What is karagozis?

Karagozis is the name given to traditional Greek shadow puppetry. Technically speaking, Karagoz is the name of a particular popular character in this genre, and has ended up representing the whole of Greek shadow puppetry. Image gallery provided at the bottom of this post.

Like many shadow puppet styles, karagozis are made using animal hide, which is then tanned to translucency and painted. Comparing these puppets to wayang kulit or the Chinese shadow puppets is interesting: although the puppets are just as detailed, karagözis have a plump cartoonish style to them. 

Karagoz itself also shows the differences between European and Asian shadow puppetry. The character Karagoz is much like Pulcinella (Harlequin) of the Italian commedia del’arte. These characters are folksy, using lots of slapstick and humour to satirise Greek life, and many different European characters feature in the plays. Karagoz himself is the clumsy oaf who always gets into a bit of trouble but is smarter and wittier than he looks: by the end of the play, he always wins over the more pompous, richer or ’smarter’ characters. Karagoz is a bit of ‘everyman’, the underdog everyone likes to cheer for. And because of this the character has become popular with audiences: hence the style of Greek shadow puppetry is known as ‘karagozis’ in his honour.

The shadow puppets are used behind a screen of about 4-5 metres (12-15 feet) long and 1.5 metres (4 feet) tall. Scenery is placed either side of the screen, usually of the protagonist’s and antagonist’s houses. The puppets themselves are about 1 metre (3 feet) tall, and Karagoz is about half that. Interestingly, the puppets also evolved over time to be reversible, by attaching the rod to a hinge on the edge of the puppet (unlike wayang kulit or Chinese shadow puppets, where the hide sits inside a split rod allowing only omnidirectional movement). An orchestra accompanies the puppeteers, providing music and songs.

If you would like to do some further reading, a far more detailed description of everything above can be found in Shadow Puppets by Olive Blackham. Highly recommended reading!