Director's Note 

​

Tales of Trickery combines the traditions of the Wayang Kulit Shadow Puppet Theatre with those of Topend Mask Theatre to tell three Indonesian folk stories. Each actor assumes three roles while wearing a mask: the storyteller, the character, and the performer. He thus provides expository information, reacts to the dramatic situations, and interacts with the audience.

In the typical Indonesian ceremony, the gamelan orchestra provides accompaniment and live special effects. These performers are onstage, in full view of the audience, throughout the play.

Tales of Trickery follows the traditional Topeng structure: serious, classic, comedic, and contemporary. The Indonesian Topeng Theatre combines ritual, dance and storytelling in a complex interplay between the past and the present. There is a progressive movement from the stylized and historic toward the human and the modern. The final image of each tale is that of a common man, enlightened by experience, standing outside of the foolish world of exotic creatures and scheming villains.