Javanese Shadow Puppet Theatre
Given his wide range of appropriate skills and experience, Hetherington was invited to work with a group of undergraduate students (ranging from second to fourth year) from the (then) Department of Indonesian and Malayan Studies at the University of Sydney, over the entire three-term year of 1980, in the task of preparing them for a performance of "Irawan Rabi", or "Irwan’s Wedding", as it had been adapted for a western audience by James R. Brandon, in the manner of the traditional Javanese shadow puppet theatre (or wayang kulit) (Day, 1981).
He was asked to assist them to acquire an understanding of shadow puppet design, train them in the appropriate techniques of puppet manipulation, guide them into a smooth performance, as well as transferring an understanding of puppetry stagecraft (Day, 1981).
Apart from the extensive training he delivered to the students, and the advice that he gave to the entire company on puppetry stagecraft, he was also a very important participant in the joint construction of the final script, the musical improvisations used during the performance, and the comic routines that were woven throughout the entire performance. (Day, 1981).
The eventual performance, the culmination of the entire year’s project/course, was performed by six of the students, along with “eight metre-high puppets made from plywood”, a “life-size monster with expendable heads” and a “foam-rubber monkey”. It was a great success (Day, 1981).
The details of the performance, as well as a full record of the entire workshop process, have been recorded in a case book, and slides and a tape of the production were made. A thirty-page document on the project, intended for publication, is now being prepared, and the possibility of using the production as the basis for a wayang performance "kit" for schools has also been discussed.
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