Summary

100W Osram Light bulb made in Australia which forms part of a set of lighting equipment. This equipment comprised the stage lighting for performances of the Greek Shadow Puppet Theatre and was used by Dimitri Katsoulis in his performances in Victoria and in South Australia from 1978 to 1991. In order to perform shadow puppet theatre, it is essential to have an artificial light source.

The Osram bulb is stamped with a date code "1F", indicating the bulb was made at Electric Lamp Manufacturers of Australia, Hamilton, Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia.

Physical Description

Light Bulb

Significance

This collection of puppets, props, stage sets, and technical tools and equipment relating to tradition 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.

More Information