The noble, land-owning shepherd who represented honourable and admirable qualities of the Greek character
Barba-Yiorgo, the smelly goatherd wants a wife but his grass is being cleared by ravenous, hairy, mud-besplattered monsters in the purview of a resident serpent in his olive grove.
Black and white work in progress shot of Barba-Yiorgo.
Barba-Yiorgo is the tallest character in the Karagiozis repertoire and also the fiercest. He alone can best the Vezier’s personal cutthroat, Veligekas.
Barba-Yiorgo is the biggest land-owning shepherd from central Greece. He has the greatest flock and carries his shepherd’s crook with pride. He is Karagiozis’ uncle.
Honest and earthy, he holds the respect of the people. Karagiozis calls him uncle.
Barba-Yiorgo before Karagiozis’ hovel, from the Ergastirio_Skiwn_Kouzaros
He is dressed in the traditional garb associated with modern Greece. With his great height, his foustanella – 100 panelled kilt – tights, kaltsothetia – stocking ties- and tsarouhia – traditional slipper/shoes he is dressed like the national guard of Greece.
Added to the Karsgiozis repertoire around 1897 by the puppeteer, John Roulias, he may appear with a moveable arm (www.karagiozis.gr) Like all of the characters in the repertoire he speaks with a distinctive accent. If he has any shortcomings they are a propensity for stinginess and a superstitious nature.
LOL! (Evil laugh with a pass, or two, of fingers sliding over fingers.)
Of course, that’s only if you hope to write a 19th century script for a traditional performance in the Karagiozis Puppet Theatre for a 19th century audience.
Early monotone Karagiozis figures from vol 117 of the Macedonian Life magazine, 1976.
Breaking the Rules (as in 21st Century Rules)
Now embrace:
Repertoire Scenarios
Storylines were well known. Not only was the ending predictable but every stage of the action was, as the puppeteer used known stories that he seasoned with current political or social satire in the form of snarky asides, banter and innuendo. In fact, the puppeteer memorized an entire repertoire of storylines that he would recall at will, and was able to perform each character with his or her distinctive voice and role.
Stereotyping
Throughout theatre history the use of stereotyping has been imperative to storytelling. Think of the Commedia Dell’arte with its stock characters or the English Pantomime. Not only did having characters with set traits help the puppeteer to keep the oeuvre of the Karagiozis world intact, it helped keep the storylines in memory with their predictable mores. Puppets’ behaviour was predictable, clearly defined and exaggerated – caricatures that were recognizable and so, funny. Offensive today, you bet.
Barba-Yiorgo the honourable shepherd, a work in progress by the Ergatirio_Skiwn_Kouzaros for Karagiozis and the Golden Fleecing…coming soon to YouTube
Racial Stereotyping
Its stereotyping had a strong racial flavour when Karagiozis was performed in the young Modern Greek nation of the 19th Century. There was the Turkish Vizier; Velighekas the Albanian Guard, Solomon the Jewish moneylender etc. As Greeks poured into urban centres and the new nation left behind the Ottoman yoke, that focus on cultural differences and recognizable traits turned inward e.g., Barba-Yiorgo the quintessential honourable Greek Shepherd from Roumeli; Sior Dionysios, the fallen aristocrat with his Italianate manners from Zakynthos; Stavrakas, the urban cowboy from the port of Pireaus.
Signor or Sior Dinoysios aka Nio-Nio of Zakynthos, a work in progress from the Ergastirio_Skiwn_Kouzaros
Karagiozis, the trickster, uses their foibles and rigidity to manipulate them for his own gain. Their rigid characteristics are essential to the comedy. The lone puppeteer voicing all of these characters is aided in their performance and getting those laughs by the mimicry of their accents.
A work in progress, coming soon from the Ergastirio_Skiwn_Kouzaros, Karagiozis and the Golden Fleecing
Objectification of Women
There are few female characters in the traditional repertoire, probable because the puppeteers were male and the form flourished in the patriarchies of Turkey and Greece. The most recognizable female in the repertoire was the Vizier’s daughter, the Vizieropoula. Sometimes she is called Fatima or Fatme, however, often she is referred to by her title. Fatme or Fatima aren’t as funny as Vizieropoula. Vizieropoula is a pun as well as a title – it means the big breasted woman.
As both meanings of her name suggest, she was a prize symbolic of wealth, status and sexual gratification. As the form developed other female characters have taken to the fore e.g., Karagiozis long-suffering wife, Aglaia.
Karagiozis wife, Aglaia, a work in progress taken from behind the screen (perde) of the Ergastirio_Skiwn_Kouzaros, for the upcoming production of Karagiozis and the Golden Fleecing
Punning and Cliché
19th Century humour relies a lot on word play and punning and cliché’s. These tools of laughter are characteristic of a theatre form aimed at the masses that is beloved by all.
Lewd, Crude & Vulgar jokes and Biff
Shadow Puppetry was aimed at adults who would appreciate its humour in all of its manifestations. This included sexual innuendo and slapstick – or in Karagiozis case, slap-arm. Think of the humour of the Three Stooges, the Marx Brothers and Punch and Judy.
To write Karagiozis and the Golden Fleecing I had to break 21st Century conventions and then pull it all back to be suitable for children’s theatre. I had to translate a Greek theatre form that relied heavily on punnng and sterotypical voice characterizations into English for 21st century school students who would not be aware of the satire just in the use of voice. It was quite a challenge.
crafty theatre 