Karagöz and Hacivat

In Karagöz, translucent figures cut from camel hide and painted are pressed with rods against a white screen lit from behind. A single master, the hayali, moves and voices every character.

The heroes are Karagöz, a plain, quick-witted man of the people, and Hacivat, who speaks in bookish phrases and knows everything. The jokes born of their misunderstandings mirror Istanbul's many peoples, trades and daily life; legend holds that both were real men who lived in Bursa.

For centuries Karagöz was a favourite entertainment of Ramadan nights. It was inscribed on UNESCO's list of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2009.