Sidha Karya

It's hard to stand on one leg– that's why we have two: left-right, good-bad, night-day… 

Sidha Karya tells the story of an arrogant king brought down by a beggar. Thirty gamelan musicians sit in front of a giant screen framing a playing area for masked performers in front of the screen and shadows behind.

This performance marks the first merger of traditional Balinese mask and puppet theater with ShadowLight's experimental, cinematic form of shadow theatre. Sidha Karya was presented in November, 1994, at the Cowell Theater in San Francisco.

Sidha Karya is a collaboration between ShadowLight, El Cerrito's Gamelan Sekar Jaya, and five master performers from Bali. The shadow sets were designed and chiseled with puppet making tools by Dewa Putu Berata. The shadow masks were made by I Made Sija. It will be performed again whenever the right constellation of collaborators converges. 

Performers:
I Dewa Putu Berata, I Nyoman Catra, Larry Reed, Emiko Saraswati Susilo