A Brief Introduction to Shadow Theatre
Kuang-Yu Fong & Stephen Kaplin
Co-Artistic Directors
Chinese Theater Works
A History of Shadow Theatre - The Chinese Tradition
Traditional Techniques - Modern Innovations
Shadow puppet theater is the oldest form of motion picture storytelling. While the modern form of motion pictures, such as film, are about a hundred years old, and television was first invented only about sixty years ago, the roots of shadow puppetry go back thousands of years into pre-history. It even predates written language. We can imagine Stone Age people, living in caves during the last Ice Age, sitting around open campfires fires that make fascinating shadows dance on the wall. Soon they would have discovered out how to use their bodies, hands or simple figures made from sticks, feather and animal skins, to help tell the old stories of their family and clan.
The earliest forms of shadow puppet theatre are thought to have originated in Asia. Both India and China have extremely ancient shadow puppet tradition that still flourishes today. In China, written history tells of how the great Han Emperor became extremely lonely after his wife, the Lady Li, took sick and died. He was so upset that he neglected his duties to govern the empire. His ministers were greatly concerned and tried to find ways to cheer him up so that he could return to his duties again. They finally found an old Taoist magician, who knew some clever conjuring tricks. He sat the Emperor down in a dark room in front of a cloth screen, then, using a small flame behind the screen, he caused an image of the Lady Li to appear and move in a very lifelike way. The Emperor was very pleased and was at last able to recover from his deep grief.
This record tells us some important information about how early forms of shadow puppets might have been used in religious ceremonies as a way for the living to communicate with the world of the spirits. It was also used by priests and monks to transmit religious stories and myths to population who did not know how to read. Even today, some of these old forms of religious shadow puppetry have survived in southern Asia, especially in India and in Indonesia. There the shadow puppets perform scenes from great religious epics, such as the Mahabarata and the Ramayana. On the islands of Java and Bali, especially, the “wayang kulit” as it is called, is a widely popular form of entertainment that been developed to the highest artistic standards. From out of India and China, the form spread across the globe, following trade routes to Turkey and Northern Africa, and even later to Europe and America.
In many places, shadow puppetry became a favorite way of telling religious stories, and teaching people the important myths and legends of their culture, at a time when few people knew how to read. In China, shadow puppeteers performed favorite episodes from religious literature like Journey to the West, historical novels like The Three Kingdoms, and folk tales about famous characters, such as the wise judge, Bao Gong; fairy tales and fables.
In China, traditions of shadow puppetry developed alongside those of the Chinese opera. Not only do the two art forms share the same repertoire of stories, but have developed similar techniques in the way they represent the four main role types in all Chinese drama: male, female, “painted-face” and clown. Each role type has a unique style of acting and movement, a particular identifying color and styling to the costumes, headdresses and facial make-up. The design of the shadow figures reflects these roles types too, so that the moment they appear on the screen, the audience knows from the face patterns, dress and props exactly who they are, their age, sex, social rank, profession and personality. Acting styles are also shared by the live opera and the shadow puppet figures. When they first enters the stage, a shadow figure or human will first freeze in a quick pose, and adjust their sleeves, headdress or beard. This allows the audience a chance to "read" their character and also to "greet" the actor with a round of applause. It is amazing to see how the stylized movements and gestures, freezes and poses that heighten dramatic moments translate from the 3-dimensional live actors to the 2-dimensional shadow puppet figure, with out losing any of its force and clarity. For more about Chinese opera, click here.
The first professional shadow company in the United States was founded by a woman named Pauline Benton. She had traveled to China in the 1920's and fell in love with the traditional Chinese shadow performances. She decided that she had to present them to American audiences, and so she studied with a Chinese shadow master and collected a large set of shadow figures for many of the best loved shadow plays. She brought them back to the U.S. and created a company called the Red Gate Players. For over 30 years Ms. Benton's Red Gate Players presented traditional Chinese shadow plays in English all over the country. After she retired, her figures became part of our company's collection and have been carefully refurbished. We are still performing with some of Pauline's figures today, after almost 80 years! For more about Pauline Benton, the Red Gate Players, and CTW’s Benton collection, click here.
Shadow puppetry is technically a very simple kind of performance to make. It requires just three things: a light source, to cast a shadow; a blank white screen, to catch the shadow; and a shadow figure to create an interesting shadow that can be moved with rods.
The light source is very important in shaping the kind of shadow that we see. Originally an open flame or oil lamp was used and the motion of the flames gave the shadow a lively, quivering motion that must have contributed to the magical effect of the shadow image. Today electric lights, or an overhead projector, make a much brighter steadier and more focused image.
In traditional shadow performance, the shadow screen is any piece of white paper, silk, linen or cotton cloth, stretched tight over a sturdy vertical frame. The light source and the puppet are placed behind the screen and the audience sits in front, seeing only the pattern of light and dark that plays across the white surface. The most important quality for the screen is that it be “translucent,” that is, it allows for the light and the colors to pass though it with little dimming. On the bottom edge of the screen is a narrow shelf called a “playboard” on which the shadow figures can stand and walk on. Often times, modern shadow screens are made out of plastic shower curtains or rear projection material.
The shadow figure that stands between the light source and the screen is the most complicated part of the whole process. The shape of the figure blocks some light and lets other light through where it is cut away. They can be made with many moving parts so that they can be move in very lifelike manner. Rods are attached to the figures so that they could be made to move without the puppeteer's shadow being seen. Traditional Chinese shadow figures are made out of translucent animal skin. A typical human figure will be jointed out of eleven different pieces, held together with strong silk thread, and manipulated by three stiff wire control rods. One rod is sewn to the neck of the figure, so that it can change the direction it is facing with just a flip of the control rod. The other two rods are attached to either hand. A well constructed shadow puppet is well balanced and capable of all types of movement, both delicate and strong- they can sip tea, or they can fight fierce battles with swords and spears. A master puppeteer can work one figure in each of his hands.
Today, even with film, television and computers, and all kinds of sophisticated animation techniques, the ancient forms of shadow puppetry have not totally disappeared. It has adapted modern materials and methods, but the essence of the art form is unchanged since the day that the Han Emperor sat down in astonishment at seeing the ghost of his beloved wife.
During the 20th Century, many technical innovations have revolutionized the art of shadow puppetry. New materials have been developed, including unbreakable plastics (polycarbonate or “Lexan”) which have made it possible to build much larger shadow figures than traditional animal skin figures, and new synthetic dyes and translucent paints can make shadow figures even more brilliantly colorful.
Perhaps the most significant development has been in lighting. In most traditional shadow forms, the light source that creates the shadow image is an oil lamp or standard light bulb. But modern shadow artists have a wide selection of light sources are available: slide projectors, overhead projectors, even video or computer projections specialty bulbs that can create crisp, sharp shadow images twenty feet tall. Controlling multiple light sources is made possible with computerized lighting boards.
Mixing and merging all these elements together have given the shadow artist the freedom to create large-scale moving image spectacles that are closer to animated film than to traditional shadow performance. Using an overhead projector as a light source, instead of a light bulb can magnify an object or puppet figure placed on its flat, glass table-top of the projector to create an image large enough to fill a huge movie screen. A very small figure only a few inches tall can be transformed into a gigantic image. Larger scale shadow images, such as those created on an overhead projector, can be easily integrated into other forms of live theater performance.
Many artists, both those rooted in traditional shadow forms and those with knowledge of the newest cutting edge technology, have given contemporary shadow theater a new vibrancy and have contributed to a renaissance of this, the oldest form of motion picture media.
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