What follows is a detailed account of a single performance of topeng pajegan performed by I Nyoman Kakul In the village of Tusan, Ball, on Feb. 6, 1975. Topeng is a popular form of masked theatre in Bali, and topeng pajegan an old and particularly demanding version of that form, in which one man portrays all of the characters—dancing, telling stories, making Jokes, and performing rituals.

When we met in January 1975, Kakul checked a calendar, found it to be a particularly propitious hour to begin study, gave me my first lesson, and invited me to live in his family compound for the next several months while I studied masked dance.