Thai Puppet-Show - Contemporary Means Performing Art

The puppet-show is a form of entertainment in which miniatures and dolls, made to move by pulling wires and strings, are used as actors instead of people. Puppetry is a creative art of mankind.

It is assumed that the first puppet-show was played in the reign of King Narai the Great in the Ayutthaya Period. It may have been earlier – no one knows for sure. Puppetry was a favorite form of entertainment in those days, especially shows staged by members of the Royal Household or the Household of the Crown Prince, organized to celebrate royal ceremonies. The popularity of puppet shows declined following the dissolution of the Department of Entertainment in the reign of King Rama VII.

In the Ratanakosin Period, Mom Rajawongse Taw Payakasena, personal page of Prince Damrong Rajanuparb, the King's younger brother, formed the first puppet-show troupe in Bangkok during the reign of King Rama V. In Uttaradit Province, he had seen a marionette fashioned as a Chinese Hainan model and had it changed to become Thai-looking. Afterward, more puppet-show troupes came onto the scene.

During the next reign of King Rama VI, Grae Saptawij, a puppet-maker from Ayutthaya, created a new model of a puppet, which was smaller and equipped with a more convenient mechanism for pulling the strings. It was called the 'Small Puppet-Show' and was very popular for some time.

The Thai puppet-show was similar to Thai drama played by female actors, or the mask dance. The puppets moved in rhythm to the music in Thai classical dance, their movements dictated by the puppeteers.

This kind of creative art is rarely seen today. There is merely the marionette, or small puppet, on show occasionally. If you have the chance to see a puppet-show while visiting Thailand, I can advice it, it will not disappoint you.