Traditional Turkish shadow play entertains UK audiences

LONDON

The centuries-old traditional Turkish shadow plays, "Karagöz and Hacivat," are captivating audiences in the U.K. by fostering an understanding and appreciation of Turkish culture, while also creating connections between people from diverse cultural backgrounds.

Karagöz and Hacivat is a type of traditional Turkish shadow play performed in a relatively dark hall on an illuminated white screen.

The white screen the plays are shown on is called the "ayna," or mirror, implying that the stories reflect aspects of people’s lives. On the inner side, below the screen, there is a wooden ledge that holds cymbals, tambourines, canes, pipes, and lamps to illuminate the screen.

Karagöz and Hacivat are the lead characters of the play, which was popularized during the Ottoman era.

The traditional show has been entertaining people in the U.K. since 2018 as part of a project thanks to the London branch of the Yunus Emre Institute — Türkiye’s international culture and language center — while at the same time, serving as a bridge, allowing young audiences to engage with an important part of Turkish heritage in a fun, interactive way.

Mengü Türk, a British Turkish stage actor, brings the characters to life with captivating storytelling and puppetry skills.

Since joining the Yunus Emre Institute London, she has completed her training at the Bursa Karagöz and Hacivat Museum in Türkiye and has been performing Karagöz and Hacivat in Turkish and English on behalf of the institute.

Turk spoke to the state-run Anadolu Agency before performing a shadow play, “The Swing,” at the Diyanet Mosque in North London as part of a recent iftar dinner for children.

"It was around 2009 when I came to London, and I received acting training here. But it was in 2018 that Yunus Emre Institute and I started the Karagöz and Hacivat project."

Following a week of training that focused on performance and puppetry, Turk returned to London, and since 2018, she has been performing in English and Turkish — English in schools and Turkish generally in clubs on the weekend or similar venues.

Since its inception, the project has brought Turkish shadow theater to a wide audience, as more than 75 performances in Turkish and English have reached primary and secondary schools, cultural institutions, and museums across the U.K.

Language factor

On the importance of shadow play in Turkish culture, Türk noted that since the Ottoman era, particularly during the holy month of Ramadan, there has been a tradition of entertaining not only children but also adults.

"This has been done through performances that are sometimes set up in squares and sometimes in coffeehouses, often involving plays related to the agenda of the time," she said.

"This tradition continues today, though not as much as before, and it now seems more specific to Ramadan. However, in our project, we don't limit ourselves to Ramadan — we perform in many different ways and at various times throughout the year, and we also perform in different places," she added.

She said that since the beginning of the journey in the U.K., she has performed in Manchester and Cambridge as well as many places in London.

Türk said she even did a few online shows during the coronavirus pandemic.

"Now we have a nice project coming up which we will take to the Birmingham City Council as part of a deal," Turk said, explaining that it will be a new play she will write under a project set for June.

"There will be more to come afterward,” she added.

On the audience's reactions, Türk said she saw parents often having a lot more fun because some of the jokes might go over the heads of the children, but the adults understand them better.

"Sometimes it goes by the children's comments, and I try to make it even more interactive than the traditions because I think children feel like they have a say in it, and that's why they enjoy it more," she said.

"Everyone's comment is different — some like Karagöz more, some like another character, very randomly, some get angry with a character, some support Karagöz, while others say: ‘No, no, he shouldn't do that, he should do it this way.’"

"Overall, the performances are enthusiastic, and I can feel that," Turk said.

During shows at the weekend clubs, the performance is bound up with children's language skills, she noted, adding, "If their Turkish is at a good level, they participate a lot, and probably everything I say is understood." 

“At that point, we all leave happier because, for me, it's not just about performing the play and leaving, but how interactive it is, and how much the children join it and shout, the more fun it becomes for me as a hayali, or performer," she added.