All hail Rama!

In honour of the belief that Thailand’s monarchs are demigods – personifications of Lord Rama – the Culture Ministry is celebrating the 84th birthday of His Majesty the King (Rama IX) next week with the International Ramayana Festival. 

 Traditional dance from seven of the 10 Southeast Asian nations and India will be presented Monday through Friday at the National Theatre at Sanam Luang, with no admission charge. 

The participating troupes will draw from the Ramayana for their performances. Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei, which have no tradition related to the Hindu epic known in Thailand as the Ramakien, will miss out.

“The Ramayana celebrates morality and good deeds, which we want to explore,” says MR Chakrarot Chitrapongse, who chairs the organising committee. “One of the main themes of the story is perseverance, and we want to emphasise this too.

“In the meantime, we want to highlight the elegance of the traditional dances from each participating country. There’s a lot to learn from each country’s interpretation and its own theological beliefs.”

Chakrarot noted that a similar festival was held 20 years ago, with six Southeast Asian nations involved. The Asean trade bloc was still in its infancy. “This time we have more – Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Laos, Indonesia and Cambodia, plus India – and there are going to be some beautiful shows.”

It’s common knowledge that the Ramayana permeated culture across the region, though it surprises many that the epic tale is still told in dance in the Philippines.

“We’d never heard of this until we learned about a dance troupe on a remote island there performing the story. It was quite a revelation!” Chakrarot says.

“The festival is an opportunity to gauge the differences and similarities among the dances from the various nations. Thailand has its khon – the masked dance – and Cambodia has something quite similar. We’ll try and see which is the original.”

The individual countries will have their own presentations and also pool talent for joint performances. 

The opening show on Monday begins with a musical “overture”, each nation given five minutes. Then the countries, in alphabetical order, will perform a specially prepared song and dance of benediction in honour of His Majesty, celebrating his birthday that day.

At the end of the show, all present will be invited to join in singing the Royal Anthem.

“All of the participating troupes have asked to be part of the singing of the Royal Anthem, and they’ve been practising at home,” says Chakrarot.

The individual Ramayana performances begin on Tuesday at 7pm, with each country allotted 30 minutes to present an episode of its choosing. Group performances involving different nationalities will be presented according to the order of the selected episodes, with an eye to avoiding duplication on the same day. 

On Tuesday evening, India will offer “The Bow Contest and the Wedding of Rama and Sita”, followed by “The Golden Deer” by the Burmese, “The Abduction of Sita” from the Philippines, and “The Grand Battle between Rama and Ravana”, featuring the Thai troupe.

On Wednesday you can see “The Incarnation of Vishnu” performed by Singapore, “The Abduction of Sita” by Laos, “The Final Battle and Sita’s Fire Ordeal” by Indonesia, and Cambodia’s “Ream Leak Chup Leak”, which recounts the married life of Rama and Sita.

Thursday will be busy with a dress rehearsal at 1pm that’s open to the public, followed at 8pm by the joint Ramayana performances – nine episodes staged in sequence.

The evening session begins with an overture by the Thai Classical Music Ensemble of Ban Plainern, led by Her Royal Highness Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn. It will be presented in veneration of the Buddha and the gods and the gurus of the performing arts.

“The Princess is a keen xylophonist and has agreed to play in this overture,” Chakraroth says.

Then Burma will present “The Bow Contest and the Marriage of Rama and Sita”, Singapore “The Meeting with Surpanaka”, Laos “The Golden Deer and the Abduction of Sita”, and India “Jatayu’s Intervention and Rama Meets Hanuman”.

Next comes “Hanuman’s Visit to Sita and the Burning of Lanka” from Indonesia, “Hanuman and Suvann Machha” by Cambodia, “A Battle between Rama and Ravana” by Thailand, “Sita’s Ordeal by Fire” from the Philippines, and “The Triumphant Return to Ayodhya”, another by Thailand to conclude the story.

The finale will see the leading performers from every country paying homage to a portrait of the King, with “angels” performing a dance of benediction. Then everyone will sing the Royal Anthem.

 

REQUEST A SEAT

The International Ramayana Festival runs nightly from Monday to Friday at the National Theatre at Sanam Luang.

Admission is free. You might want to submit requests for individual or group invitations for a specific show, but you’ll have to do so today. 

Seats will be held for invited people until half an hour before the performance and then distributed to others on a first-come-first-served basis.

E-mail the Culture Ministry’s International Relations Bureau at [email protected]. Give your full name, the date and time of the performance and the number of tickets you want.

 

 Puppets on show

The Culture Ministry presents “Thai Puppetry with a Kingdom-loving Heart” today from 9am to 4pm at the Thailand Cultural Centre. You can join an expected 600 disabled children from orphanages in watching such great performers as the Joe Louis Theatre.