Bir Avuc Hayvan Mayvan (Shadow-play for ages 2-100)

Ayse Selen

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Photos From the Play
Photos From the Play



Directed by: Sehsuvar Aktas, Taner Birsel

Figures by: Claude Leon

Music by: Babur Tongur

Actors : Ayse Selen, Erdinc Dogan

Lighting designer: Ibrahim Aymaz

Date of Premier: 18.01.1997

A few words about the Shadow-Play

Although there are different views about the source of the shadow-play, it's more probable that it has spread from Asia to the West, since Asia has a very rich tradition of the shadow play.

There are also different views about how it came to Turkey. But Turkish shadow-play, Karagoz, has it's own progress line and gained its definite form in the XVIIth century.

Karagoz daha sonraki yuzyillarda buyuk bir gelisme gostermis, Turklerin en sevilen ve tutulan gosterisi olmustur. Bu gelisim cizgisi icinde iki onemli nokta vardir: Biri Karagoz'un toplumsal ve siyasal elestiri, taslama yonu; oteki ise acik-sacikligidir.

In the later era, Karagoz made a great progression and became the most loved and popular entertainment.There are two important points of this progress; one is its social criticism and satirization, the other is its obscenity. When it comes to its technical equipment and playing, the first level is the preparing of the figures which are called tasvir . The figures of Karagoz are made from strong leathers especially from the skin of camel. In the traditional technic, a mould is put on this leather and the figures are drawn on it. It's cut by a sharp knife and the holes are opened on it. It's coloured by root paint. The movable joint pieces are tied with a wire or a nylon string to each other. The holes the sticks will pass from, get the form of a thick socket after sewing a second leather on them.

The dimensions of the screen were 2m x 2.5m in the old times, but they're 1.10 x 0.80 now. A mermersahi cambric called ayna (mirror) is stretched on this frame. There is a shelf behind the screen on which a torch to light the screen and figures are put. The figures are moved by sticks of 60 cm, horizontal and right angled to the screen.

A few words about Bir Avuc Hayvan Mayvan

Bir Avuc Hayvan Mayvan, in which we developed our own technic about the sources of the light and figures, is played on a screen of 2m x 1m. It's story is shortly like this;
"Long long time ago there was a forest. In this forest a handful of animals were living happily. But one morning, somebody called Kimayra came and put a ball of fire at the center of the forest. Kimayra told that, they must never sleep because the ones that will sleep will be upside down. The animals believed Kimayra and sat around the ball of fire even without winking their eyes. Days passed. The animals could not work. They don't produce anything. The flowers were faded and the streams got dry. One day, the wise bird, Simurg, came to the forest. After learning the story of them, Simurg showed them how they believed in their own unreasonable fears. This helped them to return to their old productive lives"

In this play, in which the variations of shadow-play caused by light are used, it is aimed to connect the tradition of story telling and possibilities of expressions of the shadow-play.

Original figures were made for the abstract creatures in a play designed for the children between the ages of 2 - 8 and adults.

Staged at

Critics

"A good tale is not only a 'tale'."

"...The first play of Tiyatro Oyunevi- Bir Avuc Hayvan Mayvan- is a qualified model of children theatre."

"...Claude Leon's impressive, colorful and attractive designs are including also original imaginary figures in a play in which the expressions of traditional shadow-play and the tradition of story-telling are combined.... "Bir Avuc Hayvan Mayvan' invites also adults as much as children to an amusing travel in the mysterious world of tales...."
Sibel Arslan, Radikal