SHADOW PLAY. A dramatic representa tion by means of shadows east by puppets upon a screen. It is, therefore, a modification of a puppet show (sec PuePET), though the same thing in principle has sometimes been aeeom 'plished by shadows of living persons moving be hind a screen or by the shadows of their hands upon the wall. The usual essentials for a shadow play consist of an opening like that of a doorway to serve as a scene, covered with a thin white screen upon which a light from behind casts the images of the puppets. These are worked by concealed persons, who also supply the dialogue. The earliest evidences of this kind of entertainment are in China; it is known also in Japan, in .Tava, and especially in Moham medan countries. Karakus (Black-eye) being among the Turks a well-known conventional character in this miniature drama. Southern Germany was one of the early homes of this as of other puppet shows. Introduced into France
in the eighteenth century, shadow plays be came a recognized amusement of the royal children at Versailles. and later a little theatre was established in the of the Palais Royal in Paris in with its successors, down to the end of the Second Empire, pieces continued to be given in this way. In more recent years the shadow play has been re vived on an elaborate scale in some of the caba rets of the Montmartre quarter in Paris. At the Chat Noir, particularly, under the direction of Henri Rivihe, several very complicated dramas have been presented, among them being L'Epopee of Caran d'Aehe and La march(' a mode of George Fragerolle. Consult: Pisko, Licht and Puree (Munich, 1876) ; Champfleury, Le tnuse secret de la caricature (Paris. 1888) ; Jacob. Schattenspiel-Eibliographie (Erlangen, 1901).