budaya Jakarta. Cerita yang diangkat adalah Remeng Mangunjaya|author=Uji Agung Santosa/BBJ|publisher=Kontan.co.id}}</ref>
==See also== {{Portal|Art|Theatre|Indonesia}} * Wayang kulit * Wayang golek
==References== {{Reflist}}
===Sources=== {{refbegin}} * {{cite book|last1 = Robson |first1 = Stuart|last2 = Wibisono |first2 = Singgih|year = 2002|title = Javanese English Dictionary|publisher = Periplus Editions|isbn = 0-7946-0000-X}} {{refend}}
{{commonscat}} {{Indonesia topics}} {{UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity}} {{UNESCO Oral and Intangible music}} {{Indonesian drama and theatre}} <!--Malaysian categories added too considering the country's sizeable Javanese diaspora --> Beber Category:Culture of Indonesia Category:Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity Category:Traditional drama and theatre of Indonesia Category:Indonesian words and phrases Category:Theatre of Indonesia