A basketball court at the College of Dramatic Arts in Nakhon Pathom has been used as a temporary stage for practising nang yai (grand shadow play) and khon masked performances over the past week.
It was the first time 1,120 students and teachers of 12 campuses of the College of Dramatic Arts have jointly performed their roles with professional performers of the Bunditpatanasilpa Institute and the Office of the Performing Arts of the Fine Arts Department.
The troupe of performers were supervised by many highly experienced khon experts, including Jatuporn Ratanawaraha, Thai national artist for 2009; Prasart Thongaram, or Khru Mued; and Kasem Thongaram, or Khru Thoeng.
Khon performers practising. Jetjaras na Ranong
They wanted to host perfect performances for the funeral of King Bhumibol Adulyadej this Thursday.
"The performance will be grand. Every act will feature a large number of performers on the stage, because we will host the performance for the king," said Prasart Thongaram.
He said every royal ceremony must consist of four performances. They are nang yai, khon, puppet and stage plays. There will be another stage for hosting a concert because the aim is to honour King Bhumibol, who excelled in music, he said.
The performances will be divided into three stages. The first stage is reserved for nang yai and six episodes of khon performances. The second stage is for puppet performances, including Hoon Luang (royal puppet), Hoon Krabok (bamboo-rod puppet), stage plays of Phra Maha Janaka and I-nao as well as classical dances. The last stage is the concert. All performances will run between 6pm on Thursday and 6am on Friday and will stop during the royal funeral ceremony.
According to Prasart, nang yai is always an opening act for the start of khon performances. It must feature two specific episodes for royal funerals.
The first set is called boek na phra. It is performed to pay respect to teachers and deities. The show will have three shadow-play figures: Shiva, Rama (an avatar of Vishnu) and a hermit.
Thongchai Sangobjit, a nang yai performer, works the hermit shadow-play figure. Jetjaras na Ranong
It will be followed by a show called chab ling hua kham, meaning "capturing the monkey at dusk".
The performance tells the story of two monkeys -- one black, the other white. The black monkey is the bad character who always makes trouble. Finally, the white monkey catches the black one and wants to sentence him to death. But the action is interrupted by their teacher, the hermit. The teacher's kindness can melt the evil spirit in the black monkey. He finally changes for good.
"The play is to teach the audience that there are good and bad people in society, and good always prevails," he said.
Nang yai is regarded as a comprehensive art form because it needs puppeteers with the skills of traditional khon dance, as well as artists who can sing khon lyrical chanting and a full-scale traditional Thai band. The story is always based on the Ramakien epic.
The history of nang yai can be traced back to 1458 AD, in the Ayutthaya period, according to the Fine Arts Department. The shadow puppet of nang yai is much larger than in other shadow plays.
Sizes range from 1-2m high and 1-1.5m wide. The weight can reach 3kg. Each puppet must be crafted from a piece of ox hide and have two sticks used by the puppeteer to control.
The puppeteers stage the fighting scene between the black and white monkeys. Jetjaras na Ranong
"Shadow puppeteers of nang yai will not only sit behind a large white screen, but perform in front of a bright white screen so audiences can admire the beauty of the crafted works and enjoy the performance of the puppeteers," said Prasart.
There are nine puppeteers for the two nang yai sets, to run a total of 45 minutes.
Thongchai Sangobjit, a nang yai performer of the Office of the Performing Arts, said he was glad to have the chance to perform for King Rama IX.
He always controlled the hermit figure for performances hosted by the Fine Arts Department. He did have an opportunity to perform shadow puppetry at the royal funerals of Her Royal Highness the Princess Mother and Her Royal Highness Princess Galyani Vadhana.
The performance on Thursday will be to honour the king and his family, he said.
Pisut Dangem, who sings a khon lyrical chant for the first set of nang yai, said he was glad to be selected as part of the troupe.
"My teacher, Kasem Thongaram, opened the opportunity for me," he said.
Pisut is a teacher of khon performances at the Chanthaburi College of Dramatic Arts. He joins the performance, along with a team of 40 teachers and students from his college. They will participate in the khon performances.
"I am very glad to have the chance. I will do my best for the show, as it is the final opportunity to work for the king," he said.
