Puppet Theatre

Laos also has a tradition of puppetry reflecting the influences from Thailand. A royal rod puppet theatre, lakhon tukata, is, in many respects, similar to the Thai hun krabok theatre. Its repertoire mainly consists of scenes from the Phra Lak Phra Lam. The tradition was broken but has now been revived by the Ee Pawk puppet theatre in Luang Prabang.

During the early period of the Lao People’s Republic close contact with the eastern bloc brought, of course, influences from that direction. Completely new kinds of puppet theatre types, often didactic, were introduced to the puppet theatre world. This has led more recently to new approaches in Lao puppetry.