Wedhus Gembel

Yogyakarta artists and Snuff Puppets

Since 2007 Snuff Puppets have maintained a strong relationship with a key community of Indonesian artists based in Yogyakarta. In 2009 Snuff Puppets undertook a professional creative development with these artists at Padepokan Seni as the first stage in creating a new main-stage theatre work, Wedhus Gembel.

In 2011 Snuff Puppets returned to Indonesia to perform Wedhus Gembel in Yogyakarta and Jakarta. Wedhus Gembel is a true collaboration, bringing together the unique and diverse art practices of both the Australian and Indonesian artists.

Wedhus Gembel trailer - outdoor show from Snuff Puppets on Vimeo.

Show Concept

Wedhus Gembel is an extraordinary visual and physical theatrical spectacle. It explores the tensions between traditional and contemporary Indonesian life and mythology. Whedus Gembel is a parable about the cycle of life, the destructive power of nature and how innocence and beauty can be disguised in a monster.

Wedhus Gembel is the Javanese word for sheep, and also for the white poisonous gas cloud that rolls down the side of an active volcano. It infers a duality of opposing forces - the benign sweet sheep against the malevolent and dangerous gas cloud.

Wedhus Gembel tells the age-old story of a young couple who wish to have a child. The couple pray and make offerings to the sacred mountain. Eventually their prayers are answered. A baby appears from the fiery mountaintop and comes down to live with the couple in their village. Strange things begin to happen in the village, people lose their daily routine and start to behave in absurd and chaotic ways.

Chaos reigns. The baby grows, monstrously devouring all the people of the village, eventually collapsing from gluttony. In the show’s finale a Javanese comic god Semar coaxes the monster to regurgitate the people who in turn dance together to celebrate their new life. The last thing to emerge from the belly of the beast is Wedhus Gembel, the sheep.

Download a flyer of the show detailing our performances in Indonesia.
>> Wedhus Gembel Flyer - Indonesia (PDF)

Interested in booking Wedhus Gembel?

For enquiries about a performance contact us.

Snuff Puppets thanks Arts Victoria and the Australian Government through the Australia International Cultural Council and the Australia-Indonesia Institute of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, for all their support.