TURKISH SHADOW PUPPET THEATRE KARAGOZ AND HACIVAT

Submitted by
brahim elik

Submitted to
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Necla k gil

Submission date
29.12.2010

Middle East Technical University Fall 2010, Ankara

Middle East Technical University, 2010

Theatre has always had an important place in social life of people. In ancient Greece, theatre was a means of expressing religious beliefs and gratitude. Shakespeare used it for giving social and moral teachings or just for entertainment. In today s world, theatre is still used to give message, to express ideas. As other communities, Turkish people also used theatre for many purposes such as religious, social, moral, and entertainment. Traditional shadow puppet theatre constitutes an important place in theatre culture of Turkish people, and Karagoz and Hacivat is the most famous type of shadow puppet theatre in Turkey. There are two main claims on the origin of shadow puppetry in Turkish society. The first one claims that shadow puppetry passed to Turks from other Asian cultures like Chinese and Mongol cultures while Turks were living in the central Asia. Then it came to Anatolia by immigration from Asia to Anatolia. The other claim is that it was brought to Anatolia by Sultan Selim after his conquer of Egypt. Although, there is no certain evidence for neither of these claims, they are the ones accepted. The most famous play of shadow puppetry in Turkey, Karagoz and Hacivat, has a legend of itself as well. The legend tells us that Karagoz and Hacivat were construction workers during the building of Ulu Cami (great mosque) in Bursa. They were so entertaining with their witty conversations and quarrels that other workers were listening to them instead of working. This lengthened time for finishing the mosque and the sultan who heard about that got angry with them. So he executed them as punishment. And their workmates continued their jokes after then. It is unknown whether this is a real life story, but all the other concepts such as Ulu Cami, sultan Bayezid are real. So it makes us think that it is probably a real story.

Shadow theatre is played behind a semi-transparent screen called ayna (mirror). Puppets of Karagoz, Hacivat and other characters are generally made from camel or cattle skin. They are
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worked on until they get transparency. Puppets don t have a whole body, they have have separate limbs. Each puppet in Karagoz and Hacivat represents a certain type of character. They are like stock types of Commedia Dell arte. Karagoz is an illiterate, rude and generally unemployed. He represents the ordinary man on streets and public moral. Hacivat, on the other hand, is a man who studied at medrese (Islamic school). He can read ottoman script which is very difficult to learn. He is also very clever. There is always a quarrel between these two characters. There are other characters in shadow theatre. These are Tuzsuz Deli Bekir who is a drunk man, uzun Efe with his long neck, Kambur Tiryaki the opium addict, Alt Kar Beberuhi the eccentric dwarf and Nigar who spends her life by chasing men. However these characters are not as popular as Karagoz and Hacivat. Behind all these characters, there stands only one puppeteer. This means play generally depends on the talent of the puppeteer, because the puppeteer must be abl e to memorize many plays which will be displayed. He must arrange puppets in order of appearance. He needs to be able to imitate different dialects of Turkish and he also needs to be knowledgeable about social, political and moral issues of time. This shows that shadow puppetry is a very difficult art to accomplish. As for the play, it can be divided into four parts as prologue, dialogue, main plot and epilogue. In the first part, prologue, Hacivat enters from left side of the screen by singing and inviting Karagoz to come to the screen. In the dialogue part, there happen some witty quarrels between these two characters. In the main plot part, the plot which is about a moral or social issue is displayed and in the last part epilogue, which is a very short part, Hacivat addresses Karagoz with a poem:
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Y kt n perdeyi eyledin viran Varay m sahibine haber vereyim heman (You have brought the curtain down and ruined it; I shall go and tell the owner with a speed) And so the play ends. This is the traditional way of representation of the play. During Ottoman Empire, shadow puppetry was a very popular way of entertaining. Plays were displayed during the holy month of Islam, Ramadan. Apart from Ramadan, plays could be displayed in a wedding, circumcision or in coffee houses. It was also popular in the palace. Most of the sultans were interested in Karagoz and Hacivat play s. Especially, during the reign of Murat the IV, many puppeteers emerged. However, these plays have lost their popularity in modern society, because of the effect of cinema, television and internet. From Ramadan to Ramadan, people can see plays only in som e places like Istanbul and Bursa. Sometimes, TV channels show some short plays during Ramadan. Karagoz and Hacivat plays are very specific examples of traditional Turkish shadow puppet theatre. Although modern forms of theatre are more popular in current s ociety, it is very important to protect this art form for future generations and for the sake of art.

Middle East Technical University, 2010