Traditional Dance & Drama

Khon
This classical theater finds large numbers of exclusively male dancers.
Traditionally, khon was played out by hundreds of dancers in front of royalty and their guests; today, because of the expense, numbers have been reduced. Khon relates tales from the Thai epic, the Ramakien, with performers adorned in a dazzling array of costumes, head dresses, and masks representing four types of characters male humans, female humans, monkeys, and demons. Performers mime the dialogue provided by narrators and choruses, and the performance is backed by the Thai pipat orchestra. Truncated but still dazzling versions of khon can be seen at Bangkok's National Theater.


Li-khe
This is the most popular form of live theater, performed at temple fairs, village festivals, and other venues in towns and villages throughout Thailand. It is good-time theater, incorporating classical and folk music, wild costumes, slapstick comedy, melodrama, and sexual innuendo. Often it is used as political satire and cutting social commentary. Traveling troupes of entertainers put on the shows, and entire villages gather for a night of boisterous fun. Over the centuries li-khe has remained hugely popular and has translated well onto the television screen. Li-khe sitcoms are now a staple on daytime Thai television.

The southern version of li-khe is known as the ma-norah. It is loosely based on the Ramakien, where, in this case, Prince Suthon travels in search of the kidnapped Manhora, a half-woman, half-bird princess. Narrators relate the story of the prince's travails in comic rhyming prose.