shadow play
noun
: a drama exhibited by throwing shadows of puppets or actors on a screen
called also shadow show
Example Sentences
Recent Examples on the Web Dear San Francisco is powered by exhilarating acrobatics, choreography, spoken word, video projections, shadow play, and original music. 
San Francisco Chronicle, 4 Aug. 2022 The podcast’s first episode, played in the next room, would be augmented by projections of stars evoking Griffith Observatory; a shadow play; and onscreen images that stopped short of making a movie out of a podcast. Sarah Larson, The New Yorker, 4 July 2022 Layered knits and easygoing silhouettes heat up among desert sun rays and shadow play. WSJ, 6 Mar. 2022 That movie, or some imaginary version of it, is still unfurling as a shadow play in the megaplex of my mind. Owen Gleiberman, Variety, 3 Oct. 2021 Was that whole parade of new-city fantasies just a shadow play, distracting us from the inexorable forces of mediocrity? Justin Davidson, Curbed, 31 Aug. 2021 The South African polymath — whose skills include drawing, painting, filmmaking, theater, opera, shadow play, and puppetry — is surely accustomed to grander scale. Globe Staff, BostonGlobe.com, 19 Nov. 2020 The shadow play of the concrete sunscreen of 3525 Turtle Creek. Mark Lamster, Dallas News, 15 May 2020 Through shadow play in the solo shots of the members, the video offers a visual representation of the track’s ruminative narrative and the Jungian shadow concept, which is a recurring metaphor on the album. Sara Delgado, Teen Vogue, 4 Mar. 2020 See More
San Francisco Chronicle, 4 Aug. 2022 The podcast’s first episode, played in the next room, would be augmented by projections of stars evoking Griffith Observatory; a shadow play; and onscreen images that stopped short of making a movie out of a podcast. Sarah Larson, The New Yorker, 4 July 2022 Layered knits and easygoing silhouettes heat up among desert sun rays and shadow play. WSJ, 6 Mar. 2022 That movie, or some imaginary version of it, is still unfurling as a shadow play in the megaplex of my mind. Owen Gleiberman, Variety, 3 Oct. 2021 Was that whole parade of new-city fantasies just a shadow play, distracting us from the inexorable forces of mediocrity? Justin Davidson, Curbed, 31 Aug. 2021 The South African polymath — whose skills include drawing, painting, filmmaking, theater, opera, shadow play, and puppetry — is surely accustomed to grander scale. Globe Staff, BostonGlobe.com, 19 Nov. 2020 The shadow play of the concrete sunscreen of 3525 Turtle Creek. Mark Lamster, Dallas News, 15 May 2020 Through shadow play in the solo shots of the members, the video offers a visual representation of the track’s ruminative narrative and the Jungian shadow concept, which is a recurring metaphor on the album. Sara Delgado, Teen Vogue, 4 Mar. 2020 See More Word History
First Known Use
circa 1890, in the meaning defined above