the 'Lakom', in which the actors on stage speak, and the

'khon', in which they are silent — because they wear

masks. In 'khon' plays, the story is told in verse by a

narrator at the side of the stage and behind-the-scenes

singers. The 'khon' is believed to have been performed dur-

and rewrote the ancient Indian epic drama, the Ra'ina-

yana, in characteristic Thai verse form, for performance

as a series of masked 'khon' dance-dramas. In its Thai

version the story is known as the 'Ramakien'.

In those early days the 'khon' was only performed by

and for Royalty; commoners had no access to the neces-

sary skills and dance techniques, and knew little or

nothing of it. But later the 'khon' gradually became

known outside the court and gained increasing popu-

larity among the public, reaching a peak in the reign of

lined, largely for economic reasons because making the

special 'khon' masks and training the dancers was very

time-consuming and expensive. Some of the special

schools of dance-drama which had been set up for train-

ing 'khon' dancers and mask-makers began closing down

due to lack of funds.

Today there is only one institution left which gives

full and proper training for 'khon' dancers — the

Widhyalai Nattasin or College of Dramatic Arts, under

the Ministry of Education's Fine Arts Department.

There are also small troupes of 'khon' performers who are

hired to dance in private homes, at parties and so on, and

enthusiastic student groups interested in this art form

who carry on the tradition and give 'khon' shows as an

extra-curricular activity in about five schools and uni-

versities. Occasionally these students are invited to

was invited to France.

The Fine Arts Department estimates that there are

some five to six thousand people in Thailand who can

perform the 'khon' dance today. But relatively few people

are left who can make a 'khon' mask which is a genuine

work of art as in the past.

A man generally considered to have been one of

Thailand's most skilled 'khon' mask-makers in recent

tunately for the art, not before he had passed on his in-

fluence and skill to others and so helped to keep the

mask-making tradition alive. Today there is a cottage

industry in Ayudhaya making masks for tourists, and

other isolated mask-makers are still at work here and

there. But again it is the Fine Arts Department that is

doing most to preserve the art of 'khon' mask-making,

 through its 'hattasin' or Handicrafts Division. At the

at work turning out masks by the thousands for the

basic, historically recognized facial structures — the hero

Rama, his trusted commander-in-chief the white mon-

key Hanuman, the chief villain Totsakan and so on. Yet

even so, and in spite of the almost mass-production style

of the pre-Bicentennial mask-making, each separate

craftsman still is able to superimpose his or her own

individual style in drawing the facial features on the

mask. But in other respects, with less than a year to go

before the Bicentennial, the 'Hattosin' Division is some-

thing like a mask factory, with small groups of people

carrying out the first stage, then passing the work on to

other groups for the second stage and so on.

 The first stage traditionally consisted in molding a

mass of white clay to the required shape to be used as a

model on which to make the mask, but nowadays plaster

of Paris is used instead. When this has set hard, it's first

coated with three layers of paper, stuck on with plain

water. Papier mache is then used to build up the mask;

 this is made from a special kind of thin tissue-paper

obtained from a certain tree-bark called 'khoi', which is

now produced only at Nonthaburi, just north of Bang-

kok. 'Khoi' paper is of good quality, doesn't tear easily

and is long-lasting, as can be seen from 'khon' masks in

mold in succession; surface roughness is then smoothed

with a bamboo knife, after which the mask, still on its

mold, is dried in the sun for several days — or if there's no

sun, against a stove.

The fully dried mask is removed from the mold by

cutting it in half from top to bottom, the two halves being

sewn together again with fine wire and smoothed over

with paper and glue. The outline of the face is painted on

in black, holes are cut for the eyes, and the other details

deftly added in color. Lacquer is molded into elaborate

shapes of head-dresses, glued on and made to glitter with

gold leaf. For the main 'Ramakien' characters, real ivory is

used for tusks or fangs, while other decorations are made

from buffalo-hide, sea shells, fragments of colored mirror,

silver and gold.

So the 'khon' masks gradually take on their rich and

exotic appearance, as they have traditionally done in the

past. Thanks mainly to the work of the Fine Arts Depart-

ment, it seems that the craft won't die out completely in