This lively and description-packed work is the result of more than a decade of conversations between two academics/pracitioners, I Nyoman Sedana from Bali's Indonesia Arts Institute (ISI) and Leon Rubin from the University of Essex. Such a pairing of writers has obvious strengths, especially in that they are able to achieve a satisfying balance between thick description of performance events and detailed information on context and technique that would generally be known only to practitioners. Perhaps more impressively than comparable titles, this book thus pulls the reader into the heart of these traditions from the point of view of both performer and spectator.

Where previous studies on traditional Balinese performance forms have provided mind-numbing catalogues of forms and sub-genres, this text wisely limits its focus to four foundational traditions: the shadow puppet theatre wayang kulit, sanghyang trance performance, gambuh classical dance drama, and topeng masked theatre. The detailed examination of these forms is preceded by a concise and very readable chapter providing introductory and contextual information that applies not only to these forms, but to all Balinese performance traditions. Standing nicely on its own, this self-contained introductory chapter explores the functions of performance in Balinese life, examining key concepts such as the necessity of balancing the forces of destruction and regeneration and the necessary relationship between kaja and kelod, the twin forces that move between the mountains and the sea and underpin much of Balinese culture.

Subsequent sections then offer a brief history of each performance form, a sense of its cultural significance, and detailed information that re-creates a representative performance event. The level of detail frequently provides compelling insights, as in the chapter on wayang kulit: while it is widely known that the dalang or puppeteer cues the orchestra, less known and more interesting are the varied and precise ways musicians and singers are cued, all of which are fully described and contextualized here. Rubin and Sedana's book thus provides rich and multilayered paths into the foundational forms from which other better-known and more tourist-friendly forms such as the kecak and legong are derived. The only minor annoyance was the odd idea of relating aspects of Balinese performance traditions to the theatre of Shakespeare, a practice that sometimes felt forced and unnecessary, especially inasmuch as it would seem to presuppose an ideal (Western) reader. Furthermore, while printing costs no doubt make colour photographs prohibitively expensive for such a title, a greater number even of black-and-white illustrations throughout the text would have been useful and instructive.