Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
bawdy, folk play featuring dancing, comedy, melodrama and music; and
hùn lŏo·ang
(lá·kon lék)
is traditional puppet theatre enacting religious legends or folk tales.
Most of these forms can be enjoyed in Bangkok, both at dinner shows for tourists and
at formal theatrical performances. There are also some distinctively southern theatrical
styles, predating the arrival of Islam on the Malay peninsula. The most famous is
má·noh·rah,
the oldest surviving Thai dance-drama, which tells the story of Prince
Suthon, who sets off to rescue the kidnapped Manohraa, a
gin·ná·ree
(woman-bird) prin-
cess. As in
lí·gair,
performers add extemporaneous, comic rhymed commentary. Trang
also has a distinctive form of
lí·gair,
with a storyline depicting Indian merchants taking
their Thai wives back to India for a visit.
Another ancient theatrical style in the south is shadow-puppet theatre (also found in In-
donesia and Malaysia), in which two-dimensional figures carved from buffalo hide are
manipulated against an illuminated cloth screen. The capital of shadow puppetry today is
Nakhon Si Thammarat, which has regular performances at its festivals. While sadly a dy-
ing art, puppets are popular souvenirs for tourists.
