The audience is separated from the cross-legged dalang by a large, white, 6 foot (2 metres) long cloth, bordered in black at the top and bottom and red squares at the side. Behind the cloth sits the dalang with a flickering, hanging coconut-oil lamp casting fluttering shadows on the sheet, the puppets of flat buffalo or cow hide and his two assistants, who sit on either side of him and hand him the puppets. The shadows of the puppets on the screen are like moths flying across a beam of light. The dalang’s puppet box is on his left. The puppets are all taken out and placed in a yellow-green banana log at the base of the screen, ready for action. The filigree patterns of the puppets against the oil lamp show up on the screen. Behind the screen are four (or more depending on the type of performance) gamelan instruments.

The lamp is called a blencong and provides the lighting for a shadow puppet performance, hung above the puppeteer’s head behind the screen, so that the coconut-oil fuelled flame projects a flickering light on the puppets. The mobile nature of the light animates the shadows.

The oil lamp is held in the middle of the base of the stand. The wings are of the garuda bird, which is a common accompaniment for old blencongs, because of its talismatic qualities.

By holding the puppets at varying distances from the lamp, the puppeteer affects the size of the shadow. A piece held close projects a larger image, so that the character may assume superhuman proportions. Puppets brandished at a distance suggest sweeping movements through space and imply long journeys.