Karagöz and Hacivat Show: A Live Stage for Company Family Days
How to stage a Karagöz and Hacivat show at a company event: costumed live performance, interaction with children, the shadow play tradition and planning tips.
Karagöz and Hacivat are the two main characters of traditional Turkish shadow play: Karagöz, the blunt, slightly naive man of the people, and Hacivat, the educated, polite one who thinks he knows everything. At company events we bring this pair out from behind the screen and onto the stage with two costumed actors, creating a live show that children and parents laugh at together.
The show in the video was staged in a conference hall for employees and their children. The two actors banter on stage in traditional costumes, then step down between the rows to shake hands with the children one by one. The most loved moment is when a child is invited on stage and becomes part of the play.
What are Karagöz and Hacivat, and how is shadow play performed?
Shadow play is performed by projecting painted figures cut from leather onto a white screen lit from behind. The artist who moves the figures and voices every character is called the hayalî. A traditional play has an introduction (mukaddime), a dialogue between Karagöz and Hacivat (muhavere), the main story (fasıl) and an ending. Karagöz shadow theatre was inscribed on UNESCO's Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2009.
How do you stage a Karagöz and Hacivat show at a company event?
- Set the age group: a short, highly interactive flow for preschoolers, a stronger storyline for primary school children.
- Choose the venue: a conference hall, cafeteria or outdoor stage; seating where children can see the stage easily is enough.
- Add a message: company values, workplace safety, environmental awareness or a holiday theme can be woven into the banter.
- Plan the interaction: children invited on stage, questions and answers and rhymes said together turn the show into play.
- Finish with a workshop: when children make their own puppet or character after the show, the story goes home with them.
The biggest advantage of the costumed live version is that the characters do not stay behind a screen but come down into the hall. A Karagöz who makes eye contact with children, asks their names and invites them on stage pulls in even screen-accustomed kids in an instant.
What can it be combined with?
The show is a great fit for 23 April programmes, family days and New Year children's parties. A natural follow-up is the Origami & Puppet Making Workshop, where children make their own puppets; for performers to liven up the rest of the event see our Mime, Living Statue & MC Host cast. Our guide to choosing a workshop helps with what to look for. Cost depends on show length, city and venue, sound system needs, a company-specific script and the accompanying workshops.
Frequently Asked Questions
If you would like to invite Karagöz and Hacivat to your family day or children's event, contact us.
Start with 5 short questions: we'll prepare a custom quote in under 24 hours.
