Thailand | Thai Traditional Art

TRADITIONAL PERFORMING ARTS

Of all the traditional performing arts in Thailand, the most famous is the masked dance drama know as Khon.

In ancient Ayutthaya, as well as in early Bangkok, khon performances were limited to the royal palace and might go on for several nights.

Khon stories are derived from the Ramakien, the Thai version of the Indian Ramayana, as epic account in lyrical verse of the triumph of good over evil. The hero is Phra Ram, whose consort Nang Sida is abducted by the wicked King Thotsakan of Longka; the lengthy drama recounts the ultimately successful efforts of Phra Ram and his brother Phra Lak, assisted the clever monkdy-god Hanuman, to rescue there.

All the characters wear ornate costumes, glittering with gold braid jewels, and many also wear magnificent papier-mache masks that reflect their personalities.

The story is told largely through stylized gestures and postures, once considered so strenuous that in the old days all the performers, were men.

Today only excerpts from khon are seen, performed by both men and women, sometimes at the National Theater but more often at several Thai-style restaurants catering to tourists.

Lakhon and likay are popular derivatives of khon, employing no masks but using similar costumes and movements to express emotions. The former is dances mostly by women and sub-division called lakhon chatri can be seen regularly at popular shrines, where troops are hired to perform by supplicants. Likay, seen at many festivals and temple fairs, is a sort of burlesque combining social satire and low comedy.

Another form of theater is the shadow-play, now fairly rare except in the far south. The most popular version, still performed at southern festivals, is nang talung, in which the figures, made of cowhide, often have moveable part s and are manipulated along with songs and comic dialogue.

All forms of theater in Thailand, as well as boxing matches, are accompanied by music, usually a traditional orchestra consisting of drums, cymbals, xylophones, flutes, and a three-stringed instrument know as so sam sai, which produces tunes of haunting poignancy.