Indian Shadow Puppetry
What is it?
Indian Shadow Puppetry is conducted by taking a tightly stretched cloth with a light behind it and using figurines to portray pictures. Most shadow puppets are very simple and can be made of animal skin or sometimes leather .Some have limbs to allow the characters to come to life and move around more freely. Not much time is used to add extra details to the puppets because the audience will only be able to see their shadow anyways. The operators of the puppets use either bamboo or cane sticks connected to the puppets to operate them.
How would it be to see a performance?
When going to view a shadow puppet show, one can expect there to be a small amount of light in the room. There can not be much light because the shadows of the puppets need to stand out. You will not be able to see the puppet operators because they will be behind the cloth. Most shadow puppet shows include characters that are animals and are stories that have morals.
In the above photograph, a little boy is conducting a shadow puppet show. Since shadow puppets are very simple, almost anyone can create a show.
The photograph above shows leather shadow puppets. In Andhra Pradesh, this form of shadow puppetry is called Tholu Bommalata, which means "dance of leather puppets".
This video is about a young brown haired boy named Adash. He is the smallest boy in his village and no one ever gives him any attention. The other boys run around the town and he follows them. There is a princess in the story and her magic book is missing. None of the other boys knew where her book could be. Adash was small enough to follow the Princess's uncle and see that he in fact had her magic book. Adash retrieves the magic book and the town praises him.
Interesting Facts!!!!
- Early puppet shows were mostly about the histories of kings and heroes.
- Every year during a temple festival in Kerala, India, shadow puppet shows are a temple ritual
Works Cited
"PAVAI." Indian Puppetry. Web. 20 Feb. 2012. http://www.puppetryindia.org/.Iedesign. "IE's Shadow Puppet Film for World Vision Education UK (www.iedesign.co.uk)." YouTube. YouTube, 25 Jan. 2009. Web. 22 Feb. 2012. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7cwY2ovk8_I>.
"PAVAI." Andhra. Web. 20 Feb. 2012. http://www.puppetryindia.org/page2/page8/page8.html.
Felner, Mira, and Claudia Orenstein. "5." The World of Theatre: Tradition and Innovation. Boston: Pearson/Allyn & Bacon, 2006. Print.
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