[ 泰 國 ]
- Thailand -

Thailand, known formerly as Siam, has a long history of puppetry tradition. The most renowned genres of puppetry include rod puppetry, hun krabok, hun luang and hun lakhon lek, and shadow puppetry nang talung and nang yai.

Many believe that there was puppetry in Thailand as early as the eleventh century; yet, according to the records, the earliest puppet shows in Thailand appeared in the royal court in the 17th century, and became popular at the end of the 18th century. Puppetry gradually vanished from the stage after the Second World War, especially in the 1940s when the government banned any non-local Thai cultures. Influenced by Chinese culture, puppetry was also deeply challenged. It was not until the end of the 20th century that puppet traditions were slowly revived.

Hun Krabok first appeared in the late 19th century, during the regime of Rama V. It is influenced by the puppet tradition in Hainan, China. Puppets are 50 centimeters tall, and the bodies are made of bamboo, covered by glove puppet-like costumes. Hun luang (also known as hun yai) are large-sized rod puppetry. Puppets’ heights are around 70 to 100 centimeters, and the costumes and designs resemble Khon, a performance tradition commonly seen in the royal court. As the puppets are larger in size and the puppeteering techniques are more complicated, a performance often requires multiple puppeteers to perform together.

Hun lakhon lek is similar to hun luang in terms of the style of performance and design of puppets. In the early 20th century, puppet master Krae Sapthavanich found out that the structure and performance were too difficult when he was making hun luang puppets. Hence, he simplified and reformed the design and control mechanism of hun luang puppets, and invented hun lakhon lek. Resembling Japanese bunraku, hun lakhon lek requires three puppeteers to control different parts of a puppet: the first person controls the puppet's head and right arm, the second is in charge of the left arm, and the last person controls the legs. The most commonly seen play is Ramakien, the Thai version of the Indian epic Ramayana. Hun lakhon lek almost declined after Krae Sapthavanich passed away. It was until the 1970s that Sakorn Yangkheiosod (Joe Louis) redesigned the puppets once again that brought this puppet art back to the stage and became popular again.

In addition to rod puppetry, there are also regional shadow puppetry traditions in Thailand. Nang talung, also called wayang siam by the locals, is smaller shadow puppetry similar to the shadow theatre in Kelantan, Malaysia, and are both from Java, Indonesia. Another shadow puppetry, nang yai, is larger in size, and is associated with court performance and religious rituals. Nang yai is believed to have its origin in traditional mask dance, Khon, and it is like Cambodian sbek thom regarding the form of performance. Nang yai is considered the earlier puppet tradition in Thailand as it can be seen in the records from the 14th and 15th centuries. The traditional play of both shadow puppetry is Ramakien; however, to attract audiences, there are more romances and comedies, accompanied by guitars and jazz drums recently.