Thailand’s classical dance dramas, explained
Dhanit Yupho’s illustrated 1963 study, published by Thailand’s Department of Fine Arts in Bangkok, documents the characters, plots, performance techniques and ceremonial traditions of Khōn and Lakon.
The story
Khōn and lakon are the classical dance dramas of Thailand: masked theatre and theatrical dance. Thailand’s Department of Fine Arts presented both on stage, and in 1963 it published Dhanit Yupho’s book about them in Bangkok.
Yupho covers their history and the dramas themselves, with episodes from the Ramakien and other cycles of stories, and explains how the plays are staged and what the roles are. Full-page photographs and colour pictures show dancers in elaborate costume, so the book doubles as a visual record of how these dramas looked in performance in the middle of the twentieth century.
This copy is in brown cloth lettered in gold, in its original orange pictorial jacket showing two performers. The jacket is rubbed at the edges, with splits and pieces missing at the head of the spine; inside, the text and pictures are generally intact and bright. It has not been collated.
Details
- Date
- 1963
- Publisher
- The Department of Fine Arts, Bangkok
- Edition
- 1963 edition
- Binding
- cloth: Brown cloth with original orange pictorial dust jacket
- Condition
- Orange illustrated dust jacket rubbed at edges with splits and losses at spine head; brown publisher's cloth with gold cover lettering; text/illustrations generally intact and colorful, collation unchecked.
