Located between Surakarta (Solo City and Demak), Purwodadi Grobogan has a strong influence of both the more direct Islam Culture from the Sultane of Demak and more subtle culture of Kingdom of Surakarta (Kasunanan Surakarta). This has been reflected in its traditional arts and performances, such as Shadow Puppet (Wayang Kulit), Javanese Theatre (Kethoprak). Although they almost disappear from from the local society, those two forms of permormances can still be easily found in different parts of Central Java. Other forms of cultural performances are almost wiped out from the live of Groboganese, such as Angguk, Kentrung, Ledhek/Tayup, Barongan and Reyog. Angguk was performed mainly by a group of young girls aged between 13-17 years, doing a marching dance inspired by the different forms of old Dutch army and royal army from Demak and Surakarta. Kentrung is a story telling in a form of songs performed by a man with the accompaniment of a traditional percussion (kendang). The stories were mainly based on the local history or the history of Prophet Mohammed. It is possible that Kentrung was used to spread out the teaching of Islam. Ledhek/Tayub is a group of Javanese musicians and singer-dancers which was very popular due to their sensual gestures. Apart from the sensual gestures of the dancers, Tayup was/is also famous since they involve/invite the spectators to dance along with them. This kind of participative performance is rare in the Javanese context. Barongan is a Javanese version of Barongsay, the dance of Dragon, where the influence of Chinese culture can be seen from the form of the dragon, the use of the dominance red color. The difference with the Barongsay, Barongan normally presided Reyog, a trance dance. Reyog in Purwodadi was different with the more extravagance Reyog of Ponorogo. In the middle of the trance, some of the dancers could involve the eating of broken glasses and raw skins of rice (brambut).
Other examples of cultural performances were related with the life cycle rites such as Kathaman and Ngantenan. Khataman is a circumcision ceremony in which it is used as a symbol of a young boy's entrance into adulthood. Normally, Kathaman is applied only to Muslim boys. The boy would be dressed with a dress like an Arab Sheikh, and taken by horse from his house to the nearby mosque. This procession is accompanied with Islamic music. Ngantenan is basically the wedding ceremony, which we can see clearly the influence of Hindu culture. Nevertheless while welcoming the invitee, the bride and groom would be put at the center of the house with brights and colourful costumes including the traditional Javanese costumes, Arabic costumes, and supposed to be modern western costumes with sun-glasses. They can change up to seven costumes within 6 hours.
It is very unfortunate, that most of these tradition has almost all disappeared due to coming of more global and uniformed culture. Kethoprak, Kentrung, Angguk, Barongan and Reyog were used to be the expressions of thanks of the people during the wedding or other important ceremonies. Now they have been replaced either by video-movies, or by Dangdut concerts.
In early 80s, Purwodadi had two cinemas, Bioskop Kencana, located right in the commercial center of the town, and Bioskop Simpang Lima, in the southern part of the town, not so far from Simpang Lima roundabout. Unfortunately, due to the presence of television and video (and now VCD and DVD players), both cinemas have no more activities. The outdoor cinema, more known as Layar Tancep, once used to be a source of entertainment in the villages around the town, which the organiser was invited by the village authority for special occasions to the villagers. This type of cinema has also faded away.
