I must confess I was thrilled with the idea of being able to see some articulated cut out figures used in shadow theatre in several Asian countries, not only because I have always been fascinated with this type of ancient story telling, despite the fact of having only watched them on TV, but also because I expected this temporary exhibition being held at Museu do Oriente in Lisbon to provide me with some insight as to the different types of theatrical approach in the countries represented.
I started with the ones from the Indian Shadow theatre, whose origin though remaining uncertain is explicitly referenced in documents dating to the 12th century. The majority of performances in the area of Karnataka where it has particularly flourished are said to occur within a religious context, either dedicated to the gods in order to bring the rain, children and overall wellbeing and happiness or simply to thank for the good harvest.
Performances are said to be accompanied by several instruments, amongst which are the gong, the flute, the "ektari" (a single-stringled lute), the "pungil" (a pipe type of instrument), cymbals, the "dhole" ( a double sided drum), the "muck veonal" (a type of oboe) and the harmonica which has been recently added to it.
Some of the figures in display were quite elaborate and colourful, particularly those which comprised several characters in a sort of constructed scenario.
I was particularly impressed by the Thai (Nang Yai) and Malaysian (Wayang Sian) shadow theatre figures, many of which were quite large-scale figures, actually larger than I had possibly imagined. Having initially been used in village protecting performances, they have been gradually adapted to pure entertainment performances lately.
Some of them were meticulous and artistically cut-out in bufallo skin and the details were second to none.
I then sat down to watch a small Chinese performing act which in an almost magical way made me feel like a child as I followed the young lady walking from one side of the screen to the other surrounded by pink butterflies that made their unexpected appearance as is falling from the sky. I seem to have understood then to which extent our fantasising capacity plays a role in the whole performance ... that capacity we had as children and which we so often ignore as adults.
If I had been impressed by the previous figures the moment I came across the Chinese and Cambodian ones I surrendered myself to the mystery of cut-out mastery. On one hand the Chinese "evil"characters conveyed extreme brutality and some of the created scenarios even fear (many reminded me of the Hieronymus Bosh paintings) whilst the Cambodian seemed to have a less fearful but rather respect type of impact on the part of the viewer.
Both were of extreme beauty (ugliness may be interpreted as beauty in artistic terms, I believe) and I could just envisage the sort of feelings one would get by watching a performance with some of those cut-out characters, many of which were also made of buffalo kin.
One particularity though seems to be linked to the Cambodian shadow theatre, according to the information I had access to - the fact of being the only ones flanked by floral and geometric motifs (quite impressive).
I continued through the area dedicated to Turkey (Karagoz) where shadow theatre is believed to have arrived from Asia during the 16th century. The figures were mostly made of camel skin and what seems to have impressed me most were some of their expressions. Whilst I was visiting Turkey some years ago I bought some shadow figures which looked fairly similar to some of the ones being exhibited.
The last part of the exhibition was dedicated to the Java shadow theatre, where its buffalo skin figures visibly displayed pointed-nose characters, similar to the image one has of witches. They were very impressive in terms of the details (I must admit).
I enjoyed the overall exhibition and just wish I might be given the possibility of watching a "live" performance in one of these countries (at least those I hope to visit) one of these days. Sometimes the anticipated thrill does not coincide with the actual performance but I don't believe that will be the case judging from what I have seen so far in regards to shadow theatre.
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