Summary

This hat was made as a spare in 1978 by Dimitri Katsoulis at his home in Port Melbourne and used in his subsequent performances in Victoria and in South Australia from 1978 to 1991. Dimitri Katsoulis migrated to Australia in 1974 to escape a regime that repressed Greek artists. He had trained in Greece with theatre and film companies as an actor and technician. A master of the traditional Greek shadow puppet theatre, his performances explored contemporary issues such as the isolation of migrant women and children. Unable to obtain funding and support, he returned to Greece in 1991, leaving his entire collection to the people of Victoria. It includes 32 shadow puppets and around 170 props, set backdrops and technical tools and stage equipment. Dimitri has since returned to Melbourne and assists the Museum to continue to document this rich art form within both local and international contexts.

The hat belonged to Hatziavatis, a character in the centuries-old Greek Shadow Puppet Theatre (Karaghiozis) tradition. It is part of Hatziavatis' costume, but Dimitri Katsoulis used to put it on the puppet character Karaghiozis in all the plays. In the play 'The 3 Questions and the Lie to the Pasha' Karaghiozis stands in for Hatziavatis who the Pasha [a state ranking political advisor] wants to hang. The Pasha tells him that he will ask him 3 questions. If he answers correctly, he will not hang him and he will set him free and give him 50 pounds. Karaghiozis disguised as Hatziavatis goes to the Pasha. He tricks him, answers the questions correctly and wins the 50 pounds which he splits with Hatziavatis.

Information supplied by Greek Shadow Puppet Theatre master Dimitri Katsoulis, 2007.

Physical Description

A two-dimensional hat shape, in the form of a close-fitting cap with a black tassel attached to the crown via a small strip of leather. The upper part of the crown is red. The remainder of the cap is white and blue with black diagonal stripes, in two horizontal bands. The lower band has been covered with a strip of cardboard, attached with adhesive tape which was originally painted black.

Significance

This collection of puppets, props, stage sets, and technical tools and equipment relating to traditional Greek Shadow Puppet Theatre is unique in Australia and rare in international public collections. The history of Greek Shadow Puppet Theatre, its puppet characters and the methodology of its performance has been recorded in partnership with the puppet master to whom the collection belonged. The collection is highly significant both as documentation of an important cross-cultural, centuries-old art form, and as an example of the transnational migration of cultural activity between Greece and Australia. It is a collection which was created and performed in Greece and Australia from the mid to late twentieth century, by two puppet masters, who transported the tradition between two countries. Abraam Antonakos came to Australia in 1977 to perform the puppet theatre and then deposited the puppets with Dimitri Katsoulis, who had migrated to Australia in 1974. Dimitri's story becomes one of migration experience, cultural maintenance and adaptation, and finally return migration and the discontinuance of this cultural art form in Australia.

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