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Middle East Technical University, 2010

TURKISH SHADOW PUPPET THEATRE

KARAGOZ AND HACIVAT

Submitted by

brahim elik

Submitted to

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Necla kgil

Submission date

29.12.2010

Middle East Technical University

Fall 2010, Ankara

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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 todays 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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Middle East Technical University, 2010

worked on until they get transparency. Puppets dont 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 Dellarte. 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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Middle East Technical University, 2010

Yktn perdeyi eyledin viran

Varaym 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 society, it is very

important to protect this art form for future generations and for the sake of art.