Theatre History Overview - Part 19 - Thai Theatre

The earliest form of Thai theatre seems to be a type of entertainment that the Thais created during what is known as the Sukothai Period (1240-1438). The Thais adopted elements from bordering countries and empires. There is a stone that is dated around 1293 A.D. that has an inscription attributed to king Ramkhamkhaen that mentions terms for merrymaking and musical instruments. However, it is questioned if the document is authentic.

The text that is more important for the history of Thai theatre is The Three Worlds or Traiphum. This text is attributed to the 14th century King Lithai of Sukhothai. In it, there is a description of the 31 levels of Theravada Buddhist cosmos. It says that dance is connected to and has influenced temple architecture and imagery.

Artist forms started to be brought back during the reign of King Rama I when lost literature was being recreated. He ordered the manuscripts of Triptaka, the Ramakien, and the Thai version of the Indian epic, Ramayana.

However, it the golden age of Thai theatrical arts is considered to have happened under the rule of King Rama II (1809-1824). He wrote his own versions of the Ramakien and the story cycle Inao which was originally the East Javanese story cycle, Prince Panji. Classical dance was revived along with having dance manuals written. Then both khon, mask-theatre, and lakhon nai, court dance-drama were standardized.

King Rama III abolished theatre, but Rama IV (1851-1886) revived it. King Chulalongkorn or Rama V (1868-1910) kept the theatre going. He was the first Thai king to visit Europe. His visit brought Western theatre to Thailand and the first theatre house was built in Bangkok. The Bangkok urban audience liked opera and Western-style theatre. Even King Chulalongkorn wrote plays, including Lilith Nitra, a story about the aboriginal people of South Thailand.

Today, you can find Western influence theatre in Thailand. However, you can also still find traditional Thai dance and music as well.

Early dance images also exist. There is a fragment of a stucco sculpture from sometime between the 8th-11th century. It is a half-human, half=bird mythical kinnari. The body is bent in the tribhanga position that is found in Indian dance that influenced Thai dance.

If you enjoy my content, please consider becoming one one of my patrons through Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/TheatreGeek where I will be sharing more in depth content, answering your questions, sharing which types of software I use and how to find them, and more. By becoming my patron, you allow me to create more content about theatre and more theatrical content.