Shadow puppetry and play

Shadow puppets and play sets have helped shape our imagination for thousands of years.

Wayang shadow puppets can be traced back to the first millennium when Hinduism arrived on the Indonesian island of Java. For centuries these puppets have danced across screens and told stories, teaching philosophical, moral and aesthetic values through indigenous myths, ancient Indian epics and local legends.

Intricately perforated and elaborately painted, these puppets are made from leather, bamboo and ox horn, and they cast dazzling shadows when silhouetted against walls or translucent cloths. The dalang, or puppeteer, uses rods to bring the characters to life in performances that are often accompanied by chanting, singing and gamelan.

In China, shadow plays have been popular for more than 2,000 years. Invented to entertain Emperor Wu of the Han dynasty, shadow plays were transported to Europe by travellers in the mid-18th century. There they were known as ombres chinoises (Chinese shadows) and were adapted to tell European stories. Puppeteer François Dominique Séraphin made them popular when he presented them in Paris in 1776, and by 1781 he was dazzling the court at the Palace of Versailles. Even Marie Antoinette admired his work.

Shadow play sets like the Grand Théâtre Fantasmagorique used decorative paper puppets to cast short fables and fairytales. Later they were merged with other innovations, like magic lanterns, to project ghoulish phantasmagoria shows.