When I met Mbah Ledjar at his studio in December, he was in the middle of innovating a new Gunungan (a large leaf-shaped puppet used to mark the opening and closing of a Wayang performance): instead of painting the conventional Javanese architecture, he was painting a Dutch house.
- Mbah Ledjar’s latest innovation (Dec 2010)
I was very impressed by his youthful spirit of experimentation despite being 73, and willingness to play with Wayang conventions to create even more amazing art. He even made a puppet of himself (and Nanang, his grandson):
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- L to R: Nanang and Mbah Ledjar (with Nanang and Mbah Ledjar puppets)
At present, Mbah Ledjar and Nanang are in the Netherlands performing the “Willem van Oranje Wayang” – made in the image of William of Orange, who is recognized as founder and liberator of The Netherlands – at the Museum Nusantara.
The Willem van Oranje Wayang is a masterpiece creation of Ki Ledjar Soebroto, a Yogyakarta’s well known puppet-master and the creator of the very unique wayang kancil, specially made on the order of the Museum Nusantara in Delft, the Netherland. Ki Ledjar made the wayang designs based and according to the faces of characters found in the historical epic of William’s battle taken from paintings that are already hundreds of years old, still preserved in the collections of the Prinsenhof Museum. Aside of making the design of the characters, Ki Ledjar also designed some wayang forms of artifacts found in Delft such as the Nieuwe Kerk (the New Church), where Prince Willem and the Dutch Kings were laid to rest.
[…]The making of this wayang which depicted Prince Willem’s battle at the same time his leadership of the revolt against King Phillip II, Netherland’s ruler from Spain, have as its purpose the education of children to gain more knowledge of Dutch history. Besides the exhibition of the wayang forms, there will also be the screening of the Willem van Oranje Wayang animation film, made by Ananto Wicaksana (the grandson of Ki Ledjar Soebroto). – “The Williem van Oranje”, Jogjapages.com 3rd March 2011
(Emphasis mine. Click on the pictures to follow the links to the articles!)
Mbah Ledjar even transposed the clown from traditional Javanese Wayang Kulit culture into this performance to make it even more engaging:
"Wayang with a touch of Dutch"
The hundreds of audience members burst into laughter when an old puppet character Jan Klaasen appeared on stage as an intermezzo in the middle of a war.
Jan Klaasen’s funny voice, humorous chat and silly movements became an instant ice-breaker. A Spaniard soldier tried to attack his head to no avail because it was so flexible — it could rotate, turning forward and even backward.
Ledjar said Jan Klaasen was an additional character that was comparable to Punokawan — four royal jokers in the regular puppet shows.
“I inserted the Jan Klaasen character so the audience did not only have to stick to the story, but be entertained by the humor as well,” he said. – “Wayang with a Touch of Dutch”, The Jakarta Post 22nd May 2011 (emphasis mine)
The traditional Wayang Kulit performance was also adapted in terms of the music and medium (Nanang created an animation for it!):
“At first, I was thinking of full gamelan for the music, but then I changed my mind because this was a European puppet show. I don’t want to make it an ordinary wayang purwa [traditional puppetry],” he said.
His effort paid off. The Willem puppet show performed in the Karta Pustaka was far from boring.
The music was a collaboration between pop orchestra and traditional gamelan. Some of the conversations in the show, which included an English translation, were even set to opera-esque music, such as during a romantic chat between William and his fourth wife Louise de Coligny.
Ananto, who has been a wayang puppeter since he was four years old, said the Nusantara Museum’s visitors could also watch his 15-minute animated film of the William puppet show in addition to enjoying the real puppet performance.
The museum also plans to tour the puppet show around several cities. Ledjar said the marriage of modern and traditional genres could attract young people. The most important thing, he added, was to preserve the traditional nuance. – “Wayang William – Wrap the Dutch History in a Wayang Story”, Tourjogja.com. 15th March 2011 (emphasis mine)
Congratulations! 😀
wayangkancil 
