Sekolah Main Wayang champions storytelling as an accessible cultural activity

Orang Asli youths from Kampung Ulu Batu in Gombak, Selangor improvising short scenes with wayang puppets that were made during the Sekolah Main Wayang workshop late last year. Photo: Fairuz Sulaiman

In Sekolah Main Wayang’s pilot project last year in the Temuan village of Kampung Ulu Batu in Gombak, Kuala Lumpur, one of the workshop participants made a puppet with cardboard arms and LED eyes that lit up like the sun. But you had to get the angle just right, or else the lights wouldn’t turn on.

In any other situation, this would be quite a technical disaster. But with this Wayang TEK-tek theatre workshop series, every little win is celebrated.