Thrissur : Thursday was the day for shadow plays at the International Theatre Festival of Kerala (ITFoK) here.The shadow plays, Magic Tree and Garbage Monster attracted a lot of people including children. The Cengiz Ozek Theatre from Turkey presented two plays –Magic Tree and Garbage Monster.
The slapstick comedy of Magic Tree makes it enjoyable even for a non-Turkish speaker.
Garbage Monster brings up important lessons in our role in preserving and caring for our environment and the planet. The director and puppeteer is Mr.Cengiz Ozek . They use the traditional Turkish shadow theatre form Karagoz.
The shadow plays by Cengiz Ozek Theatre, Turkey, use the traditional Turkish shadow theatre form Karagoz. The director and puppeteer Cengiz Ozek tried to bring a modern interpretation of the shamanic characteristic of the traditional shadow theatre form to the theatre festival. The plays bring an entire fantasy world to stage.
Karagoz as an art form is considered to have originated in the early 17th Century in Ottoman Turkey. In the shadow play Karagoz, the main character, and his best friend, Hacivat, are present in every play.
Having learnt about the fabrication of Karagoz figures from his teacher in school, Cengiz Ozek scanned several museums and private collections to enrich his knowledge about the subject. Today his own Karagoz figures and collections are exhibited in many museums.
