Shadow Play

Shadow play is a form of traditional art in Damascus, Syria. It consists of hand-made puppets moving behind a thin translucent curtain or screen inside a dark theatre, making their shadows that stand out to the viewers.
These puppets are used in a theatrical performance that includes a narration of a scenario with light music. Shadow plays revolve around criticizing society in a humorous and satirical way in the form of a dialogue between the two main characters in the show.
The shows are usually held in popular cafes. Today, a combination of various factors such as modern technologies and mass displacements caused by wars have negatively affected the sustainability of shadow theaters over the past years.

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Shadow Play was inscribed in 2018 on the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in Syria.