Tracing Balinese Theatre and the Art of Mime to Their Ritualistic Roots

Antonin Artaud’s On the Balinese Theatre offers an overview of the style of theatre in Bali. What resonated the most, for me, is this idea of ritual and familiarity. Ritual is something we lack in many western cultures, specifically in American culture. While we certainly have ritual, it is not nearly as intricate or as communal as we see in Balinese theatre.

The idea of ritual is usually associated with religion. We can see Roman Catholicism as an example of a religion with very specific ritual that is known and familiar to everyone who participates. The end result is a communal and spiritual experience. In Bali, this experience is manifested through theatrical productions. While this may seem more religious than theatrical, Artaud argues that in fact, “it is the most beautiful manifestation of pure theatre it has been our privilege to see.”

What makes the ritual interesting is that because it’s so communal, they can represent ideas and themes as opposed a true-to-life representation on stage. In western theatre, we typically represent theme through an accurate reconstruction of social situations.

Many of us hold onto the Platonic and Aristotelian notion that life is a copy of something perfect, and theatre is then a copy of life. In Bali, there is no attempt to mimic the perfect or imperfect, but rather to represent the idea through intricate movements, gestures and music.

Only the language that is overwhelming to every spoken tongue juxtaposes this tranquil collage of thought and movement onstage. Artaud makes the pitch that the language is beyond simple cultural nuances like idioms or expressions, but in a category of its own. This is again contrary to our western expectation of dialogue. We expect the dialogue to push the plot and idea forward.