Thematic origins and materials

Most traditional plays and dramatic dances are derived from mythological and legendary sources. The tribal epics that relate the origin of the Ifugao and the Bicolano peoples in the Philippines and a number of animistic stories in Indonesian shadow theatre are indigenous myths of great age, while the widely used, romantic Pandji cycle from Java and the Thai King Abhai Mani and Khun Chang Khun Phan are more recent local legends. The most important dramatic sources, however, are borrowed from the Indian Ramayana and Mahabharata epics, from the Jataka Buddhist birth stories, from Chinese novels (such as The Romance of the Three Kingdoms) and Chinese operas, and from a host of Islamic stories, including the Thousand and One Nights and the Amīr Ḥamzah tales. These foreign stories are turned into local legends. For example, the Indian Prince Rama becomes a Thai, a Balinese, or a Javanese prince, embodying the heroic traits admired in each of these countries.

Plays are invariably extensive and have many scenes. It is not unusual for a play to present action over several generations, an indication of the value placed on cultural continuity. A recurring theme concerns restoration of harmony on earth by a ruler acting in accord with divine law. A kingdom is restored, a prince unjustly exiled returns to assume his throne, a usurper is punished, or the prosperity of the land is assured by consummating a particularly desirable marriage. As in Western drama, the hero gains his ends through struggle. Because he acts as the human representative on earth of the known cosmic will, however, his actions exhibit a natural sweetness and serenity, even in the midst of violence, that is foreign to Western drama. Meditation is often the means whereby the hero gains the power to achieve his goal. In more recent plays based on local history and on contemporary events, the assumption of cosmic harmony has been muted, and emphasis has shifted to depicting human conflicts—nationalist versus Western colonialist, modern daughter versus conservative parents, for example—that may or may not resolve happily.

Characters

Gods, demigods, kings descended from the gods, and princes and princesses are the heroes and heroines of traditional drama and dance. Powerful religious seers advise them, allies and ministers serve them, crude foreign ogres oppose them, and grotesque, slapstick clown-servants are their attendants. The clowns have been the subject of much speculation. Like the vidushaka clown of Indian Sanskrit drama, they are gluttons, practical and even cynical, and confidants to their masters’ passions and weaknesses. Scholars have theorized that the chief Javanese clown figure, Semar, is derived from an ancient Javanese god who was deposed from his supreme position by the introduction into the drama of the later Hindu gods. In the midst of mythological plays, the clowns comment irreverently on political or social issues of the day, seemingly as spokesmen for the common man in an otherwise aristocratic world. Comic and serious scenes alternate.

Dramatic materials

A written script may be used as the starting point for performance, but usually actors, dancers, musicians, and stage crew improvise from a brief scenario. Specific musical selections are matched to certain kinds of scenes, characters, or actions, and standard movements for entrances and exits are known. Standard descriptive phrases of the kind common in all oral literature are used to introduce the hero and his kingdom, and more than a dozen types of recurring scenes are identifiable. A major interest in playgoing lies in perceiving the skill with which performers rearrange and subtly vary these familiar elements from play to play. Narrative commentary accompanying the dances often interprets a specific action in its broad context, thus helping to universalize the theatrical experience.

Costumes, makeup, and settings

Costume and makeup have great importance in plays and dances. By means of elaborate systems of changing the cut, colour, and ornamentation of costume, the shape of the hairdress, the configuration of the crown, or the facial delineation and colour of masks, at least 300 different dance and dramatic characters can be identified. Doll- and shadow-puppet figures are carved according to similarly elaborate means of identification. Persons familiar with a dance or theatrical form can identify most characters by name or by type. Costumes, masks, and puppets may be works of art highly prized in themselves. Court and folk performances once used no scenery at all. Canvas scenery depicting stock scenes is now used by most popular troupes, but unfortunately it is often as inartistic as it is inexpensive. Only the Thai National Theatre, major troupes performing the popular cai luong drama in Vietnam, and troupes performing in the Western tradition throughout Southeast Asia attempt to design three-dimensional scenery for each play.