We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.
We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 21 October 2015
This chapter gives some details on ten popular stories from boria sketches. They illustrate the shows considered suitable for various occasions and for the range of stories employed. Essentially they are foundation plots used by many troupes; within the basic framework each troupe will vary the story to suit the particular audience and to bring out the skill of its performers. The dialogue is extempore. It is for these reasons that generalized stories are presented; transcribing and translating entire stories apart from increasing the bulk of the text, would tend to conceal the features common without giving the reader any clearer idea of the content of the sketches. I have also noted some of the audience reaction beyond the normal amusement encouraged by the actors in certain roles.
Examples of Stories
A. Kisah Kenduri Kahuwin [Wedding story]
The scene opens with a middle-aged couple discussing the impending marriage of their daughter. The focus of the argument is on the type of wedding they are going to have. The bride's mother wants a big wedding. She argues that her daughter will be feted but once in her lifetime, and that is on her first wedding. As a mother she does not want to suffer the shame of a small wedding feast. She must be better than her neighbours, and if they can have big wedding feasts for their daughters, she must have a better one for hers. The father is all for a small kenduri selamat (thanksgiving) in view of the fact that a big ceremony is beyond their means and would involve going into debt.
This disagreement leads them into repartee. This word battle is the important comic element in the sketch at one level, complemented by their clothes, countenance and gestures at another. The type of argument most popular with both actors and audience alike seems to run in a thrust and parry dialogue, as demonstrated in the example below:
Wife: But she is our only child! Her “catch” is a clerk who works in an office …[pauses in happy contemplation]… I want to show him off to my neighbours.[…]
To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.
Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.
Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.
To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.
To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.
