CHAPTER III
Producing Cut-out Shadow Plays
When you were very young you probably were quite skilful in making shadow rabbits, ducks, and donkeys on the nursery walls. With a friend you may have cut out paper animals and people and fastened them to sticks and then made a shadow play with their shadows on the wall.
Your interest in shadows may have led you to stretch a sheet across the upper part of a doorway and cover the lower part with a shawl. Here you stood concealed from your audience while you moved your shadow figures back and forth in a lively fashion as you spoke the lines of a favorite nursery rhyme or improvised a play.
The next step was converting the old three-part screen into a shadow booth.
[Illustration:
_The frame_ (_A_), _upon which is fastened the translucent paper or cloth_ (_B_), _slides in and out of the standard at the grooves C, C._ ]
When one wishes to use scenery with cut-out shadows some sort of frame is necessary to hold the screen. Here is a plan for a very simple and inexpensive standard. You can see that you can have any number of screens for this kind of standard, because it allows the screens to be slipped in and out in a moment. The materials required other than the lumber are unbleached muslin or cheap white window shades and black showcard colors, and a few brushes of different sizes. The muslin should be stretched and tacked to the frame. If you use a window shade it will not be necessary to stretch it and it provides an excellent surface on which to paint the scenery.
Making a shadow play is jolly good fun. First, make a list of the most important incidents in the story. Second, decide upon the number of scenes that you think necessary for your play. Third, decide upon the number of characters required for these scenes. You will be surprised to find how few characters and incidents are needed to tell your story. Choose only those which are most important. Know your story well before you begin. Let us choose the traveling musicians of Bremen for our play. The list of important incidents are as follows:
Incident I— Donkey on the road
Incident II— Donkey meets Dog
Incident III— Donkey and Dog meet Cat
Incident IV— Donkey, Dog, and Cat meet Cock
Incident V— Donkey, Dog, Cat, and Cock seek shelter for night in the wood
Incident VI— Cock sees a distant light
Incident VII— Donkey looks through the window of the robbers’ house
Incident VIII— Donkey, Dog, Cat, and Cock break through the window
Incident IX— Robbers flee with fright
Incident X— The animals devour the robbers’ feast
Incident XI— The animals settle themselves for the night
Incident XII— One of the robbers returns
Incident XIII— He is scratched by the Cat
Incident XIV— He is bitten by the Dog
Incident XV— He is kicked by the Donkey
Incident XVI— The Cock calls “Cock-a-doodle-doo”
Incident XVII— The robber flees to his companions
Incident XVIII— The robber describes the witch that clawed him, the demon that stabbed him, the giant that beat him with a club, the fateful spirit on the roof that screamed “Throw him up to me.” Four scenes will tell the story.
Scene I— The roadside
Scene II— The deep wood
Scene III— The robbers’ house
Scene IV— The roadside
These four scenes require twelve characters: Donkey, Dog, Cat, Cock, Four Robbers, Witch, Demon, Giant, and the fateful spirit. Each character must be analyzed, for both disposition and general appearance.
Shadow figures require careful planning, because they present but one silhouette throughout the play. Naturally this silhouette must be the most characteristic one. The shape of the nose, chin, and head, of the hands, the feet, and the body, all must be closely studied. Let us see how a shadow figure is made. Let us begin with the Donkey. He looks old, thin, and neglected, but he still has spirit enough to start out into the world. His thin body and neck show that he is old and misused. His strong jaw shows his will and determination. Before you draw him on a piece of paper you should decide on his size. The scale is determined by the size of the shadow screen. Let us suppose that this is 21 inches by 28 inches and that your scale is two inches to the foot. The Donkey is made about 8½ inches high by 10 inches long, the robbers 11 and 12 inches high, the Dog four inches high by 4½ inches long, and the Cock 3 inches high by 4¼ inches long. After you have drawn the Donkey to scale, cut him out and hold him behind a sheet of paper near the light and study his silhouette. Are you satisfied? If not, draw another donkey.
[Illustration:
_Moving parts are pivoted with paper fasteners (a). Wires running up the sticks_ (_f_) _to move the tail, neck and jaw are looped through the eyelets_ (_c_). _Thumb tacks_ (_b_) _or glue may be used to fasten the figure to the sticks. Pivot points should be eyeletted before inserting the fasteners; for greater ease in working, it is sometimes well to let the head of a fastener come between two parts as at_ (_e_). _The movement of the jaw piece blinks the eye which is cut at_ (_d_). ]
[Illustration: [Cut-outs]]
What is the Donkey expected to do? Move his jaw when he talks, move his tail and ears and his legs when he walks. How can this be done? The illustration may look very complicated at first. Study it carefully and follow the directions and your donkey will be able to walk, open and close his mouth, blink his eyes, and move his tail and ears. The materials that you will need are black construction paper or any heavy paper, thin sticks about 2 inches long and ⅜ inch wide, eyelets, and long-pronged brass paper fasteners, thumb tacks, and light-weight wire.
Not all shadow animals are as complicated as this donkey. Here are a deer, a cock, and a dog, each made of just three pieces of paper. The illustrations of the farmer, fairy queen, and elf (see end of chapter) will show how the human figures are made.
[Illustration: [Cut-outs]]
When you have finished constructing the cut-out shadow figures, your next problem will be making the scenery. Composition and pattern are extremely important in shadow pictures, for nothing in the world reveals the fascination of dark and light more than the shadow play. If you can recall the beauty of the landscape in a heavy winter snowstorm when the branches and trunks of the trees are velvety black against masses of white, you can appreciate this. Every tree has a characteristic silhouette which everyone recognizes. A shadow pine tree must suggest the silhouette of the pine, likewise the oak, the elm, and the poplar, must suggest their silhouettes. So, too, with flowers and grasses. The wide prairies were suggested by the coarse prairie grass in the _Indian and the Oki_. Summer meadows were suggested by the flowers and slender grasses in _The Shepherdess_.
When you have finished the plans for a scene take crayon or soft pencil and draw it in outline on one of the screens. Use black showcard color to fill that part of your scene which is to be dark. For a black silhouette paint both sides of the screen. Distant hills and trees should be painted on one side only.
For lighting use a lantern or an extension light. Place it about six feet directly behind the screen. Color can be thrown on the screen by placing a sheet of colored gelatine in front of the light. Experiment with the light and color until you get the effects you wish.
If you use tracing cloth, such as the architects use, for your screen, you may paint on it directly, with transparent water colors. When the light comes through this screen, if you have kept your colors clear, brilliant, and well related, the effect will be charming.
[Illustration:
_Behind the scenes in the human shadow play, "The Indian and the Oki." Here you can see the well-stretched sheet on its large frame, the beaver board trees (left), great rock (right), bristol board foliage, grasses, and flowers, the bridge resting on 8″ horses. Notice that the actors stand very near the screen. The two actors on the right concealed by the great rock from the audience are manifesting the pair of fighting sparrows. The girl on the left is manifesting the rabbit which is shown in Scene I._ ]
The shadow figure is manipulated from below. This means that you must stand below the screen so that your own shadow will not be cast upon the screen. As you bring your shadow figure forward, you will notice that as it approaches the screen it grows smaller and smaller. To prevent the figure from varying in size it should be held close against the screen.
Unlike the marionette that moves forward and backward as well as to the right and left, the shadow figure can move only to the right or left. With this limitation, however, it is surprising to find how many movements and gestures are possible. Suit the action to the word. Avoid jerky gestures and repetition of the same gesture.
The lines of the shadow play can be given by the puppeteers or by a reader or readers in front of the screen. If the puppeteers are to speak the lines they should sit down together and read the play again and again, until they can speak the lines naturally and without hesitation. When they can do this, they are ready to begin rehearsals with the shadow figures. Do not hurry. Every word should be clearly spoken.
If two or three short plays are being given in a program, two readers, one standing at the left and one at the right of the screen, can read the lines alternately.
The shadow play is a delightful kind of entertainment for young and old. It is appropriate for the home, the school, the settlement, and the Sunday school. It has the advantage of requiring very little time to produce, the materials are inexpensive, and it is an artistic means of expression.
[Illustration: [Cut-outs]]
[Illustration: [Child]]