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before the start of the story. The performance ends with Tutup Panggung (Closing Ritual), which includes
a dance, a song, and a ritual prayer which, traditionally, was led by a bomoh (shaman) or an elderly
member of the Mak Yong troupe (Zahari & Umar, 2012). The purpose of Buka Panggung (Opening Ritual)
is first to request protection from the spirits and also to ask the spirits for permission to perform in the
spirits’ locale. Malays believe that the spirits own the land and permission must be sought to perform on
it. It is important for a traditional Mak Yong performance to have guardianship from these spirits because
traditional performers strongly believe that this ritual is able “to protect performers as well as audience
members from any malicious influences (badi) existing in the environment” (Yousof, 2011, p. 16). The ritual
involves food offerings (yellow glutinous rice, parched rice, an egg fried in fritter style, sweetened water,
cotton thread or raw cotton thread etc.) that have been placed in bowls and put on trays (p. 17) and laid
out by the host. When the ceremony begins the shaman recites a mantra to ask protection from the spirits
and then eats the food offerings. Following that, Buka Panggung (opening ritual) prepares the space as
well as the actors and the audience for the start of the performance.

Traditional to Contemporary: Reinvented Ritual and the Opening Sequence in Throne of Thorns
The old Malay world is full of ritual and mystical beliefs that are specific to Malay culture.
Therefore, how the audience entered into the story in this production became important for introducing
the Malay culture. Consequently, I did not begin Throne of Thorns with Shakespeare’s opening shipwreck
scene in The Tempest, but instead set out to explore whether we could create a ritual - one that reshaped
the traditional Mak Yong ritual opening sequence. The aim of this sequence was not to immediately
introduce the story to the audience, however to provide a performance opening that could create
connections between the actors and the spectators (an opening ritual) and also the spectators and the
performance space as it develops a Malay cultural into it (the audience were taking off shoes and then
sitting on the floor).
According to Holledge and Tompkins “ritual is inflected with religious worship or recognition of
religious spirituality: the faith that maintains a culture or a community, whether in worship, re-affirmation,
celebration, solidarity, or continuity” (2000, p. 57). The opening sequence of Throne of Thorns, was an
attempt to reinvent a ritual for the opening of the play that was inspired by traditional forms, and would
incite the audience to travel along a “passageway” (p. 57), and awaken a sense of the spiritual. Throne of
Thorns began with the ensemble entering the stage in silence, with each actor holding a tray. The idea for
using trays as the main props derived from the tradition of the food offerings, and in Throne of Thorns
they became the main props with the costumes being placed on them by the actors.

Following the ‘swinging the tray’ salutation a ‘performance mantra’ was created that echoed the
shaman’s mantra in the Buka Panggung (opening ritual). The opening sequence combined elements of the
Buka Panggung (Opening Ritual) in which raja, the king, walks and recites a mantra, whispering, and using
her wand, with the dance of Mengadap Rebab. In this production Raja (Prospero) enters after the
ensemble has gathered. Raja (Prospero) is played by women because traditionally in Mak Yong, the king’s
character is played by female actor. Then Raja recites a monologue asking for protection for the actors and
the space while moving to the three different sides of the performance space, using the rattan wand and
Raja’s breath to push imaginary energy from her hand to the audience. The aim was to create a sense of
giving and receiving. This ritual, which I called “energy transference”, was created to remind the audience
of unseen powers, such as spirits thereby acknowledging belief systems other than Western. The actors
repeated the same circular ritual movement at the end of the play as part of Tutup Panggung) (closing
ritual). As they leave the space, Makhluk (Caliban) takes up Prospero’s place on the throne, revealing that
circularity might also involve change. Once the actor-playing Raja had completed the opening movement

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