The traditional gamelan orchestra accompanies the dalan, who manipulates the puppets  from behind on the same side of the screen, providing a nearly continuous music appropriate to each scene.

In the darkness the insects have already begun to fly around unsteady flame of the oil lamp, which casts its dazzling light on the large white screen of the stage. at the lower part of the cloth-screen, the beautiful leather puppets (wayang kulit) are neatly arranged, their body-sticks firmly planted in banana-stems, placed beneath the screen itself.

On the right hand side are the good characters, on the left hand side the bad. The open space between them, about two meters wide, represents the stage.

Here the puppets will come to life and, like human beings, will each in his own way pursue the endless path to human happiness.
From Ramayana, Sunardjo Haditjaroko

Wayang Kulit Performance

After dark, men, women and children gather around the white cloth screen. Shadows are made by incandescent gas or electric lighting positioned behind the puppets and the screen.

The dalang or puppeteer lifts the puppets up to take their place in the heavenly world of shadows. They move with graceful dignity, mincing fastidiousness, hearty striding motion or lugubrious waddles.

The dalang manipulates the puppets, sings and taps out signals to the orchestra. He also speaks the parts for all characters; he must be able to render the shy sweetness in the voice of a princess, the spiteful whine of a lackey and the righteous but controlled anger of a noble hero.