The Library of Congress > Linked Data Service > LC Genre/Form Terms (LCGFT)

Shadow plays


  • Plays in which the characters and scenery consist of shadows cast onto a screen by two-dimensional puppets and other objects.
  • URI(s)

  • Form

    • Shadow plays
  • Variants

    • Nang drama
    • Nang talung plays
    • Nang yai plays
    • Shadow drama
    • Shadow figure plays
    • Shadow pantomimes
    • Shadow puppet plays
    • Shadow shows
    • Wayang kulit plays
    • Filmed shadow plays
  • Use For

  • Broader Terms

  • Closely Matching Concepts from Other Schemes

  • Earlier Established Forms

    • Filmed shadow plays
  • Sources

    • found: The Oxford companion to the theatre, 1983(shadow-show, form of puppetry in which flat, jointed figures are passed between a translucent screen and lighted candles or, nowadays, electric light bulbs, so that the audience, seated in front of the screen, sees only their shadows; originated in the Far East, particularly in Java and India; as 'les Ombres Chinoises', shadow-shows were popular in Paris for about 100 years; the classic shadow-play The Broken Bridge; well known in the streets of London, where, as the Galanty Show, shadow-plays continued to be given up to the end of the 19th century)
    • found: Wikipedia, Nov. 12, 2012:Shadow play (Shadow play or also known as shadow puppetry is an ancient form of storytelling and entertainment which uses flat articulated figures (shadow puppets) to create the impression of moving humans and other three-dimensional objects; shadow theatre; shadow plays; shadow show; shadow puppet theater is called wayang kulit in Indonesia and it is particularly popular in Java and Bali; in Malaysia, shadow puppet plays are also known as wayang kulit; shadow theatre in Thailand is called Nang Yai; in the south there is a tradition called nang talung; nang drama has influence modern Thai cinema)
    • found: Hart, E. Funny shadow pantomimes, c1933.
    • found: Liu, Q. Chinese shadow puppet plays, 1988.
    • found: March, B. Chinese shadow figure plays and their making, 1938.
  • General Notes

    • Plays in which the characters and scenery consist of shadows cast onto a screen by two-dimensional puppets and other objects.
  • Instance Of

  • Scheme Membership(s)

  • Collection Membership(s)

  • Change Notes

    • 2014-12-01: new
    • 2019-01-24: revised
  • Alternate Formats