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LONDON, UK - MARCH 29, 2025: The centuries-old traditional Turkish shadow plays known as "Karagoz and Hacivat" are entertaining people in the UK while promoting an understanding and appreciation of Turkish culture as well as building bridges between people from different cultural backgrounds.Karagoz and Hacivat is a type of traditional Turkish shadow play performed in a relatively dark hall on an illuminated, white screen.The white screen the plays are shown on is called the "ayna," or mirror, implying that the stories reflect aspects of people’s lives. On the inner side, below the screen, there is a wooden ledge that holds cymbals, tambourines, canes, pipes, and lamps to illuminate the screen.Karagoz and Hacivat are the lead characters of the play, popularized during the Ottoman era.The traditional show has been entertaining people in the UK since 2018 as part of a project thanks to the London branch of the Yunus Emre Institute – Türkiye’s international culture and language center – while at the same time, serving as a bridge, allowing young audiences to engage with an important part of Turkish heritage in a fun, interactive way.Mengu Turk, a British Turkish stage actor, brings the characters to life with captivating storytelling and puppetry skills.Since joining the Yunus Emre Institute London, she has completed her training at the Bursa Karagoz and Hacivat Museum in Türkiye, and has been performing Karagöz and Hacivat in Turkish and English on behalf of the institute.Turk spoke to Anadolu before performing a shadow play, The Swing, at the Diyanet Mosque in North London as part of a recent iftar dinner for children, a fast-breaking dinner during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan."It was around 2009 when I came to London, and I received acting training here. But it was in 2018 that Yunus Emre Institute and I started the Karagoz and Hacivat project." (Footage by Muhammed Yaylali/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)