Khayal al-zill shadow puppets
Egypt
http://www.al-bab.com/arab/visual/theatre.htm
http://archive.aramcoworld.com/issue/199902/shadows.of.fancy.htm
Egypt
- Cultural context
- Background
- Performance elements
- Video example
http://www.al-bab.com/arab/visual/theatre.htm
- Also called “Shadows of the imagination” or “Shadows of fancy”
- Popular form of puppetry
- Medieval Cairo
- Accessible to all classes
- Either complex/simple, serious/farcical
- Similar to Turkish Shadow Puppetry
- Key figure: Ibn Daniyal (Iraqi poet and playwright)
http://archive.aramcoworld.com/issue/199902/shadows.of.fancy.htm
- Performed on very special occasions (birthdays, weddings)
- Well-spread and loved form of entertainment
- Especially on the nights of the holy month of Ramadan
- 600 - 700 years ago
- White screen on which are played the puppets is symbolic of the divide between reality and the imagination and helped remind the audience that what they were seeing wasn’t real but a product of the imagination- hence comes the name “Shadows of the imagination”
- Light on the screen was symbolic of God and gave ‘life’ to the characters - helped reinforce the Islamic perception of human’s dependence on God
- Shadow theater performances - thought to have started in as early as the 10th century (founding of Cairo)
- Became a popular art form in the 13th and 14th centuries
- Was in demand particularly during the Ramadan after the people’s meal of the day (once the sun had set) out on the main streets/squares
- Different sort of stories and plots: pass on traditions/folk stories, criticize politics, serial tales (keep audience coming)
- “The plays were performed on portable stages of wood and canvas that could be adapted to cafés, tents or the larger rooms of a house. The shadow figures were generally about 30 centimeters (12") tall and made of stiff, thin-stretched translucent camel-hide. They were mounted on long wooden rods in such a way that their arms, hands and legs could be animated from behind by manipulating the sticks. A strong lantern behind the characters (but in front of the puppeteers) cast the shadows of the moving figures onto the cloth screen, on the other side of which sat the audience.”
- rais al-khayal: “Shadow master” part of each company - knew at least 28 plays (one for each night of the Ramadan)
- “The more he could add song, poetry, emotional expression and the diverse, animated voices of men, women and children—and even of animals and birds—the more popular he would become. Sometimes he enlisted help, especially boys to do the female voices. He would perform the script from memory while jerking, sliding and subtly manipulating his characters, often to the accompaniment of drums, tambourines and flutes. Also at his command were "special effects"—smoke, fire, thunder, rattles, squeaks, thumps and whatever else might elicit a laugh or a shudder from his audience.”
- “However diverse the subjects, all the shadow plays followed a similar structure. They began with a dance and always ended with either a joyful song or a free-for-all battle. There was a two-part prologue that first praised God, the Prophet Muhammad and his descendants and then presented the play's credits[...] Finally, the shadow-master always praised and thanked the audience for coming, and thanked God for giving him strength to perform.”
- One stock principal character: muqaddim (narrator), always wielding a stick, he began with a dance and introduced all the characters whilst commenting on them (giving some things away from the very start)
- In 14th century Cairo there was a building boom that allowed for shadow puppetry to develop and include complex mechanisms (eg.ships)
- qassas ("cutter") - one who made the puppet characters from camel leather or from fish skin by using special scissors/knives - ensured that they would project well on the screen
- Megariz - the one who would pierce the puppets and attach the rods (ensure they moved the right way, didn’t coincide with the puppeteer..)