Karagoz goes digital

Indonesian shadow puppetry has gone digital, so why not Turkish shadow puppetry too?

iKaragoz is an app for iPhone and Android developed by a Turkish firm called Anakule. They are promoting it as the first puppet application for mobile devices, but it's definitely not (several others including iPuppeteer and Pollock's Toy Theatre app have been on the market for years).

The app allows the user to control the characters onscreen intuitively by simply moving their smart phone or tablet.In addition to the traditional Turkish Karagoz puppets, additional packs with characters from Cambodian, Chinese, Indian, Indonesian, Thai and Greek puppetry traditions are also available.

Here's the Wayang Kulit version in action:



iKaragoz was designed by Uğur Doğan with the assistance of Turkish puppeteer Mehmet Saylan. It's available to download from the iTunes Store and Google Play. I haven't had a chance to try it out myself yet, but if someone does please let me know what you think!

Via Puppetry News.