Fifth Issue

Ο Κ α ρ α γ κ ι ό ζ η ς ( 1960 )
Τραγούδι : Τζένη Βάνου
Στίχοι : Α. Σπάθη – Ρ. Ζαλοκώστα
Ορχήστρα : Κ. Καπνίση
Σαν όνειρο μου φαίνεται αυτή η εποχή,
τα χρόνια τα παιδιάστικα κι οι τόσες αναμνήσεις
μα ακόμα ζει σήμερα μέσα στην ψυχή
μια θύμηση που μου ’δινε ωραίες αναμνήσεις…
Δεξιά ήταν το σαράι που ο Βεζύρης κατοικούσε,
και ο Καραγκιόζης ζούσε στο φτωχό του το καλύβι
νηστικός, κουρελιασμένος και ξυπόλητος γυρνούσε,
κι έπρεπε για να ’μπει μέσα, την καμπούρα του να σκύβει,
για να φάνε τα παιδιά του, ο Σκορπιός κι ο Κολλητήρης,
πότε φούρναρης γινόταν και γιατρός ο κακομοίρης…
Και αν ακόμα νοσταλγώ στην πεζή αυτή τη ζήση
Μπάρμπα Γιώργο, Μορφονιό, Χατζηαβάτη, Σιόρ Διονύση,
είναι αλήθεια μια εικόνα που ο χρόνος δεν την σβήνει
κι η ανάμνηση αυτή στην καρδιά πάντα θα μείνει
του φτωχού του Καραγκιόζη,
του φτωχού του Καραγκιόζη…….
Figures of Karagiozis & Hatziavatis signed by Evgenios Spatharis (Private Χ.Φ. collection)
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K a r a g i o z i s (1960)
Song: Jenny Vannou
Lyrics: A. Spathis – R. Zarokosta
Orchestra : K. Kapnisis
It’s almost a dream that period,
the childhood and its beautiful remembrances,
still living in my soul ...
On the right side is the Vezyris’ seraglio
Karagiozis lives at his humble abode, on the other side,
in order to go into, he bends his hunch,
hungry, ragged (in rags), barefoot, walks here & there,
to feed his kids, Scorpios & Kollityris,
sometimes, the poor guy was done baker or doctor....
Even I am nostalgic for Barba-Yorgos, Morfonios,
Xatziavatis, Sir Dionysios
it’s true, the shadow theatre is an inextinguishable memory by the time,
and the poor Karagiozis’ figure remains for ever in my heart....
Dedicated to all Greek Shadow Theater players who gave life to Greek Karagiozis.
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Name : K a r a g i o z i s - Nationality : G r e e k
Theories about the Shadow Theatre are contradictory, placing its beginning at
India, Java or China. Finally all informations talk about Asia. From Far East the first
expected stop was Iran, with the Arab Word to be followed through its well known civil
centers of Middle East & North Africa, like Bagdade, Damascus, Cairo, Sizre. Egypt
was creating a great tradition of shadow theatrical plays since 13 th century, and it is
generally accepted that Turkey took this theatrical expression from Egypt, even though
some sources want the Moggols or Turks from Central Asian steppes to convey the
shadow figures with them in Asia Minor.
There is no doubt that the Greek Shadow Theatre with its leading protagonist
Karagiozis is absolutely Greek as popular spectacle and oral tradition. There is also an
indisputable fact that the Turkish Karagoz pre-existed of Greek Karagiozis, even though
researchers connect Karagiozis with Elefsinia and Caviria Mysticisms, even more talking
about the flourishing ancient Greek art of imitating during the Byzantine years. The
Greek Shadow Theatre was based on a loan from the initial Ottoman figures, an adoption
completely natural. It is an interesting point looking upon the influence of East on our
Greek civilization. The turning point of the rising up Greek oriented Karagiozis was his
birth with the fall of Ottoman Empire, blooming through the War of Greek
Independence, with the turkish power being the target of Karagiozis’ tirades. The Greek
Karagiozis adopted at the very beginning the basic figures and some dialogues from every
day life from the Turkish Karagoz but transformed it to the new Greek reality,
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completed the process of assimilation and hellenization into a Karagiozis of Modern
Greece. Karagiozis, finally, reflects the important period of modern recreation of Greek
Nation.
For many years after his coming to Greece,
Karagiozis was a spectacle full of dirty words, with a turkish
repertory, and under the vulgarism in jokes, with not even a
trace of social criticism or protest. It was a theatrical art
addressed to the popular class living in the periphery of
urban areas. It was the destiny of Patras, my hometown, the
city where some puppeteers of shadow theatre undertook
the difficult but charming work of hellenization of
Karagiozis, transforming a whole chapter of popular show
to a Greek art. Mimaros - a given name from the word
‘mime’ to a native of Patras – became patriarch of Greek Karagiozis. He purified the
obscenity, replaced the turkish ‘phallus’ with an excessive long hand and presented plays
with Greek myths, introducing nice local jokes and puns, famous local dialects and
characteristic songs for Karagiozis & Hatziavatis, which remain in the history of Shadow
Theatre for next generations. The first written piece of information we have on a
Karagiozis show is found in the daily ‘Tahipteros Fimi’ printed at the first capital of
Greece, Nafplion, in 1841.
The folk theatre of the Ottomans died with the Empire. The Greek Karagiozis,
free from the ottoman supervision, remains a popular comedy, faces the problem of
poverty and hunger, reflects the social relations, and represents a more earthy, secular
civilization with christian past instead of the islamic background.
The performances were inspired by
the every day Greek life, and embellished
with elements from the most beautiful
Greek fairy tales and traditions, while, at
the same time, the rich Greek history
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offered a platform of heroic and historic shadow plays, starting from ‘Alexander the
Great and the accursed snake’.
“Karagiozis has no paternity. It was a creation of people
of Ottoman Empire and each people transforms, according to
the tradition and to its customs, the characters of each national
shadow theatre. Art belongs to the people and is not feta-cheese
or baclava in order to have an origin-brand name. Turks have
Karagioz and Greeks have Karagiozis’’ said an active
puppeteer of Shadow Theatre recently in Athens.
Through the improvisation of the Karagiozis puppeteers, the criticism of events
was touching the spectators, speaking the same language with them, in a role of the
contemporary Mass Media, as far as the communication with the average man is
concerned. With the Karagiozis puppeteers on the back side and the spectators on the
front of a translucent canvas –‘transmitter’ and ‘receiver’ of every day little social
messages – the Shadow Theatre assimilated all the political-social vibrations through the
improvisation, the same exactly work of contemporary Mass Media.
Κaragiozis influenced many spiritual people in Greece to create a new-hellenic
‘commedia del’arte’ in the theatre, ‘strong’ but ‘fresh’ literary works in novels or poetry,
exceptional paintings, unique choreographies, classic or pop musical themes.
Furthermore, there is a legend - connecting China to
Greece - that a Greek merchant, originated from the island of
Hydra, George Mavrommatis, arrived in Turkey from China
with many figures of the Chinese Shadow Theatre. He settled in
Constantinople (today Istanbul) and gave his name, in turkish,
to the shadow figures. ( Mavrommatis means ‘black eyes’ in
greek, that is, ‘kara goz’ in turkish). China’s Shadow Theatre,
originated in the Han Dynasty ( 206 BC-AD 220) and
introduced in Europe( les ‘Ombres Chinoises’ ) by the French
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people, is known for the style and the technique, besides the delicate and very aesthetic
quality of figures. It combines various arts like painting, engraving, music, mimicry, all
tied in a new expression. China, from the whole Asia area, was turned early to
performances of the every day life and not inspired from religious or worship subjects,
exactly the same happening in Greece. Premier Wen Jiabao encouraged this Chinese
cultural heritage to further develop its ‘unique skills’, with the shadow theatre to take the
top slot (2007) in the awards of Chinese Ministry of Culture.
* * * *
‘... My dear friend Karagiozis, we both spent many hours together when I was a
child. I still have in my ears the voice of the public crier (‘akousate, akousate!...’ / ‘hear
ye, Karagiozis is here!...’) to announce his arrival to my hometown. It was a festivity for
all children. We were the generation of Karagiozis and not the TV or Video generation.
For every child could understand Karagiozis’ philosophy. And, Karagiozis was giving
everything to everyone who could understand him. This little marionette and fictional
character of Greek traditional folklore still remains the ‘eternal image of a Greek’. Isn’t
it the same today? Even today the Greek isn’t undergoing much suffering? Karagiozis is
an inextricable part of our culture. That’s why my little son has a whole collection from
the Greek Shadow Theatre decorating his room and he spends hours playing with. It’s
the same magic of diachronic Karagiozis’ world.
My little shadow figures on canvas, Karagiozis, Hatziavatis, Barba-Yorgos, Sior
Dionysios, Morfonios, Stavrakas, Velligegas, all my favorite heroes of my childhood,
p l e a s e, come tonight to my dreams, transfer me back to that age, fill me up with
Karagiozis’s good spirit and his inexhaustible optimism, make me feel again like a child !’
Christos G. Failadis
Press & Communication Counsellor
The above preface about Karagiozis is heavely based on the scientific works of my close friend Dr.
Karerina Mystakidou, Professor in the Department of Mass Media at the University of Thessaloniki, to
whom I am thankful for her assistance.
Karagiozis, Hatziavatis, Barba-Yorgos, painted by 6-years old George-Angelos Failadis
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Between Shadow and Light
Between shadow and light, between white cloth and trembling light of a dream,
comes the Shadow Theater.
Civilizations follow interesting routes of communication and interaction. Their
communication does not obey to rules of geographical proximity, social structure or
cultural environment and traditional norms. In this fruitful cooperation process,
civilizations tend to develop relations of cultural interdependence, and to create new
forms of expressions, which combine and adapt various elements to each cultural and
social context.
Shadow Theater serves as an example of this interaction, which follows
innovative paths and transforms the combination of light and material to a new, multidimensional
form of expression.
Rooted in historical experience and shaped by social organization, part of a broad
tradition that can be related with universal primordial, archetypical fears, feelings,
concepts, needs, with a mystical vision of the world, the Shadow Theater can be thought
of as the expression of the need to appease life, to capture the infinite light and the
shadow and to enclave it in the finite material, to embody in it life and death.
As a sophisticated and indigenous form of folk expression, which occurs without
the mediation of culture industry and with its own distinct characteristics, Shadow
Theater is related to a merely intangible part of the tangible human existence, and seems
to connect in all its aspects – narrative structure, language, creation of figures, scenery,
music, performance – the image with the spirit, the idea with the discourse.
Loaded with the semantic burden of various connotations, all of them implying its
strong connection to human existence, shadow constitutes the inseparable companion of
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human beings, and is used in highly differentiated cultural context as means to express
fear, as someone can be afraid of his own shadow, or live under the shadow of an event,
relations of subjugation to an influence or to a bad memory.
The evolution of Shadow Theater untangles the history of civilizations’
interaction in terms of one of the most symbolic challenges of art: the meanings of
shadow, the effort to capture it in the form of a figure, and to use it as part of a ritual, of
amusement or of satire.
Shadow Theater of the world - The world of Shadow Theater
Replete with myths and controversies, the history of Shadow Theater traces the
origins of this tradition in Asia, either in India, in Indonesia, in Central Asia or in China,
and proposes several options so as to explain how the Shadow Theater spread to the West.
Constantly migrating peoples across Asia and Europe seem to have served as
avenues that linked various shadow traditions, creating a net of interaction which
pervades the cultural norms of different civilizations through the archetypical idea of
shadow and finds its expression in different forms of aesthetic materialization.
Harking back to ancient sources, theories subscribe to origin of Shadow Theater
on the nomadic Turkish tribes of Central Asia, using as evidence religious practices
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elated to the worship of flat figures made of leather, felt, paper, cloth or bark and
representing sacred figures, ancestors and deceased relatives.
The fact that these tribes were illiterate and, hence, have not left any written
records, makes it rather difficult to find definite proof to support this theory, though,
linguistic research based on the evidence of a Turco – Arabic dictionary of the 13 th
century AD, where we find for the word “kavurcak” or “kabarcuk” the definition “it is
the Shadow Theater”, makes it possible that Central Asian Turks were performing
Shadow Theater performances by at least the 12 th century.
According to some scholars, the Shadow Theater has
Indian origins. It is considered possible that certain words in
the major epic poem of ancient India, “Mahabharata”, (400
BC), describing the reflection of leather figures on thin cloth,
or the shadow players, constitute the earliest written mention
of shadow plays in literature.
Besides, oral tradition claims that Shadow Theater was found in Andra Pradesh as
early as 200 BC. The combination of these elements can lead to the conclusion that
Shadow Theater has most likely existed in India since the first millennium BC.
Strong Indian influence can be traced in the Indonesian
Shadow Theater, which, though, became early such a
sophisticated form, hailed as “one of the world’s most complex
and refined dramatic and theatrical forms” and as the
“preeminent art form in Java”, that many adhere to the idea of
an autochthonous Indonesian tradition, evolving from local
animistic rites or ancient local ancestor worship.
Albeit attractive, this theory has been refuted, and it is
widely believed that the Indonesian Shadow Theater derived from South Indian forms of
shadow play, but, still, it creates a totally different tradition in Southeast Asia.
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Indian and Indonesian influences exist among the
Shadow Theaters of Southeast Asia (Malaysia,
Cambodia and Thailand), where the types of theater
traditions, of shape and appearance of figures, seem to
have followed non – unidirectional routes and may have
different points of origin.
In China, the first evidence of
Shadow Theater dates back to the
Song Dynasty (960 – 1279 A.D.),
though, references to related events
exist prior to that time, as for instance,
a famous story from the Han Dynasty
(206 B.C. – 220 A.D.), which became
widely accepted as narrating the
origin of Chinese Shadow Theater: when the favorite concubine of the Han emperor Wu
died, a court magician, who wanted to comfort him, used shadows and candles to make
the image of the concubine appear behind a curtain. Albeit unlikely as origin of the
Chinese Shadow Theater, the story became popular in the 11 th century.
During the Tang Dynasty (618-907 A.D.), the art of
storytelling was combined with the illustration of narratives
with pictures on paper screens or scrolls. Besides, the papercuts,
pasted on lanterns, screens and windows, with lights
illuminating them from behind, created pictures similar to those
of the Shadow Theater, and can be considered as the inspiration
for the Shadow puppets.
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In the 11 th century, due to decrees prohibiting ritual and drama, Shadow Theater
stories were performed in the countryside and not within cities or towns, and it was by
the early Ming Dynasty (1368 – 1644) that the performances became again part of the
city culture.
In the area of Near and Middle East, the earliest records of the Shadow Theater
come from Egypt, where the earliest extant shadow playscripts are three plays of 13 th –
14 th century, in poetry and versified prose, while Shadow Theater might also have existed
in Persia during the 12 th century AD.
Similarities in the form of the performance (one master shadow puppeteer, who
directs and animates the performance, beginning of the performance with dances and
fighting among animals, introduction of each new character by a signature special tune
played by the orchestra) and in the style of the figures (ornamentation) serve as evidence
for the influence of Javanese Shadow Theater on the Egyptian Shadow Theater and on
the Turkish Karagoz Shadows.
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The Turkish Shadow Theater
To the eye of the uninitiated this curtain produces only images
But to him who knows the signs, symbols of the truth.
No one knows what is behind this curtain, but this is the truth:
It relates the reality of the world through a language of symbols.
When the candles go out, at once the pictured persons cease to exist.
Prologue (“Curtain poem”) of Turkish Shadow Theater performance
The evolution of the Turkish Karagoz shadows keeps pace with the expansion of
the Ottoman Empire, and the Turkish Shadows tradition was found in Greece, Algeria,
Tunisia, Morocco, and in Syria.
A tale often quoted as the beginning of
the Turkish Shadows says that in 1517, when
Sultan Selim I conquered Egypt, he watched a
shadow play enacting the hanging of the last
Sultan of the Egyptian Mamelukes. Delighted by
the show, he took the performer with him to
Istanbul, the capital of the Ottoman Empire.
Though, evidence from literary sources that the Shadow Theater is used as a
literary metaphor as early as in the 12 th century AD, suggest that the tradition most likely
already existed in the Ottoman Empire, before its importation from Egypt, but it was
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from the beginning of the 16 th century on that it became an indispensable part of the court
festivities and a popular performing art form in the Empire.
The aesthetic aspect of the Turkish Shadow Theater comes as a responding to the
Islamic culture, which, being very strict on the issue of representations, permitted the
artistic representations of human figures, only if these figures appeared as shades cut with
holes, so as to allow the spirits to escape. Perforated by holes, shadow puppets could not
be thought of as animate beings, and, thus, Shadow Theater shows could be performed. In
this way, the ban against representation becomes the incentive for greater artistic
creativity.
In the Turkish Shadow Theater, Karagoz is the title role, and so the theater is
called Karagoz. Oral traditions and legends are related to the origins of the Karagoz
Shadow Theater. According to the most popular oral tradition, two friends in Asia Minor,
Karagoz and Hacivat, were employed to build the seraglio of the pasha. Hacivat was the
building contractor, and Karagoz the foreman. Progress on the construction was slow,
and, when Pasha threatened Hacivat with death, he was scared and he revealed the truth:
workmen could not work, because Karagoz narrated funny stories from morning to night.
Karagioz was a talented craftsman, and Hacivat needed him for the construction of the
seraglio, so he asked pasha to call Karagioz and scare him.
The pasha called Karagioz and
threatened him, that if he would continue
joking on the building site, he would be
sentenced to death. Albeit threatened,
Karagioz simply could not resist his own
nature and stop joking, and so he was
executed. Being upset over his unjust
action, pasha soon became ill. To amuse
him, people of the palace invited Hacivat and gave him the order to recount Karagoz’
jokes. Hacivat had the inspiration to cut a paper figure of Karagoz, and give a Shadow
Theater performance. The pasha was so delighted that he permitted Hacivat to give
performances everywhere.
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The popularity of Turkish Karagoz performances coincides with the rise in
popularity of coffee houses, which Islamic officials condemned, but the poorest classes
filled them.
Most Karagoz plays center around the action of two friends,
the poor and brash Karagoz, who always dreams of ways to
get rich or to charm beautiful women, and the educated and
elegant Hacivat. The plays follow a specific structure: a
prologue blessing the Sultan, a dialogue of Karagoz and of
another important character, causing an absurd situation,
which is the main action of the play, a denouement,
involving Karagoz beating his friend, Hacivat, and an
epilogue.
The show was performed by a single puppeteer, who manipulated the
puppets and voiced all the dialogue, while a singer and a tampourine player were
playing music in the background. It is highly impressive that there were no scripts,
and the puppeteer had to count on his memory and improvisational skills.
Karagoz shows were especially popular during Ramadan, the Islamic month
of fasting, throughout which Muslims refrain from food, drink and sexual activities,
from sunrise till sunset, and after sunset feasts are held in coffee houses, where
audiences interested in the political satire and the sexual humor could enjoy a
Karagoz show – different for every night of the Ramadan.
Deprived from any heroic or noble element, Karagoz performances provided
a carnivalistic atmosphere, as the show was associated with the three major themes
of Carnival, real and symbolic: food, sex and violence. Apart from the association
with food, which is obvious, since the show coincided with the nighttime Ramadan feasts,
sex and violence were often presented in the show, but in a way that was out of the norms
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of Islamic society, clearly tended to subvert the religious experience, derived by the Sufi
Islam doctrine that man is but a shadow manipulated by his Creator, and with the purpose
to cause the inversion and reconstruction of power relations.
Karagoz is identified as a member of the lower classes. His
ambitions – gaining power, wealth, a job with status, a wealthy
marriage – are common within big part of the Turkish society, and
allow audiences’ identification with Karagoz character, acting at the
same time as a powerful forum of self – definition, communal identity and self –
identification, and creating relations defined by ethnic or even racist stereotypes.
From about the 17 th century to the 19 th century, the political stance of Karagoz is
that of common people criticizing the powerful. Karagoz performance was employed as a
bottom – up political weapon to criticize the Ottoman society and the political corruption.
Enjoying an unlimited freedom and deliberately violating cultural norms, values and
linguistic codes, Karagoz represents the opposition, the people, who criticize the nobles
and the ruler’s mistakes.
Sexuality, abundant in 19 th century performance, becomes the medium for the
inversion of norms, for the degradation of the higher.
From the late 19 th century, and as Western moral values become increasingly
important in the Ottoman Empire, restrictions were imposed on the previously free and
uncensored art from, exemplifying the model of a top-down control to the former bottomup
artistic expression.
Though, despite intensive police controls, Karagoz maintained its political and
obscene characteristics.
In 1923, the Republic of Turkey was founded, and Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the
founder of the new state, attempted to modernize Turkey. In the period till 1945, attempts
were made to transform Karagoz to a propaganda tool for reforms promoted in language,
clothing and education.
In 1932, the government set up the People’s Houses, government – funded
institutions that were to educate the people and familiarize them with the reforms and the
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new ideology. In a complete reversal of roles, Karagoz delivers the political message of
the government, speaks in favor of the state and becomes a new model citizen.
This transformation of the political process involved in Karagoz performance –
from a bottom –up satire to a top – down propaganda tool – leads to the gradual loss of its
power as a living art of opposition and criticism.
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From Karagoz to Karagiozis – From the Ottoman Empire to Greece
Writing about Karagiozis is like trying to catch a shadow; it slips through fingers.
Having its origins in the Ottoman Empire, the Karagiozis Shadow Theater was
introduced into Greece as early as at least the end of 18 th century and quite possibly
earlier, as part of an oral tradition from Homer through the Byzantine Akritic cycle to
folk ballads. Modeled on Turkish prototype, Karagoz, which finds its roots in the
classical mime and in the Byzantine fool lore, the Karagiozis performance developed in
Greece over the next centuries, using local character types, costumes, dialects, and
combining contemporary events with motifs of classical, Hellenistic and Byzantine origin,
and Greek legends with traditional music and dances.
By 1809 we have the first reference to a Turkish Shadow Theater on Greek
territory. The English traveler, John Cam Hobhouse witnessed a performance in Ioannina:
“An evening or two before our departure from Ioannina, we went to see the only advance
which the Turks have made towards scenic representations. This was a puppet show,
conducted by a Jew who visits this place during the Ramadan, with his card performers.
The show, a sort of ombre-chinoise, was fitted up in a corner of a very dirty coffee-house,
which was full of spectators, mostly young boys.... The dialogue, which was all in Turkish,
was supported in different tones by the Jew. I did not understand; it caused loud and
frequent bursts of laughter from the audience; but the action which was perfectly
intelligible was too horribly gross to be described”.
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After the liberation from the Ottoman rule, a newspaper of the Peloponnesean
town Nauplion in 1841 gives evidence for the staging of a Karagiozis performance.
Identified as a unique theater genre, which was independent of the national Greek
theater but remained closely related to modern Greek history and ideology, Karagiozis is
a reflection of the 19 th century Greek oral culture, as an integral part of Greek history,
and the expression of Greek cultural continuity and of Greek values.
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Past and present, individual and group,
hero and anti-hero, folk experience and
ideology, national sentiment and folk
renaissance find their ideal expression in the
Karagiozis theater, which will gradually get
rid of all the Eastern aspects of the
performance and become a popular and
generally accepted theater genre in Greece,
viewed as “the voice of the modern Greek
people” and “the only genuine expression of
modern Greek reality”.
The linguistic aspect of the Karagiozis
performance exploits the combination of popular
demotic Greek with idiomatic Greek spoken by the
various characters of the performance, and representing
the wide variety of languages in the Ottoman Empire,
and with Katharevusa, a form of educated speech used
by upper classes and by officials. In this way language
becomes a valuable tool, an indicator that clearly
distinguishes social roles, power and status, education
level, geographic region, individual psychology of the
figures.
It is interesting to notice that in Karagiozis
plays, the subversive function of language contributes
to the general result of carnivalistic spirit, which
permeates the performance as a whole, and highlights the liberation from conventional
norms of behavior. Given the fact that, due to the nature of Shadow Theater,
paralinguistic features, such as body language and facial expressions, are rather limited –
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compared to the other theater genres – language is the major factor that shapes the spirit
of the performance, embodies ideas in the speech act and gives emphasis to the qualities
of the figures.
Furthermore, an important difference between Karagiozis and his Turkish
counterpart, Karagoz, can be traced in the level of language usage. Karagiozis is free
from the obscene language of Karagoz, and the liberation from this style adds to the
essence of Karagiozis as a highly differentiated style of the Shadow Theater.
The transition from the Turkish to the Greek Shadow Theater was a gradual
process along three basic phases.
In the first period (1850 – 1880), the Turkish element is still prominent. Inspired
by life events or mythology, the early plays are Turkish and the themes and structure are
similar to those of Turkish Karagoz. The gradual presentation of everyday life situations
that are common for Greeks, and the introduction of themes based on Greek folk tradition
reveal the first steps of adjustment to Greek reality, but, still, the new genre presents an
entirely different thematic content from contemporary theater plays.
In the second period (1880 – 1910), the creation of many new Greek plays –
comedies and heroic plays – marks the beginning of the hellenization process, which
occurs through an interactive process of communication between the player and his
audience. By the end of 19 th century, Greek Shadow Theater is a well established
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dramatic tradition with a cast of characters and an extensive repertoire of new Greek
plays. Karagiozis Theater assumes its Greek identity, as it becomes a rather realistic
expression of post – revolutionary Greece.
In the third period, (1915 – 1940), Karagiozis Shadow Theater reaches its artistic
maturity and enjoys its greatest popularity. The traditional style of comedy and of heroic
plays will be enriched with new categories: historical or Byzantine plays, plays inspired
by Greek mythology and by performances of traveling actors’ troupes.
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The performance of the Greek Shadow Theater
Honorable gentlemen, honorable ladies, mademoiselles, and our beloved children,
good evening to you from here to there. Our theater tonight has a good performance. You
just all sit tight and have a good time. It’s time for Karagiozis.
Viewed as a conceptual framework, that comprehends artistic art (performance),
expressive form (item) and aesthetic response (audience), the Karagiozis performance is
rather a process than a product, an oral performing art, an interactive communicative
behavior, which requires the combination of several dynamic factors, so as to relate the
performative event with its natural landscape – Greek cities, villages, islands –, to trace
its historical, political, economic, social and cultural connotations, and to form the link
that connects the performance with real life, engaging the performance in its particular
historical moment and social context.
Each performance is not the mere repetition of previous ones. It is a new form of
expression related to its social reality, to its codes of behavior, to its social environment.
This dynamic evolving speech act constitutes a combination of constant and
variable elements.
To the constant elements belong the structure and the environment of the plays:
set in urban areas, the comic plays of Karagiozis Theater are composed by a standard
sequence of scenes, whose interaction produces the comic result:
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The play begins with the assertion of lack, as a person of high status
asserts the lack of a skilled person to someone who serves as intermediary.
In the next scene, the intermediary informs the trickster of this lack.
The trickster deceives the person of high status and claims to be the skilled
person.
The trickster engages one or more assistants to help him with the skilled
service.
The trickster performs the skilled service.
The trickster’s deceit is exposed and he is punished.
The Stage of the Greek Shadow Theater
Greek Shadow Theater plays are presented on a large white screen stretched
tightly over a rectangular frame made of stone and wood that measures approximately 20
feet wide and 10 feet high. The entire performance occurs behind this cloth screen.
Illuminated from behind by nine to twelve shelf lamps, that stand between the
player and the screen and are complemented by three overhanging lamps, this screen
stands between the audience and the puppeteer, the Karagiozis – player, who stands at
some distance behind the screen and presses up the figures against the screen, so that the
figures are visible to the audience, sitting in the dark, in front of the brightly lit stage.
The audience can only see the figures’ shadows, while the lights focused on the
cloth screen make available to the audience all details and colors.
Consisting of several pieces, joined at the waist and knees, to enable them to
move, walk , dance, gesture, strike one another, and made of heavy cardboard decorated
with carved incisions, so as to create sharp dark silhouettes against the bright screen, or
of stiff, translucent leather and painted in bright, clearly visible to the audience colors, the
puppets are manipulated by the performer, who uses twenty-inch-long sticks attached to
the figure’s shoulder and allowing him to flip the puppet from one side to the other, from
one direction of the stage to the other.
In addition to the figures depicting persons, the player also has figures depicting
buildings, animals, pieces of scenery, according to the plot of the play.
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At the opening of a performance two set pieces appear: to the audience’s left, the
ramshackle hut of Karagiozis; to the right, the ornate serai of Pasha, the Turkish ruler,
giving shape to the bipolar social context of the performance and creating from the
beginning the impression of the pronounced contrast between Karagiozis and the Turk,
between the people and the ruler.
The interior of the stage comprises one or two shelves behind the player, where he
keeps the figures that are going to be used in the performance, one shelf off the floor of
the stage behind and below the bottom edge of the screen, used both as walkway for the
figures and as a place to set the lamps, a mechanism for screen changes, according to the
plot.
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The characters of the Greek Shadow Theater
The description of the characters presupposes one basic distinction of the two
most important types of Greek Shadow Theater plays: comic plays and historic or heroic
plays.
Historic or heroic plays are inspired by the events of the Greek War of
Independence against the Ottoman Empire, which began in 1821.
Two fundamental forms of narration are the source for the scenarios of the
comedies: folk tales of Greek origin or related to the genre of Turkish Karagoz, and
comic themes deriving from the western comedy tradition or inspired by contemporary
issues. In these plays Karagiozis is usually hired by the local Turkish ruler to perform a
skilled service, for which he is totally unqualified. The attempt to perform this service is
combined with deceit and humiliation of several types, but the deceit is finally exposed
and Karagiozis will be punished.
The main body of the most common type of Karagiozis performances, comedies,
consists of a series of stock scenes tied together by a string of main characters, whose
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actions constitute the narrative units of the play: trickster, skilled person, person of high
status, intermediary, assistant, client, punisher. These main characters reflect the new
urban world that emerges during the last decades of 19 th century and the first decades of
20 th century. After 1880, Greeks from various areas – either still under foreign rule or
villages – come to urban centers. The main migration flows are directed towards Athens,
which becomes center of economic and political activity.
Each character has its own distinctive appearance and personality marked by a
particular costume, voice and accent, and accompanied by particular songs, jokes and
gestures.
Karagiozis plays the role of the trickster and the skilled person, and his assistants
may be his wife, his children or his uncle, Barba Giorgos. The person of high status is
usually the Turkish Pasha or Bey, and occasionally it may be Barba – Giorgos.
Hadziavatis plays the role of the intermediary. The clients are Hadziavatis, Barba-
Giorgos, Dionisios, Morfonios, Stavrakas, the Jew, Veligekas. The punisher is either
Barba Giorgos or the Turk.
Compared to the figures of Turkish Karagoz, Greek figures are completely
different, as the design is simple and the details are depicted in a vivid and emphatic but
not exaggerated way, which tends to the symbolic expression of emotional experience.
To my opinion, the eyes of the figures are a very good example of this technique, as these
are clearly designed in such a way so as to portray every figure’s character, and to give
life to a rather stylized representation of reality.
“This is living!” It is with this exclamation form that
Karagiozis, the most important of the characters, usually appears on
the stage. A poor trickster, always lazy and hungry, simple – minded,
uneducated and unskilled, but clever and good – hearted, albeit
delighting in deceit, he never has a steady job, but he is always ready
to risk a beating in the hope of obtaining a meal. His ugliness,
exaggerated by the oversize nose, the exceedingly long arm and the pronounced hump,
can be considered strong reminiscent of Carnival scenes.
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His tricks and jokes concerning his hunger, poverty, ugliness, and the frequent beatings
he endures, are the main source of laughter in Greek Shadow Theater.
He is the subversive power that turns the world of the rich and powerful upside down.
Karagiozis’ friend, Hadjiavatis or Hatzatzaris, is the ideal
embodiment of the person who tries to earn his living under the
oppression of the Turkish ruler, whom he always wants to serve as
an intermediary or a messenger for Turkish officials. Sly and
flattener, so that he is considered a serious person, but weak and
coward, he is often given a beating by Karagiozis, before the end of
the performance.
Albeit Greek, he wears Turkish clothing. In return for his humble and respectful manner
towards his Turkish superiors, Turks treat him well and pay him for his services.
One of the most popular characters is Barba Giorgos,
Karagiozis’ uncle. Born in the area of Roumeli, on the
mountains of central Greece, an area well – known for the
struggle of its inhabitants against the Ottoman ruler, Barba
Giorgos represents the original type of the Greek mountain man,
who is strong and honest. He speaks with a very heavy northern
Greek accent. He wears the traditional costume of the
mountains (white pleated skirt and tasseled shoes), he has a
large mustache and carries a shepherd’s staff. His physical
strength is depicted in the fact that the figure is twice the size of the other figures, while
Barba Giorgos is the only one who dears to beat Velighekas, the Turkish bodyguard:
“Watch it or I will give you a free flying lesson”. He enters the stage singing a folk song
of Roumeli.
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Karagiozis has three sons: Kollitiris, Kopritis and Mirigokos. The
eldest one, Kollitiris, who appears more often on the screen, is
physically the replica of his father. He is the characteristic type of
the street urchin of Athens. He has a funny accent, as he uses “l” in
place of “r”.
Aglaia or Karagiozena is Karagiozis’ wife. A physical replica of
Karagiozis as well, she takes on the role of nagging and jealous wife, of an
aggressive personality. She rarely appears on the stage, and usually only
her voice is heard: “You-good-for nothing, faceless, useless tramp, you
are determined to destroy us!” The interaction with her husband is
reduced to quarrels over food, shelter and debts.
Born on the Ionian Sea island of Zakynthos, Sior Dionysius or Nionios is
dressed like a European, with top hat and tails, as he claims to be
descendant of a rich and noble family. Civilized and dignified, but naïve,
he speaks very fast, in the way people of Zakynthos speak, and his speech
is full of Italian words and phrases. He enters the scene singing to himself
a Zakynthian cantata.
With his huge head and his distinctive nasal voice because of his
oversize nose, Morfonios (= handsome young man) is under the
impression that he is very good-looking, and that every woman would
fall in love with him. He is the type of the elegant idiot. He lisps and
he always calls for his mother or even faints, every time that
Karagiozis threatens him. Because of his huge head, long nose and
nasal voice, Karagiozis frequently compares him to an elephant.
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“Elli needs killing
with a double-edged knife,
for she left her husband
and took up with a count”.
Stavrakas comes from the Cyclades island of Syros, but he is
associated with the Piraeus harbor, whose taverns he frequents.
Coward and boaster, a tough character from the underworld, he makes up stories about
his deeds, but he always hides away when there is a fight.
Solomon is a Jewish merchant from Thessaloniki. Rich, powerful, clever
and respectable, he speaks an admixture of Jewish – Spanish and Greek
expressions, and enters the stage singing a song that does not make sense
in any language. He is often involved in Karagiozis’ deeds.
Pasha is the highest member of the Turkish ruling class presented in the
performance. Severe and imposing, dressed in expensive clothes, he
represents wealth and power, authority and stability. Entering the stage
from the serai, he never sings. Usually, he is not seen, he is only heard
giving orders to his assistants, bey and Veligekas.
Bey is a wealthy dignitary who takes orders from Pasha. He usually
appears in the first scene of the play, and initiates the action by his effort
to find someone who will provide a service or fill a position, according to
the order given by Pasha. He often falls for Karagiozis’ tricks.
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“I am number one Vergenangas, number one guy”. Veligekas or
Vergenangas is the Albanian mercenary first officer of the serai, who
enforces pasha’s rule. Arbitrary, violent, cruel and uncivilized, he
intimidates Karagiozis and the other Greeks of the plays.
Usually, at the end of the play he is beaten by Barba Giorgos.
Veziropoula is Pasha’s daughter. She is a young girl, who respects and
obeys her father, but sometimes, she manages to impose her own
wishes.
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The Karagiozis players
“Do you know why I played good Karagiozis? Because I lived in the various
classes of the community, I walked with the lowest bum up to the highest aristocrat. I
went into the streets to learn, and I learned many things”.
Hristos Haridimos
Being a creation identified with the Greek people, being a spectacle “so alive, that
it burns”, according to the player Manthos Athineos, Karagiozis performance requires
that the ideal player is one of the people.
The player is responsible for the visual aspect of the performance, while at the
same time he must be able to portray the different voices and accents of all the characters.
First known by name Karagiozis player is Giannis Brachalis. In 1852 he left
Constantinople and moved to Athens port, Piraeus, where he founded a Karagiozis
theater. Brachalis was the first to teach the art of Turkish Shadow Theater performance.
The first to perform Greek plays – in terms of
content and language – was Dimitris Sardounis, alias
Mimaros, in the Peloponnesean town of Patras, in 1894.
Mimaros is described as the man who turned Karagiozis
into a Greek art form. Gifted with a very good voice and
with talent in music, he was designer of the figures, he
was creating characters, and writing songs and plays. He
eliminated obscene language, and it is due to his
contribution that Karagiozis becomes a popular genre,
which gradually gains the approval of upper classes and
is considered a family entertainment.
Besides, the depiction of the bi-polar social context of the play - the stage set with
the seraglio on the right and Karagiozis’ hut on the left, in the place of the Turkish steam
bath – was his own creation, and it serves as a very good example of the way he
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perceived the needs and the aim of the new theater genre: a micro-cosmos that would
present in its rather stylized way and with its carnivalistic spirit the interaction of two
highly differentiated worlds – both in terms of national origins and of social status.
During the performance, which may last several hours, the player has one or more
assistants to hold or move secondary characters who appear on stage, make simple sound
or visual effects (e.g. clapping hands, hitting a piece of tin or slapping together two pieces
of wood, using confetti to give the impression of snow), set and change scenes. The
player’s imagination can exploit the simplest means, so as to create the illusion of sunset,
of the moon light, or of the wind blowing.
Most Karagiozis players began their careers and learned plays by working as
assistants to older, established players. In this way, they became part of the oral
transmission of Greek Shadow Theater tradition from one generation to the next.
Giannis Roulias, who was famous for his performing style, was Mimaros assistant.
In 1897, he introduced the figure of Barba Giorgos.
One of the most famous puppeteers and composers of plays was Antonis Mollas.
He introduced the figure of Morfonios, and he was the first one to present on stage cars
and airplanes. He was famous for establishing direct rapport with the audience.
Sotiris Spatharis composed plays usually inspired by
contemporary issues. He was also famous for his talent in
heroic plays. His son, Evgenios Spatharis, became one of
the most renowned players of 20 th century, and his
contribution to the genre was crucial in a period, in which
Karagiozis started being replaced by new forms of
entertainment, as the films.
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Having the intention to
highlight Karagiozis as a traditional
form of entertainment and as a
unique art form, Evgenios Spatharis
performed his plays in Greece and
abroad, making the hero widely
known.
Besides, Evgenios Spatharis
taught the skills of Shadow Theater, designed the stage for performances and films, and
illustrated books of Karagiozis plays.
One of the most important aspects of a Karagiozis performance was music. Apart
from creating a climate of joy and fun, music, song and dancing serve as constituent
element of the hero’s identity. When a puppeteer did not sing himself, he chose a good
singer, who would sing accompanied by an instrument or even an orchestra.
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The audience
“I think the audience themselves take the performance to heart and play
Karagiozis. He lives, he lives in each one of them”
Giorgos Haridimos
Karagiozis performance is a collective experience, where there are no distinctions
between players and spectators. All are participants in an exaggerated, playful carnival
festivity, which turns the logic of the world inside out, makes a parody of everyday extra-
carnival life and affirms joy of living.
By the end of 19 th century and at the beginning of the 20 th century, Karagiozis can
be considered as the unique panhellenic theater genre, which gathered and amused both
in rural and urban areas many more spectators than the other theater genres of this period,
such as political satire, opera, tragedy, or even revue.
As the audience is the second major factor of a performance, Karagiozis offers the
chance to examine the stance and the reactions of a particular audience, which in contrast
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to the audience of traditional theater genres, is not the sum of mere onlookers, who just
attend the show organized and presented by those who contributed to the creation of the
performance. Karagiozis spectators contribute to the evolution of the performance, and
often their reactions offer valuable feedback to the player.
As the Shadow Theater performance is an interactive performative event heavily
based on improvisation, the player takes account of the audience’s reactions, which he
exploits in such a way that he can come up to the expectations of his audience.
It is interesting to notice that, unlike what happens in conventional theater genres,
in Karagiozis performance the audience actively participates and contributes to it, as its
commentary and its paralinguistic reactions – applause and laughter – shape the
situational context, which comprises the player and the spectators as parts of the same
group, sharing the same linguistic and social codes of communication and interaction.
Based on its social and cultural context, Karagiozis performance cannot be
perceived as a mere aesthetic effort, but rather as a dynamic subject, which establishes
relations of reciprocal communication and interdependence and attributes to the audience
a creative role in the performance, which represents a process and not a product.
Besides, Karagiozis performance covers a wide range of spectators and is not
limited to social or national constraints and hierarchical ranks. Karagiozis is not just
product or survival of folk culture, as he arrived in Greece and took his form mainly in
urban areas.
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The participation of the audience and the influence it exerts on the performance
offers an extremely high degree of emotional satisfaction and identification with the
heroes of the performance, transforming the performance to an interesting approach of
reality, which reflects the development of the theater genre and its differentiation from its
Turkish origin.
Unlike Karagoz, whose plays are based on real events related to the social
structure of the traditional Turkish neighborhood in Constantinople, and serve as scenic
representation of social norms, the Greek Karagiozis plays present a combination of real
events with elements of Greek mythology, ancient History, Christian tradition, creating a
kind of “folk mythology”, which is known to and can be understood by every spectator,
and offer an innovative alternative approach of reality. The stage of Karagiozis represents
a synthesis of elements inextricably related to folk awareness of the world and of specific
historic and social circumstances.
In an extended sense, Karagiozis performance becomes a creation of its audience,
of the people who are active and receptive participants of the process, and whose
interaction with the player is crucial for the result. Thus, the audience represents the
standard of judgement for the improvisational and performative skills of the player, for
his art and his ability to freshen and to enrich the text and the performance with new
dialogues, jokes, movements.
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After World War II, a major change occurs in the composition of the audience, as
children become the most important part of the audience. The consequence of this change
is that the player is obliged to adapt the style of the performance to the needs of an
entertainment which is suitable for children.
In this way, Karagiozis player loses the influence exerted by his traditional
audience, he loses the aesthetic control and feedback of the audience, and the Shadow
Theater becomes a conventional theater genre, deprived of its identity as a genuine folk
theater with a special performative function.
Greek Shadow Theater: A dynamic combination of tradition and change
“And who is this Tourtourismos, a fellow countryman of ours or a foreigner?”
“ Karagiozis the Tour Guide”
Using “tourtourismos” (from the Greek word
“tourtourisma” meaning shivering) instead of “tourismos”
(“tourism”), in the play “Karagiozis the Tour Guide”, the
Karagiozis player introduces a new form of a traditional pun, and
shows in the play, which is set in the framework of the rapid
growth in tourism, in Greece, during the 1960s, that the Greek
Shadow Theater is a flexible living organism, capable of
rediscovering the world and of reaffirming its ties to the tradition of the past.
As part of a wider cultural context, as a constantly changing dynamic narrative
tradition, Karagiozis plays follow in the second half of 20 th century onwards a path of
gradual adaptation to issues and problem of contemporary Greek life, and tend to respond
to new aesthetic requests for innovative forms of artistic expression, which successfully
combine tradition and novelty.
Karagiozis plays retain their traditional structure, but now they are enriched with
new material, new professions assumed by Karagiozis, new songs, jokes and puns, new
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qualities and attributes of the characters, new styles of language, of clothing, new means
of transportation, a different cultural context.
Furthermore, Greek artists experiment with new forms of Karagiozis’ visual
presentation. Karagiozis is not anymore a shadow figure on a screen. He becomes, along
with all the characters, a person on the stage of the theater, and the aesthetic perception of
Shadow Theater acquires a new perspective and a new form of expression.
In 1972, the performance “Our
Great Circus” capitalizes on the acting
skills of a genuine folk Greek actor,
Dionysis Papagiannopoulos, who gives life
to the hero of the Shadow Theater and
makes him a symbol of satire, a symbol of Greek identity.
In 1951, Greek Choreographer, Rallou Manou,
presents with her troupe “Greek Chorodrama”, a
legendary performance of the play “Alexander the Great
and the cursed snake”.
How would the world be without light and shadow? How would the world be
without colors, jokes and puns? I don’t know. I can only think of Karagiozis vibrant
laughter, of his vivid imagination, that transforms his universe to a new reality, and then
I know that his colorful jokes are the light and the shadow of the stage. I know that this is
living!
Eleni P. Moutsaki
Embassy of Greece in Beijing
Press & Communication Office
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The Shadow Theatre in China
The Shadow Theatre in China is a form of popular artistic expression that reflects the
unique historical and cultural environment in which it was born and developed.
Noticeably, it is about an agricultural environment; as such, it mirrors the ethical values
of an agricultural community and “speaks” the language of the people. Presentation itself
is directly connected to agricultural activities, because the Shadow Theatre in North
China performed three times a year was the sole form of entertainment for the farmers
after the harvest of wheat on the fifth lunar month (June or July), the autumn harvest and
during the Chinese new year (end of January- beginning of February).
The people who engaged with the shadow theatre were either professionals or, more
commonly, farmers, who after the completion of their agricultural duties, moved from
village to village, usually in harsh conditions, to present their improvised performances.
Their arrival, usually in groups of two to five people, was a big event. They would place
their rough, small theatre at temples or outdoor spaces and entertain the young and the
old with adventures of heroes and the artistic forms of their puppets.
Long before the commencement of the performance, children and elders, men and
women and even friends from neighboring villages, each with their chair, would gather
around, eagerly waiting for the show to begin. It was the only way of escaping the life in
a closed and traditional community, where labor regularly was a fight with nature’s
elements and life equaled fight for survival.
Undoubtedly, the fact that the show was an opportunity for all to watch, even for
high class women, usually excluded from any other form of social interaction, limited to
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their rooms and the yards of the houses, played a great role in the spread of the Shadow
Theatre. The reason women were allowed to attend the show was because men
performing could not be seen behind the screen and thus, did not have any contact with
them.
The Chinese Shadow Theatre drew its
themes from popular stories and legends, in
which a good harvest, welfare, and longevity
played a central role; likewise, the
accomplishments of bold generals, the
beneficences of loyal ministers and the virtues of
young, noble ladies. As a result, these works, besides providing a form of entertainment,
took the responsibility of instructing an ethical education, by presenting virtuous, brave
and obedient characters. Characters either real or fictional or more commonly, historical
figures and events were covered by the haze of myth, but nonetheless foretold the
imitation of such model figures in a society such as the Chinese, that had previously
employed imitating positive figures drawn from its historical past as a main form of
education.
It is precisely this feature that sets the Chinese Shadow Theatre apart from other
Asian ones; that is to say, the absence of objects of worship and its focus on everyday
themes, which without a doubt is in line with the character of Chinese culture, that is, the
absence of a transcendental power and its founding on immanent facts. It is about a fine
characteristic of the Chinese world, that is mirrored in the ways of artistic expression and
generally all the expressions of human life.
The beginning
There are several different myths regarding the origination of the Chinese Shadow
Theatre. Emperors and concubines, princesses and maidservants, generals and common
soldiers, Taoists and Buddhist monks, dragons and other mythical creatures, all occupy a
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unique position in the conception and development of the Shadow Theatre. Undoubtedly,
its development was influenced by local legends, the military deeds and the new elements,
which with the passing of time were incorporated to the Chinese reality.
The most known of them all is the one that refers to Emperor Wu (140B.C.-87B.C.)
of the Han dynasty. According to the story, a man that belonged to his service, in his
attempt to console the Emperor after the loss of his beloved concubine, claimed he could
recreate her form. Therefore, he built her model out of donkey skin which he placed in
front of lighted candles, so that its shadow would appear on a white screen/cloth. It is said
that when the Emperor saw the shadow so much similar to his beloved concubine from
afar he felt greatly consoled.
However, besides the legends and traditions, the first evidence is that according to
historical sources, the existence of a Shadow Theatre in China appears during the Song
dynasty (960-1279). It is noteworthy that during the South Song, a woman, Wang
Runqing, was the most famous Shadow Theatre performer.
During the Ming dynasty (1368-1644), under the influence
of Buddhism, the theatre is enriched with regards to the breadth
of its themes. Hence, theatrical works, called xuanjuan or
‘preaching scrolls’ make their appearance, because they reflect
ideas drawn from sutras the Buddhist monks used to preach at national festivals and
celebrations. With the moving of the capital from Nanjing to Beijing in 1421, the shadow
theatre incorporates new elements after being influenced by the local customs and beliefs.
In the Mongol Yuan dynasty (1271-1368), references are added to the victories of
Genghis Khan, who is said to have loved the Shadow Theatre. In this period, the Chinese
Shadow Theatre becomes known to the conquered regions of southeastern Asia and the
West through the Mongols.
The period that begins with the reign of Kangxi (1662-1722) and ends with Xianfeng
(1851-1861) is considered the ‘golden era’ of this popular form of theatre. There is
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eference to the existence of twelve troupes in Beijing, as well as performances in France
(Paris, Marseilles) in 1767 and in England in 1776, during the reign of Emperor Qianlong
(1735-1799).
The Shadow Theatre, following the route of the general developments in China at the
time, decays around the end of the Qing dynasty (1644-1911). Shadow Theater players
are prosecuted on charges of assisting rebels that oppose the unbearable taxation,
presented in the performances figures of rebelled farmers.
The Shadow Theatre was spread throughout China, but its forms and music are
distinct because they reflect the local characteristics and traditions of each region. Thus,
each region, depending on its character, has to show figures with diverse characteristics.
One of the best known is the
Shaanxi Shadow Theatre, which
reached its peak at the end of the
19th and beginning of 20th century.
Its unique development is indicated
by the big number of troupes, as well
as the fine artistic shape of the
puppets. The rich tradition of this province, that accommodated the first capital of the
united Empire (221B.C, Qin dynasty), as well as capitals of other dynasties, including the
great Tang dynasty (618-907), is easily detected through the puppetry and themes. Grand
courts and military fortresses, romantic pavilions and caves of Buddhist carved statues,
earthly Edens and fiery Hells, animals, real and fictional, soldiers and acquaintances, all
are cramped on the theatre stage. Great attention is paid to details, on the designing as
much as on their symbolism. For example, long and narrow eyes symbolize a good
character, triangular eye form is the sign of a sly and bad man, and round ones represent
the brave and courageous warriors. Furthermore, what noteworthy is the Shadow Theatre
of Zhejiang in the 12th century, when the Southern Song moved their capital to
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Hangzhou and Shanxi province, where the tradition of zhi chuang ying or “paper window
shadows” prevails. According to the myth, the people began to cut paper figures and
place them on the windows, in tribute to the Yellow Dragon that liked to ‘cut off’ the
negative space/form of men and animals.
Liaoning’s Shadow Theatre also rose by the end of the Ming dynasty (1368-1644).
The Manchurian noble men that were entertained with theatrical and musical shows
during the New Year festival included in their celebrations the Shadow Theatre
performances.
Beijing’s Shadow Theatre rose in the 16th century and had originated from the
Zhejiang one. Soon after, two distinct types arose. The theatre that developed in the
western quarters of the capital, with puppets of 50cm high, simple in form, but with
beautiful colors, and the theatre of the eastern quarters, with puppets of about 25cm high,
lively colors and bright make-up, something that indicates an influence from Peking
Opera.
“Leather Puppets”
The Chinese shadow theatre possesses
some unique characteristics when it comes to
the plot, characters, structure, mood, language
and improvisation. Its main characteristic,
which contrasts with the individualistic
character of the traditional Chinese Opera roles (every actor has a specified role), is that
the puppet master takes different roles and undertakes not only dialogs and singing, but
also movement, just like our own Karagiozis master.
The puppets were originally made out of wood and cloth. Later on, animal skin was
used and that is why they were named “leather puppets” (piying). In the northern
territories, it was mainly donkey skin, whereas in the rest of the regions cow, sheep, horse,
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camel and buffalo skins or even thick paper colored with vivid hues were used. For the
lighting, lamps were originally used; later it was candles and today electricity.
The greatness of the form of these leather puppets, greatly influenced by the popular
art of paper cutting, as well as the greatness and vitality of the colors, capture the eye and
set the imagination free. There are hundreds of forms of puppets, different from region to
region, but they all share certain common characteristics that make up the basic themes
and structural elements, a type, that is, of easily recognized standardized characteristics;
for example, everywhere, heroes have a fine appearance, whereas peasants are ugly; the
make-up and the decorative motifs are influenced by temples and statues.
The stage is rested on a board of about 1.7 meters wide, on which the curtains and
the screen are also placed. The play is opened by a red golden threaded curtain, whereas
the other curtains on the side cover the backstage space.
The Chinese shadow theatre, form of a popular art
with a long and rich tradition, is recognized today and
protected as World Cultural Heritage. Even if it is not
a very popular form of amusement as it was in the past,
the shadow theatre continues to entertain the young
and the old, especially in remote agricultural areas. Those engaged with this art are
mostly elder technicians that served and continue to serve with love to this art, and some
young students that were initiated by the elder ones. Among them, Fan Zheng’an stands
out from Shandong province, who with the help of the local government succeeded in
opening the Research Institute of the Shadow Theatre, as well as a traditional teahouse,
where he puts up performances for Chinese and foreign tourists with the assistance of his
son, Fan Weiguo, a fine arts teacher at a regional elementary school.
Elena Avramidou
Cultural Department – Embassy of Greece in Beijing
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References
Loring M. Danforth, “Tradition and Change in Greek Shadow Theater”, The Journal of
American Folkore, Vol.96, No.381 (Jul. – Sep. 1983), pp. 281-309
Fan Pen Chen, “Shadow Theaters of the World”, Asian Folklore Studies, Vol.62, No.1
(2003), pp.25-64
Lisa Kronthal, “Conservation of Chinese Shadow Figures: Investigation into their
Manifacture”, Storage and Treatment, Journal of the American Institute for Conservation,
Vol.40, No.1 (Spring 2001), pp.1-14
James Smith, “Karagoz and Hacivat: Projections of Subversion and Conformance”, Asian
Theatre Journal, Vol.21, No.2 (Autumn 2004), pp.187-193
Serdar Ozturk, “Karagoz Co – Opted: Turkish Shadow Theater of the Early Republic
(1923-1945)”, Asian Theatre Journal, Vol.23, No.2 (Fall 2006), pp.292-313
“Karagiozis and Karagoz: modest forerunners of Mass Media”, speech by Dr. Katerina
Mystakidou in Athens, Benaki Museum, 2009
“Fan Zheng’s shadow play”, newspaper China Daily (30.11.2010)
“Athos Danellis: Karagiozis does not have paternity”, Greek newspaper TA NEA
(19.7.2010)
Walter Pucher, European Theatrology, Athens: Goulandri – Horn Foundation, 1984
Giorgos Ioannou, Karagiozis, Athens: Ermis, 1979
Nikos Eggonopoulos, Prosaic Texts, Athens: Ypsilon, 1987
Linda S. Myrsiades and Kostas Myrsiades, Karagiozis: culture and comedy in Greek
puppet theater, Kentucky: The University Press of Kentucky, 1992
Katerina Mystakidou, The Shadow Theater in Greece and in Turkey, Athens: Ermis,
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Katerina Mystakidou, Karagiozis’ Transformations, Athens: Exantas, 1998
Wei Liqun, Folk Shadow Play, Beijing: Foreign Language Press, 2008
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http://www.karagiozismuseum.gr/en/genisi/karagiozis_ellada.htm
www.tsarouchis.gr
http://www.mfa.gr/www.mfa.gr/Articles/el-GR/140710_NA1540.htm
http://www.enet.gr/?i=news.el.article&id=183134
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