Year 12: IB Theatre - Research Presentation
Khayal Al-zill Shadow Puppets
Two shadow play masters from Cairo who worked with the El Warsha theatre group in the 90s.
The Arabic expression to indicate the shadow theatre is Khayal az-Zill. The term khayal has an ancient and precious tradition. Its semantic range covers the concepts of shadow, image, imagination, shape, dream, ghost, thought, representation, imaginative projection
The first and last meaning of zill is also shade, and it is the term that conceptually is opposed to nur, light, semantic couple founder of endless strands of speculation. The expression therefore, could be translated as Shadow’s Figure, Shadow’s Image, Shadow of theGhosts, Phantom of Fantasia. Or better, almost tautologically, as Shadow’s Shadow, with an exquisitely Arab relish of repetition of a the concept with subtle nuances of meaning, producing a strengthening of the image of the illusion, giving sound to its essence of double as a dizzying mise en abyme in the shadow’s world.
References
Gaweily, K. (n.d.). Master & Pupil workshop by warsha on the art of shadow puppets [Photographs]. ahramonline. Egypt's El-Warsha Troupe celebrates its silver jubilee - Ahram Online
From Sai, F. (n.d.). Medieval Arabic Shadow Theatre: a laughable tradition. In Tolledi, F. (Ed.) Stories of Stars and Acrobats: Forms of theatre between Turkey and Europe. (95-112). International Theatre Institute.
Other Online Resources
- Medieval Arabic Shadow Theatre: a laughable traditionPage 95 in the e-book, Stories of Stars and Acrobats: Forms of Theatre between Turkey and Europe.
- The Shadow Play in Mamluk Egypt: The Genre and Its Cultural ImplicationsThis article aims to transcend strict textual concerns in order to highlight the performative quality of Ibn Daniyal's khayal al-z˝ill, the shadow play. The article proposes a joint assessment of content and form while both acknowledging the difficulty, and highlighting the necessity, of understanding the shadow play's triangular mode of dramaturgic communication that involves the puppets, the puppeteer, and the audience.
Video: Performance Demonstration
Lauer, B. A. and Paul, C. [BirgitAufderLauer & CasparPaul]. (2012, September 02). Khayal al Zill [Video]. Vimeo. https://vimeo.com/229377811
On The Web: Images
Egypt's El-Warsha Troupe celebrates its silver jubilee.
Gaweily, K. (n.d.). Shadow puppets by the three masters of the trade, Ghazir el leil play [Photographs]. ahramonline. https://english.ahram.org.eg/UI/Front/MultimediaInner.aspx?NewsContentID=198444&newsportalname=Multimedia