Khon is a genre of dance drama from Thailand. It is traditionally performed solely in the royal court, by men in masks accompanied by narrators and a traditional piphat

Piphat

A piphat is a kind of ensemble in the classical music of Thailand, which features wind and percussion instruments. It is considered the primary form of ensemble for the interpretation of the most sacred and "high-class" compositions of the Thai classical repertoire, including the Buddhist...

 ensemble. A variation of this genre with female performers is called khon phu ying . In Cambodia, the analog of the Khon is a less refined version known as Lakhon khol

Lakhon khol

Lakhon khol is a masked dance theatre that features enactment of the Reamker. It was once part of the performing arts of the Cambodian Court of Oudong and is analogous to the more refined version of the drama, the Royal Khon of Thailand...

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Modern form

Modern khon contains many elements from the lakhon nai and nowadays, include female performers for female characters which were traditionally performed by men. While the ogre and monkey characters still wear masks, most of the human characters do not.