As a child , you may have crowded around a torch or a standard candle during a slumber political party or while encounter with your sib at nighttime , playfully casting silly shadows on the wall in the variant of ghosts and turkey as you drift to sleep .
But some countries have take in this wide-eyed act of darkness shimmer and turn into it into a rich amusement form that can be trace back to ancient religious and ethnic practices .
Various kind of shadow theater have exist for centuries across much of Asia and Europe — particularlyIndonesia , Turkey , Thailand , China , EgyptandIndia , though some cogitation , such as onepublished in 2003 in the diary JSTOR , evoke that the long - resist practice start in Central Asia or India . Others lay claim that it originated inChina . Sea routes and travel across thesteppes of Eurasiamay have been the thread that colligate these far - flung shadow theatre in different parts of the part .
One Southeast Asiatic nation , in particular , has attain a planetary reputation for hone the art of shadow puppetry : Cambodia .
The History of Shadow Puppets in Cambodia
Jennifer Goodlander is an associate professor of comparative literature at Indiana University and chair of theAssociation for Asian Performance . In an e-mail audience , Goodlander , who also wrote the book , " Puppets and Cities : Articulating Identities in Southeast Asia , " talk about the two best - have a go at it forms of shadow puppetry in Cambodia : sbeik thom(large fantasm puppets ) andsbeik touch(small shadow puppets ) .
These terms refer to the single piece of music of leather material typically used to cut up the puppet , which then cast shadows on the wall through the front and terpsichore of the performers holding them using one or two bamboo control stick that are approximately3 pes ( 1 meter ) tall .
Sbeik thom(also write assbek thom ) intend ' great leather ' andsbeik touch(also written assbek thom , sbeak touchorsbek touch ) mean ' little leather . ' Both type of carrying into action often recite story from theReamker , which is theKhmer(Cambodian ) version of the Native American religious epic , theRamayana .
The first written recordings of thelarge shadow puppet theaterappeared in a Thai royal court record from 1458 . give the proximity between Thailand and Cambodia , it ’s unreadable whether the practice session spring up in Thailand or in Cambodia , though some experts speculate that the Thai people brought the performance manner back to their home body politic after sacking the Cambodian capital , cognize as Angkor , in the 1400s .
Goodlander describes how shadow puppetry unfolded over the track of a millennium in Cambodia , and how it evolved in more late age .
" Shadow puppetry is one of the oldest musical style of functioning in Cambodia — there is evidence ofsbeik thomperformances date back to the Angkor period ( 9th century B.C.E. ) . The large , unarticulated tool , were used in all - Nox performances as part of ceremonies and within the royal courtroom , " say Goodlander .
" The small marionette , sbeik touch , are likely a more recent invention — and these have been used for smaller productions that tour to Greenwich Village to teach hearing about health . "
The Performance Element of Shadow Puppets
According to UNIMA’sWorld Encyclopedia of Puppetry Art , big shadow theater was historically a form of courtly entertainment . Typically , narratorstell the storywhile dancers — hold the shadow tool — perform in front of a screen door , accompanied by music . The creature characters range from princesses to peasants to demons and rapscallion .
By contrast , small theater takes place in a kiosk before a cloth sieve , where an extraneous light informant crystalise the shadows of the puppets . Seated operators control the movements of the puppets , which may have tales from the Reamker , but may also feature other adventure tales , stories with farm animals , or forward-looking educational narratives , such as the AIDS crisis or domestic wildness cognisance .
Goodlander expands on the differences between the two performances . " Besides the difference in how they are articulate — thesbeik thomremains more intimately link to faith and custom , " says Goodlander . " Sbeik touchsometimes tells stories from the Reamker , but it is less structured and more clear to creativity and innovation . I saw asbeik touchperformance at a restaurant in Siem Reap [ a tourer town , site of the ancient metropolis of Angkor ] — the performers were from a local school for the unsighted . "
A beautifulpinpeatorchestra also often accompanies the performance of the little shadow creature theater , using instruments such as xylophones , cymbals , gongs and an oboe - like object known as asralai .
" Thepinpeatis a traditional Cambodian medicine ensemble . It accompanies the public presentation insbeik thom , because the marionette are danced . " There are also " moments with no euphony and just tale , " says Goodlander .
Eric Bass runs theSandglass Theaterin Vermont , which collaborate with Sovanna Phum , a field company in Phnom Penh , Cambodia , between 2001 and 2006 . In an email interview , Bass describe what he get when performing with Sovanna Phum , though he make it clear that this is only his interpretation of the Cambodian practice and not the words of his Cambodian colleagues :
" Our vogue is indulgent and receptive , and the Cambodian graphics is firm and dynamic . It is essentially a dance form . Cambodian trace puppeteer emboss their energy into the ground and permit the force of the earth reverberate back up into the puppets . "
Shadow Puppetry in Recent Times
However , the rise of theKhmer Rouge(and its autocratic leader , Pol Pot ) and the subsequent genocide between 1975 and 1979 dealta leaden blow to artisans(like fantasm puppet Creator and performers ) , who became a target of the authoritarian province . An estimated 80 to 90 percent of the rural area ’s artistswere killedthrough overrefinement , starvation , overwork and other methods .
" During the Khmer Rouge the performing artistic production of Cambodia , including most of the artists , were wiped out . Puppetry was no elision — most of the puppeteers and many of the puppets were destroyed , " enunciate Goodlander . For those who pull through the genocide , it took many years to revitalise the Cambodian arts prospect and traditional ethnic drill that were lost . Goodlander refer the example of a performance troupe atWat Bo , a Buddhistic pagoda in Siem Reap — where creature performances still take place today .
" Wat Bo was founded in 1992 by the Venerable Preah Moha Vimalakdharma Pin Sem ( Venerable Pin Sem),who stated , ' We trust that the arts is the spirit , soul and wealth for the nations , for all nations in the world , " Goodlander enjoin .
The Venerable Pin Sem , while living in a Thai refugee ingroup in 1992 , realized the small puppet theater arts were disappear . So , he made it his mission to revitalize this vibrant piece of Cambodian account .
" Artwork within the wall of thewat , together with childhood memories , provided insight into howsbeik thomhad been performed in the past times . The Venerable Pin Sem invited 25 other monastic to join him when in 1993 the group relocated to the synagogue Wat Bo , " says Goodlander .
" Historically , performance could last up to seven nights , but today there is no one who retrieve how to execute the recollective operation . "
asunder from local festivals and holidays , Kampuchean phantasm puppetry mainly draws attention from strange tourists today . But Cambodian organizations are trying to re - engage the Cambodian public with this alone artistic tradition , even bringing together different groups to discuss how tobetter promote the performancesand make ticket Leontyne Price more affordable for locals .
" Locally — the performances endure because Cambodian audiences have become disconnected from this past tense , " Goodlander tell .
UNESCO designated dark theater an priceless spot on itsRepresentative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanityin 2005 , but interest group in the exercise has dwindle away in the yr since its resolution .
A handful of radical still practice shadow puppetry in Cambodia , especially arts and theater organizations promote Khmer civilisation , such asCambodian Living Arts , Sovanna Phum Art Association(also recognise as Sovannaphum),Bambu Stage , andBonn Phum , which is test tokeep the carrying into action art alivethrough social media and an yearly fete .
But theCOVID-19pandemic in 2020 devastated arts and performance organizations worldwide , and Cambodia is no elision . Reuters reportedthat the egression of COVID-19 forcedSovanna Phum — which had performed for 26 years and was campaign by legendary Kampuchean creative person Mann Kosal — to temporarily close in the wake of the pandemic .
But if Cambodia can retain its artistic tradition in the face of a modern , post - COVID man , the country may be in for a cultural Renascence , standardised to what bechance during the pre - Khmer Rouge " Golden Age " of the 1960s .
" Before the Khmer Rouge , Cambodia had an incredibly diverse and active scene in many kind[s ] of carrying into action … and I believe that will fall out again , " says Goodlander .
