Theatre History Overview - Part 43 - The Mekong Delta

The Mekong delta is an area in Asia that includes the countries Myanmar, Laos, Thailand (although a more thorough overview of Thai theatre has been given), Cambodia, Vietnam, and parts of China. For this blog post, however, China was not included because China has a rich theatre history of its own. Also, an overview of Chinese theatre has already been given.

Around 600 A.D., a type of shadow puppet theatre known as Nang yai appeared in Thailand. Nang means "skin" or "hide" and Nang yai means "large shadow puppet." It is thought that this form of puppet theatre either came through Java and the Malay Peninsula via India or from Jayavarmay II when he imported it into Java and then to Cambodia and Thailand.

In the 11th or 12th century, puppetry started to be performed in Vietnam and Laos. This was known as water puppetry because it was performed in ponds. The ponds would be surrounded by trees and other greenery in order to provide shade to the puppeteers.

In the 1400s, puppet plays using marionettes started being performed in Burma, which is now Myanmar. The emperor would use these puppet plays as a way to reprimand people who had disobeyed the rules. He would ask the puppeeters to put on a play that was a parable in order to correct the behavior of the person. The person being reprimanded would know that he or she was being reprimanded, but to other observers, it just looked like a puppet play. In the 1800s, this form of art was the most popular and was also considered the most highly developed of theatre arts in Burma.

It is not certain when theatre started in Cambodia, but dance was a major part of it. The theatre performances were known as Lakhon. It is not known when drama was discontinued in Cambodia, but it is known that it was reinstated in the 1950s. In 1951, the Vietnam National Cai Luong Theatre was established. In 1970s, Cambodian theatre once again disappeared. It is not certain when it reappeared.

In 2003, a theatre building opened in Laos and on September 11, 2016, Broadway came to Mynamar. The show was Mira about a couple who give birth to a daughter that turns into a mermaid. Both national and international theatre currently happens in the Mekong Delta countries. Nang yai seems to be a dying art, but there is a petition to bring it back.

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