თურქული ჩრდილების თეატრი - ისტორია და თანამედროვე პერსპექტივა

Abstract

Active scientific work for Turkish folklore study begins from the end of the 19th century. One of its component parts are folk shows-performances, which diff er from other performances as texts for them were not written beforehand; the participant of the performance is completely free, he can invent and compose the dialogues in light of traditions and respecting them. The creative ability is not limited and off hand composed texts are preferred. Topics mostly are simple, easy to understand and are made mainly from the similar adventures. These peculiar plays, together with common general subject matter, have many common features. Here can be one, as well as many actors. One of the main characteristics of this theatre is imitation. These performances clearly manifest the spirit of the epoch and culture level of the society. The shadow puppet theater Orta oyunu (was performed in the open space, in crowded places and was built on complete improvisation), popular storytellers’ theater (Meddah), Tulыat Tiyatrosu, (which appeared in the period of Tanzimat and completely depended on improvisation, there was no text, composed for it preliminarily) and Kцy Seyirlik Oyunları (a performance, which was acted out in open space on the meadows of the villages, could be talking as well as expressed only by movements), became the basis for the traditional Turkish theatre. [And; 1970;17-18]. There is no unanimity of opinions about creation of the shadow theater in Anatolia. However, it is obvious that theater is of great interest in the main city of the empire, on the other hand, terms derived from theater also appear in literary works. The Turkish shadow theater has two main characters – Karagoz and Hajivat. Karagoz also has a Sufi side. According to the Sufi s, all spiritual and inanimate objects and beings are a kind of shadow that obeys the mighty hand of God. All of them are passable [Boratav;1969;101]. Turkish Karagoz and Hajivat are the characters, manifesting the Turkish reality itself. They emerged when from Central Asia the shadow theater entered the Ottoman Empire. It is unclear if Karagoz really existed. If so, it is to be clarified, when and where he lived. Karagoz occupies a special place in Turkish spirituality. In Bursa for him was even prepared a grave. The aim of the present work is to find and summarize information about the origin, structure and characters of the traditional Turkish shadow theater. We present the opinions of scientists about the development of this type of theater and the origin of the characters. We also tried to convey the path of theater development together with the change of epoch. Numerous studies have been conducted on “Karagoz” and the source also is quite rich. Interest in this topic continues even today. It still remains a currently important field of Turkish art.