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The dramatic technique had a major influence on other theatrical productions, including phantasmagoria, another type of theater that used shadows, smoke, screens, and projections to create ghostly effects. Manipulated by puppeteers using rods, the figures create the illusion of moving images on a translucent cloth screen illuminated from behind. Lace like hand cut in buffalo hide, painted both sides. Chinese shadow puppetry is a form of theatre acted by colourful silhouette figures made from leather or paper, accompanied by music and singing. WAYANG KULIT Shadow Puppet, BALI, Indonesia. Performance Techniques At a time when there was no flat-screen TV, people could cast images using a simple lamp, a shelf to hold figurines, and a thin screen or sheet of fabric to image the shadows. Its popularity in the nation peaked during the 19th century, when it was commonly performed in the nightclubs of Paris. Shadow Puppet Animals - OE-02 Fine art print of a whimsical Victorian academia illustration. Shadow puppet theater was a popular entertainment in China for at least a thousand years, and it is still performed for entertainment. Shadow puppetry was later taken to France from missionaries in China during the 18th century. It stands out among many shadow puppetry schools for its exquisite artistic modeling. The Ottoman Empire would develop their own Turkish variation of the technique in the 14th century, with all the actions and voices performed by a single puppet master backed by traditional Ottoman music. Taishan shadow puppetry, a national intangible cultural heritage, has a history of more than 600 years. The art became popular amongst the Mongols in the 13th century, taking it with them to distant lands like Persia, Arabia and Turkey. The historical record of this story is found in Ban Gu's Hanshu, or History of the Former Han. In this effort, he fashioned a puppet in the shape of the concubine and made it move using articulated joints and an oil lamp to provide an animated shadow. A popular Chinese legend from the second century BCE begins with the conjuring of a shadow of the deceased beloved concubine of Emperor Wu of the Han dynasty (206 BCE 220 CE). Regional styles of shadow puppets can also be found in Temanggung, West Java, Banyumas, Cirebon, Semarang, and East Java.
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In Central Java, the city of Surakarta (Solo) and city of Yogyakarta have the best-known wayang traditions, and the most commonly imitated style of puppets. The story suggests that he assigned an occultist in his court the task of bringing her back to life. The puppet figures themselves vary from place to place. Shadow plays are said to have originated during the Han Dynasty (202 BC–220 AD) when it was used to lessen the grief that Emperor Wu of Han felt when one of his concubines died. It is accomplished using opaque figures placed in front of an illuminated background to create the illusion of moving imagery. Shadow play or shadow puppetry is a form of storytelling that dates back to ancient times. For The Twilight Zone episode, see Shadow Play. Its origins can be traced all the way back to the Western Han period, more than 2,000 years ago. This page is about the theater technique. Shadow puppetry is an ancient Chinese art form.
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