In Shadows (Dalam Bayang-Bayang)

Next date: Wednesday, 24 June 2026 | 07:30 PM to 08:25 PM

A burlap skin canvas projecting two shadowy dark puppets. The one on the left is a smaller than the puppet on the right.

by Liang Luscombe, Isobel D'Cruz Barnes and Haneen Mahmood Martin

Presented by Darebin Arts Speakeasy

A pontianak's reckoning

A ghost story told through shadow puppetry, live music and dance, In Shadows (Dalam Bayang-Bayang) reimagines a classic tale from Southeast Asian folklore and immerses audiences in a world of shadow, sound and memory.  

Created by visual artist Liang Luscombe, musician and ethnomusicologist Isobel D’Cruz Barnes, and writer–producer Haneen Mahmood Martin, the work follows a woman transformed by betrayal and loss into the pontianak, a spectral figure known for her long black hair, haunting laughter, and lingering presence among the banana trees and frangipani-scented air.  

This retelling follows a woman who falls in love with a man obsessed with her hair. When she attempts to reclaim her independence by cutting off her hair, he turns violent and murders her. She transforms into the pontianak, a monstrous spirit who will not forget. 

Enter a world of shadow puppetry inspired by Malaysian wayang kulit, live music by the five-piece ensemble Hantu, and dance-theatre influenced by butoh. Moody, evocative, and steeped in the supernatural, In Shadows (Dalam Bayang-Bayang) offers a contemporary experience of Southeast Asian storytelling, immersing audiences in a haunting spirit world.

 

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Content Warnings

This production contains scenes of domestic and physical violence.

Running Time

Approximately 55mins, no interval

Age Suitability

Suitable for audiences aged 15+.

Special Performances

Preview: Wed 24 June, 7.30pm
Opening Night: Thur 25 June, 7.30pm
Post-show Artist Talk: Fri 26 June, 7.30pm

Creative Team

Performer & Choreographer: Janette Hoe
Puppeteers: Jet Min and Bronwen Kamasz
Director, Puppetry Design and Set Design: Liang Luscombe
Puppetry Devising: Liang Luscombe and Bronwen Kamasz
Musical Director: Isobel D'Cruz Barnes
Live Music: Hantu
Lighting Designer: Amelia Lever Davidson
Producer and Dramaturg: Haneen Mahmood Martin
Production and Stage Manager: Harry Dowling

Artist Bios

Liang Luscombe’s artistic practice encompasses puppetry and moving image that engage in a process of generative questioning of how images and film affect audiences. She received her MFA at Virginia Commonwealth University, USA and is PhD candidate in Fine Art at Monash University. She has been included in screenings at Night Gallery, Los Angeles; Artists Space, NYC; The Capitol, Melbourne; Table, Chicago; The Sunview Luncheonette NYC; ACMI, Melbourne; Composite, Melbourne; and the 51st Athens International Film + Video Festival. She has undertaken residencies at Rimbun Dahan, Kuala Lumpur, 2025; Spare Parts Puppet Theatre, Fremantle, 2025; Lemony S Puppetry Development Lab, Melbourne, 2024; EXPAND Adelaide Film Festival Lab, Adelaide, 2023; Bemis Center of Contemporary Arts, 2022; Chicago Artist Coalition’s HATCH residency program, Chicago, 2019; SOMA Summer, Mexico City, 2018; Australia Council Studio, British School at Rome, 2013; and Perth Institute of Contemporary Art Studio Residency, Perth, 2011.

Isobel D’Cruz Barnes is a Malaysian-Australian musician and ethnomusicologist based between Narrm/Melbourne AU and the Lenapehoking/Philadelphia US. She writes on race, post-colonial theory and subculture and performs/composes as Hantu. Her research has been published in Context Journal of Music Research and presented in-person with the International Society for the Study of Popular Music (Australia and New Zealand), Writing & Concepts, Bus Projects and unProjects. In music performance, she has been awarded Best Live Bassist by the National Live Music Awards (2018) and has been nominated for the Australian Music Prize (2019), the Music Victoria Awards (2019, 2024) and the Australian Independent Records Association Awards (2019). She is currently undertaking her PhD at the University of Pennsylvania. 

Haneen Mahmood Martin is a Kuala Lumpur born, Malay-Saudi multi-arts programmer, producer, writer, and artist based between Narrm/Melbourne, Garramilla/Darwin, and Kaurna Yerta/Adelaide. She works with a focus on best-practice engagement and ethical governance as it pertains to underrepresented migrant and PoC communities and building sustained relationships. She is determined in her analysis of how and why structures are developed, and how they can become sustainable for generations to come.

Haneen has worked across the country and across art forms as a producer for the likes of Performing Lines, RISING, Biennale of Sydney, MPavilion, Regional Arts Australia, Darwin Fringe, and Next Wave, as a programmer as the inaugural Artistic Associate at Brown’s Mart, Manager of the National Young Writers Festival, and General Manager for Skinnyfish Music. She co-wrote the Engage! Report and Toolkit published by Contemporary Asian Australian Performance and Arts on Tour and holds an MFA (Cultural Leadership) from NIDA.

In her own time, Haneen manages a director for Malay and Malaysian creatives in Australia and hosts the Sayang-Sayang Supper Club - an opportunity to test Malaysian recipes and notions of hospitality right from her home in Melbourne. 

 

Image by: Nur Aishah Kenton


In Shadows (Dalam Bayang-Bayang) has been supported by Creative Australia and Creative Victoria. The In Shadows team wishes to extend their thanks to Rimbun Dahan (Malaysia), Spare Parts Puppet Theatre (WA), Teater Ekamatra (Singapore), Leysha Al-Yahya, and everyone who has so generously shared their excitement for a pontianak story to be co-created and shared by Southeast Asians in Australia, for their support and belief in this work in its development.

Black and white logo of Creative Australia         Creative Victoria logo

 

When

  • Wednesday, 24 June 2026 | 07:30 PM - 08:25 PM
  • Thursday, 25 June 2026 | 07:30 PM - 08:25 PM
  • Friday, 26 June 2026 | 07:30 PM - 08:25 PM
  • Saturday, 27 June 2026 | 07:30 PM - 08:25 PM
  • Sunday, 28 June 2026 | 05:00 PM - 05:55 PM

Location

Northcote Town Hall Arts Centre, 189 High Street, Northcote, 3070, View Map

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