Description: |
Grotesque, stuttering villagers with hair lips and misplaced teeth are such a staple in bondres comedy that in 1937 a Dutch Dentist wrote an article on their pathology. Most often consigned to the broad farce that comes near the end of a performance, such masks also be called on to deliver urgent military messages -- sometimes to deaf sentries. The mask might also have a more central role in the portrayal of the poor fisherman who is set in Gajah Mada's place and establishes an era of misrule at the time of his moksha. or ascension to heaven. |