Shadow Puppets

Shadow theatre places figures, objects, or parts of the body between a light source and a screen. The audience sees the projected image, not necessarily the figure that creates it. Changing the distance between the light, object, and screen alters the shadow's size, sharpness, and distortion.

Silhouettes may be opaque, translucent, or coloured. Some are made from leather, paper, card, acetate, or other materials and articulated with rods. It is therefore inaccurate to say that shadow theatre "has no colour": several Asian traditions use perforated, painted hide that allows some light to pass through.

There is no firm consensus that shadow theatre has a single place of origin. China, India, Indonesia, and other parts of Asia have old traditions, but their chronologies and historical relationships are complex. It is more accurate to speak of several documented traditions than to present one hypothesis as fact.

One of the best known is Indonesia's wayang kulit. The dalang manipulates the figures and leads a performance accompanied by music. Stories may draw on the Ramayana, the Mahabharata, and local repertoires. UNESCO inscribed wayang puppet theatre on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2008.

Another major tradition is Karagöz, the Turkish shadow theatre centred on the comic contrast between Karagöz and Hacivat. UNESCO inscribed this form in 2009. In Europe, shows known as ombres chinoises, or Chinese shadows, became popular during the eighteenth century. Dominique Séraphin presented such performances at Versailles and in Paris from the 1770s onwards.

Contemporary shadow theatre combines handmade silhouettes with projectors, video, transparencies, everyday objects, and the performers' bodies. The technology may change, but the principle remains the same: controlling light and the spatial relationship between the source, figure, and projection surface.

In summary: shadow puppets create characters and actions by projecting silhouettes or images onto a lit screen.

Sources: UNESCO: Wayang puppet theatre · UNESCO: Karagöz · World Encyclopedia of Puppetry Arts: Shadow Theatre