A BRUSH WITH ANCIENT THAI CULTURE

I attended a formal event last weekend and in an effort to make it less stuffy (as these things often are), the organizers jazzed things up with a few touches of Thai culture from the past.

Puppetry has been an artform in Thailand for centuries, but started to die out in the 20th Century. In 1982, the government enlisted the late puppet master Khun Sakorn Yangkhiawsod to help revive small puppet theaters. Khun Sakorn, who was better known as Joe Louis (a pretty famous name if you're from Detroit like me), trained his family (including nine children and fourteen grandchildren) in the art of puppetry. Unfortunately, a fire eventually destroyed their home and all but one of their puppets, but an outpouring of donations from the public helped them get back on their feet again.


Each puppet requires three people to manipulate it and the stories they are featured in are all from ancient Thai legends and literature. The Suan Lum Night Bazaar near Lumphini Park is home to the Joe Louis Puppet Theatre, but I guess they occassionaly work cocktail parties as well.


Khon is a classic drama in Thailand featuring singing, dancing, acrobatics, acting and music, although all of the singing is done offstage because of the elaborate masks the actors wear.

The storyline revolves around the Ramakien, a Thai version of an Indian epic which features nearly 300 different masks divided into five categories: demon, human, celestial, animal and monkey. As you can see, the costumes that they wear are elaborate and beautiful and perfectly compliment black tie evening attire.