Karagöz & Hacivat is a Turkish shadow play
taking its name from its main character Karagöz. The origin of
the shadow plays is accepted as southeastern part of Asia around Java.
Turkish traveler Evliya Çelebi says that the play was first
performed at the Ottoman palaces in the late 14th century. Some others
say that this play came into Anatolia after Yavuz Sultan Selim, who
had conquered Egypt in 1517, had brought the shadow play artists to
his court.
According to a legend, they were working as construction workers
in a mosque in Bursa. Although their satiric jokes entertained other
workers it also held up the building of the mosque by their constant
joking together. As a result it made the sultan very angry and anxious
about whether Karagoz and Hacivat could encourage rebellion in others,
so they were executed. The construction of the mosque was completed
without them, but their comrades did not forget them and kept their
jokes alive, telling them over and over. In time, the adventures
of Karagoz and Hacivat gained a new dimension and the traditional
Turkish shadow puppet theatre was born. Their monumental tomb stands
in Bursa today.
Karagoz & Hacivat was the most enjoyed entertainment of the
Ottoman period and was widely performed for the public and in private
houses between the 17th and 19th centuries especially during Ramadan,
and at circumcisions, feast festivals, coffee houses and even in
gardens.
Karagöz play is played depending on the talent of an artist.
Moving the design on curtain, voicing them, dialects or imitations
are all made by the artist. The subjects of Karagöz plays are
funny elements with double meanings, exaggerations, verbal plays,
and imitating accents. There is always satire and irony.
These puppets with jointed limbs are 35-40cm sized and they are
generally made from the skin of camel or cows. The skins are made
semi-transparent and painted with Indian ink or root paints. Then
they are embroidered with sharp painted blades and the pieces are
tied with ropes. This is truly an art.
The white curtain on which Karagöz is played is named as ayna
(mirror), and the light behind it as sema (candle light). There
is just one puppeteer, known as hayali (imaginary), assisted by
an apprentice, who installs the curtain and brings the puppets in
order of appearance.
The main characters of the play are of course Karagoz and Hacivat.
Karagoz represents the public’s morals and common sense, the
ordinary man in the street, and is straightforward and reliable.
He is almost illiterate; usually unemployed and embarks on money
earning projects that never work. He is often kind of rude. You
can recognize him by his turban, his bald head and his black beard.
His left arm is longer than the other one. His friend Hacivat instead
is the opposite of him; he is educated in a Moslem theology school,
speaks Ottoman Turkish and uses poetical and literary language.
He's very clever as well.
Today a limited number of artists continue the studies related
to the art of Hacivat & Karagoz and they're conducted by the
Presidency of Turkey National Center of International Puppet and
Shadow Play Union (UNIMA) and the Ministry of Culture.
