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The simplest shadow shows are created by our own hands. They were particularly popular in the 19th Century, when many books were produced illustrating ways of making animals and people appear on a wall, sometimes with the assistance of a few carefully positioned props. You can have a look at some hand shadows on the next page, or move on to find out about different types of shadow images on the third page. |
| Shadows page 1 | Shadows page 2 | Shadows page 3 | Shadows page 4 | Shadows page 5 | Shadows page 6 | Shadows page 7 |
The
use of shadows to amuse and entertain has a very long history. In the
4th Century BC, the ancient Greek author Plato described a procession
of shadows moving across the wall of a cave, like the figures shown by
a puppeteer. Whether or not he was referring to shadow theatre as we know
it, it is certainly true that there are records of shadow puppets being
used in performances in China and India more than two thousand years ago.