Fusion Wayang Kulit

"The objective of ours is always trying to turn this fading art into something popular again. There are people who have never seen this art; they say that "I like it and I want to know more." It feels good that I'm actually doing something good for the traditional art."

―Tintoy Chuo, on Fusion Wayang Kulit's mission to continue Malaysian shadow puppetry^[1]

Fusion Wayang Kulit at Celebration Japan

Fusion Wayang Kulit is a Malaysian group dedicated to wayang kulit shadow puppetry, aiming to continue the tradition via performances that adapt contemporary popular culture, including Star Wars.^[2] It is led by character designer Tintoy Chuo, art director Teh Take Huat, and master puppeteer Muhammad Dain bin Othman.^[3]

Chuo and Huat were initially invited to contribute to an art exhibition in Kuala Lumpur in 2012, and they sought to highlight an aspect of Malaysian culture. They researched wayang kulit, a traditional form of puppetry in Southeast Asia^[4]—believed to have originated among the Hindus of India over a thousand years ago and considered one of the first forms of animation^[5]—and focused on its Malaysian form, distinguished by a single moveable arm in each puppet. They found that wayang kulit was increasingly neglected by young Malaysians and thus wanted to combine the tradition with the characters of the original 1977 Star Wars film by George Lucas,^[4] who created Star Wars as a modern mythology borrowed from older myths and religions.^[6] Chuo searched for wayang kulit masters in rural Malaysia, and Muhammad Dain Othman, a master puppeteer in Kelantan, connected with Chuo on Facebook and they met to discuss the project. "Pak" (uncle) Dain agreed with the goal of "A New Hope" to make wayang kulit popular again in Malaysia, maintaining the authenticity of the Star Wars project by continuing to involve the key elements of the master puppeteer, light, the white screen, and the puppets together with traditional Malay music.^[3]

Fusion Wayang Kulit further invested in new technology such as a synchronized video projector and sound effects as overlay, and their Peperangan Bintang (Malay for Star Wars) performance was well-received^[3] at their first public performance on October 18, 2013, narrated in Malay.^[7] The puppets were designed by Chuo and approved by Pak Dain, and crafters in Kelantan made the puppets from buffalo hide, nails, and bamboo, though they used polypropylene plastic for Peperangan Bintang. Although he only watched Star Wars after meeting Chuo, Pak Dain considered adapting Star Wars to be acceptable per tradition since the stories augment traditional mythology^[3] with the same overarching theme of good versus evil,^[8] and he had thought that the art, which had once drawn crowds of up to a thousand people^[9] but was left with only several living master puppeteers would become extinct in Malaysia within ten years' time before embarking on the project.^[3] Pak Dain's main goal was to train a student to inherit his skills as a master puppeteer and had been training two pupils for two years as of 2021.^[5]

Fusion Wayang Kulit received permission from Lucasfilm to perform Star Wars–inspired wayang kulit, touring across Malaysia despite relying on their own money without charging audiences^[9] and showing to people worldwide, including in Thailand, Germany, and Austria. They also maintain a gallery in the GMBB mall in Kuala Lumpur.^[2] The group attended 2025's Star Wars Celebration Japan, where they performed a short adaptation of the transition between Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and A New Hope and they were interviewed about their work by Kristin Baver on April 20.^[10]