Turkish+Puppetry

TURKISH SHADOW THEATRE - KARAGOZ AND HACIVAD

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This shadow puppetry stood out to me because I thought it sounded fun and light-hearted, but I didn’t learn much about it from the chapter. I thought there was a lot left to be asked, especially since I know nothing about the theatre or traditions of Turkey.

The shadow play was called zill-I hayal in the past, translated, this means imaginary shadows. Centuries ago, before technology advanced and the switch over to fluorescent lighting was made, the light (known as sem’a which means candle) was an oil lamp. The curtain is referred to as ayna (mirror). The puppets are created from the hides of camel or water buffalo, and painted with vegetable pigment. They are usually around 40 centimeters high. The story behind the puppetry “is that a mosque was being built in the then Ottoman capital of Bursa, and among the labourers were Karagoz and Hacivad, who kept distracting the others from their work with their humorous repartee. As a result, construction of the mosque took longer than expected, and when the angry sultan heard about their antics he had them both executed. However, the pair of comedians were so sorely missed by the townsfolk that a man named Seyh Kusteri made images of Karagoz and Hacivad from camel hide and began to give puppet shows. Karagoz came to represent the ordinary man in the street forthright and trustworthy. He is virtually illiterate, usually unemployed, and embarks on money earning ventures which never work. He is nosy, tactless, often deceitful and inclined to lewd talk. Like his European counterpart Punch, he frequently resorts to violence, beating Hacivad and other characters in the play.”

The Karagoz plays consist of four parts, the mukaddime, muhavere, fasil and bitis. The mukaddime/ introduction always begins when Hacivad enters. After singing a song unique for each performance, and reciting a prayer he noisily calls for Karagoz. His speech always ends with: "Oh, for some amusement". When Karagoz enters on the opposite side, the story begins. This form of puppetry is interesting because any story will fit, it can be about anything. The other characters include the drunkard, the opium addict, the eccentric dwarf, the half-wit, the spendthrift, and a woman that spends her time chasing men. All of the characters have a key prop or look about them so that they are easily identifiable.

Each play ends with an argument between Karagoz and Hacivad. Hacivad always shouts, "You have brought the curtain down, you have ruined it!" -to which Karagoz replies, "May my transgressions be forgiven".

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