Traffic jam on the way to battle

If you haven't booked your tickets to this year’s Royal Khon Performance, you may have to miss your Wednesday or Friday afternoon meetings, as those are now your only chance to grab the last available seats. 

Since 2007, the Royal Khon Performance, produced by The Support Foundation of Her Majesty Queen Sirikit of Thailand, has become November’s hottest ticket in town – a rare chance for many Thais to appreciate and enjoy the most highly revered form of classical Thai theatre in its grandest spectacle. 

This year’s production, “The Battle of Indrajit: Episode of Nagabas”, starts, again, in Thotsakan’s throne hall in Longka. He assigns his grandson Wirunyamuk to lead the army against Phra Ram’s – in place of the recently killed Mangkonkan – while Indrajit performs the rite to re-enhance the might of the Nagabas arrow. 

However, the play stalled in the latter part of this first scene, grinding to a halt in front of the Longka city wall. The clock had almost struck an hour before the army could move forward – a traffic jam maybe? The pace then picked up slightly when Champhuwarat, on Phra Ram’s order and disguised as a bear, disrupted Indrajit’s rite and this ended the first half of the play after 90 minutes.

The second half comprised two battle scenes, meaning more action and spectacle. The former was highlighted with the jesters’ showcase when Wirunyamuk was punished and featured a great deal of political satire, much to the audience’s delight. 

Apart from reminding me that “Ramakien” is a political play to begin with, I found myself wishing that these comedians had also been in the first half and prevented me from taking an unprofessional afternoon nap. 

From here onwards, the play moved swiftly forwards and not quite in balance with the time spent while Wirunyamuk prepared his army. Indrajit fired the Nagabas arrow, which turned into nagas, at Phra Lak’s army and Phra Ram came to the rescue with his Phlaiwat arrow summoning Lord Garuda to fight off all nagas. 

While the set deign and the stage technology looked both more modern and visually pleasant than those of the previous years’ productions as well as those at the National Theatre, one wonders if it’s really necessary to use the rigging technology to help a few characters fly every November. 

As in the previous years, the two battle scenes were too crowded and underlined the fact that that the Thailand Cultural Centre’s stage wasn’t designed for khon performance – the National Theatre’s was.

The delicately designed and crafted costumes were another highlight but you need to book a seat in the front sections to really enjoy them, or bring your opera glasses. 

And all the performers, most of them from the Bunditpatanasilpa Institute, merit praise. Without exception, the dancers, musicians, reciters and singers were at their full strength and really enjoyed performing, and we in the audience enjoyed their performances accordingly.

Taking account of the general public’s immense attention to this spectacle and the record-breaking attendance at the Royal Khon Performance’s seven productions in seven years, the question 

 remains as to why the more regular programme of khon at the National Theatre still receives little attention and merits such low attendance.

That’s indeed an issue of cultural management. Despite classes and workshops in this subject having been on offer on many campuses for more than a decade, we have still not seen any concrete plan for dealing with this intangible cultural heritage of ours.

 

CLASSICAL SPECTACLE

The Royal Khon Performance, “The Battle of Indrajit: Episode of Nagabas”, is at the Thailand Cultural Centre until December 5, daily except Monday. Show times vary. It’s in Thai with an English scene summary.

Tickets are Bt420 to Bt1,520 at ThaiTicketMajor.

For more information, see www.KhonPerformance.com.