The puppet theatre is called Karagöz, which means "black eye" and is named after the main character in the stories. According to the legend, Karagöz begun in Bursa when two men working on construction of the great mosque in 1396 performed impromptu comedy routines. The other workers enjoyed their performances so much that it slowed the progress of construction, and when the sultan heard of this situation, he condemned the two men, Karagöz and Hacivat, to death. The Karagöz stories are often based on social situations such as a contest or a business deal and the Karagöz puppet is often deceitful, lewd and a little violent - perfect skills to learn for a “hayali”, the puppet master in Turkish, meaning "imaginary" or "image creator”.

In the lecture performance session first we will explain the historical and philosophical background of Karagöz – Turkish Shadow Puppetry and then hold a short performance.

土耳其人尊稱偶戲大師為「hayali」，意為「幻想創造者」。本次活動中，兩位土耳其的皮影戲大師除演出經典影戲，也將帶領觀眾創作自己的影偶和表演。

土耳其傳統皮影戲裡的經典角色叫卡拉格茲（Karagöz），意思是「黑眼睛」，他是大老粗，總想著一夕致富，每次惹麻煩都要好朋友哈西瓦特（Hacivat）出面搭救。哈西瓦特滿腹經綸，出口成詩。兩人之間的抬槓是土耳其階級互動的縮影，也是最能逗樂庶民大眾的歡樂橋段。本活動為講座型演出，包含對於土耳其偶戲歷史及特性的介紹，及一小段表演。

Production 演出與製作團隊

Hakan Dundar works as the set and costume designer for the State Theaters of Turkey in Ankara. He has designed sets, costume, props, masks, and puppets for over 200 professional performances. His work was in the gallery section of World Stage Design 2005 in Toronto, Canada he was a featured designer in the Turkish exhibit at PQ 2007 and a workshop leader in USITT Conference in Charlotte, NC, USA in 2011.

Ali Meriç currently works as an actor and director with the Antalya State Theatre in Turkey. He teaches traditional Karagoz shadow puppetry in the Akdeniz University Department of Theatre and is a member of UNIMA (The Worldwide Puppetry Organization) and ASSITEJ (International Association of Theatre for Children and Young People).

Company: Turkish State Theaters
Artists: Hakan Dündar, Ali Meriç
Assistant: D. Burcu BORAN

Series Event 同場加映