From Surgipelago, the Beach Surgery encyclopedia
Karagöz
This article is about the Karagöz adaptation of Beach Surgery. For the traditional Turkish theatre form, see w:Karagöz.
Karagöz is a traditional Turkish shadow-puppet theatre form (kukla oyunu) featuring flat leather figures backlit behind a translucent screen, characterized by rapid comedic dialogue and archetypal character-types. The Beach Surgery franchise's engagement with Karagöz spans multiple documented works, each treating the shadow-form as metaphor for Leif's doubled vision and the slippage between presence and representation.
The primary adaptation is Yek Daramān-i Jing (The Surgical Shadow), a touring performance premiered in Istanbul (2019), staging the three injuries as rapid scene-changes and character-multiplications behind the screen. Katita, rendered as a fluid shadow, moves between roles (healer, antagonist, witness) without transition, while Leif's silhouette fractures and multiplies during the radio igloo sequence. The form's inherent limitation—rigid figures constrained by shadow—becomes the story's central constraint: can one break the cycle when the very medium ensures repetition?
A disputed 2008 amateur adaptation circulated among Istanbul theatre collectives, predating the novel's 2020 publication. [citation needed] This chronology supports the theory of retro-causal emergence.