A Khon performer in Ramakien staged in Beawar

Rama was Phra Ram, Sita was Sida and Ravana Tosakanth. But there was no missing the dramatic twists and turns of the Ramayana rendered in Thai. In the small sandy town of Beawar, a three-hour drive from Jaipur, Khon performers staged the colourful Ramakien before a crowd of thousands in the crisp evening of February 26.

This is the first time the Thai Ramayana came to the land of the epic. The 60-member Sala Chalermkrung Khon troupe took two hours to bring alive the episode of Hanuman the Mighty at Rang Manch, an open-air platform in the Beawar steel plant run by Shree Cement, the show host.

Khon is a classical Thai masked dance that uses aerobics, martial arts and shadow play to tell stories from the Ramayana. A Khon performance is mounted on a lavish scale with rich costumes and props.

The Ramakien script dates back to the 19th Century and the Sala Chalermkrung Khon troupe has been performing the piece for about 17 years. Divided into eight acts, the musical traced the significant moments in Hanuman’s life. The expensive production gleamed with richly embellished costumes, masks, weapons and chariots. A white screen reflecting light and a large tree crafted out of cardboard formed the backdrop on stage. Four actors played Hanuman, breezing through the acts of inviting Phra Uma’s curse, impressing Ram, rescuing Sida and deceiving Kobut Richi to steal Tosakanth’s heart in the city of Longka.

The highlight was a gripping battle between the monkeys and the demons, flashing daggers and spears. The play ends with Tosakanth being crushed and Hanuman emerging the star. Flanked by live musicians playing traditional wind and percussion instruments, and narrators on two sides, the masked dancers wearing mirror and stone-studded costumes made intricate hand and body movements to make up for the lack of facial expressions.

Though they blended martial arts and aerobics, traditional shadow play was missing from the performance.

While monkeys, beasts and demons bounced around the stage in red, white and green masks moulded out of paper mache, Ram, Phra Lak and the women sported heavy make-up and moved around upright with their slender palms bent to an arch. Gods and goddesses donned fancy golden headgear as a mark of their divinity.

But the striking visuals fell short of holding viewer interest. A large chunk of the 6,000-strong audience trickled out following the lengthy dialgoues in Thai. The short introductions in Hindi at the beginning of each act was also unnecessary for an audience familiar with the text.

Most of the performers of Hanuman the Mighty were teenagers, directed by Chumnong Sangvichien who is trying to revive the dying art of Khon. The group performs every weekend at the Sala Chalermkrung Royal Theatre in Bangkok to reach the art form to the masses.

Unfortunately, it is the grandeur and majestic appeal of Khon that robs it of its patrons today. The cost of a production amounts to 100,000 Baht (Rs 1.32 lakh approximately).