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Posts Tagged ‘Drama’

Drama
In the purely classical form, Thai drama and dance are indivisible.

The khon masked drama is derived from Indian temple rituals and dancing and draws its story lines from the Ramakien. During the Ayutthaya period, the khon was acted by accomplished male court retainers playing both male and female roles because until the 19th century the movements were thought to be too strenuous for women to perform. By the mid-1800s both men and women were appearing on stage together.

Torchlit performances were often held in palace halls and courtyards. Dispensing with complicated scenery, khon perfor-mances are characterized by vigorous, highly-formalized action. Acting and dancing are inseparable, each step having a definite meaning which is emphasized by precisely-defined music to suggest walking, marching, laughing, etc. Because actors and actresses are masked and cannot speak, narrative verses are recited and sung by a chorus that sits with the accompanying woodwind, gong and drum ensemble.

The papier mache, lacquer, gold, minutely-detailed and bejewelled masks are works of art, and perfectly portray the protagonists’ personalities. Costumes are rich brocades decorated with sparkling costume jewellery, and closely resemble the apparel adorning royalty and celestial beings in classical Thai mural paintings. Major characters are readily identifiable by the predominant colours of their costumes. Rama wears deep green, his brother, Lakshman, wears gold and Hanuman wears white.

Khon productions were originally so long – more than 20 hours – that perfor-mances were staged on two consecutive days. Indeed, a khon performance of the entire Ramakien (with 311 characters!) would take more than one month (720 hours plus!) of continuous performance. Rama II’s shorter version of the Ramakien is used for dramatic purposes and contemporary adaptations of certain episodes are as short as three hours.  Read more...