‘Drunken Semar’

Semar is one of the famous quartet of clowns who appear in every wayang play in the traditional Javanese theatre. But he is also a god in disguise, and in some sense is the guardian spirit of all Java; and though he may say outrageous things I have never seen him anything but sober. Semar is an important person both in wayang orang, which is played by human actors, and in wayang kulit, where the characters are intricately pierced shadow puppets, made of leather. Along with his three sons, h