a screen of waxed rice paper stretched on a frame the size of a small window, lit from behind by a single oil lamp. the puppets are cut from tanned hide, jointed at hip and shoulder with knotted thread; their colour does not matter because the audience sees only the shape against light.
twelve cushions on a swept earth floor. children sit close enough to feel the lamp's warmth on their faces; the grown-ups sit further back, where the silhouettes blur and the figures become almost what they are meant to be. nobody speaks during the performance. the narration is done by a small bell.
the most memorable was the deer that lay down, a piece in which a hunter draws his bow and the deer, recognising him, lies down to die before the arrow is loosed. the arrow is never loosed. the audience sit a long time after the lamp is taken away, watching the screen go dark and then darker.