Literally the word Ta’azyeh means “mourning”, and figuratively it refers to a kind of ritual and religious theatre based on religious events, historical and mythical stories, and Iranian folk tales, and there are four basic elements in it: poem, music, song and motion. Ta’azyeh is a type of theatre with many different characters, each of which having its own features, differences, colors, clothes, tools and requirements. It is performed in the form of symbols, conventions, codes and signs which are known by Iranian spectators, and on a stage which is placed in the centre without any lighting and decoration. The place where a Ta’azyeh is performed is called Tekyeh. Apart from some feel-good Ta’azyehs, the main subject of most of them is the conflict between “good” and “evil” and the source of Ta’azyeh scripts has often been the event of Karbala where the third Imam of Shiites, Imam Hussein, and his family were killed after a strong resistance in a battle between seventy two members of the “good” and twenty thousand members of the “evil” army in the Moharram month of the year 60 in the lunar Hegira calendar (a Muslim system of dividing the year of 354 days into 12 months and starting to count the years from the Hegira i.e. the migration of Muhammad from Mecca to Medina in AD 622). It is lunar because it is based on the movement of moon around the earth. This calendar is used in Arab countries. There is also a solar type of Hegira calendar based on the movement of earth around the sun which is officially used in Iran). Therefore, this theatre is performed in Moharram more than other months of the year in Tekyehs, streets, and in the garden of houses. Performing Ta’azyeh has a prominent role in the Iranian vulgar culture, literature and art. The concept and the performance style of Ta’azyeh leads to the maintenance of spiritual values, altruism and friendship. It motivates the religious emotions of the masses, purifies the soul, inspires the audience to ethics and a sense of resistance against oppression, and creates cooperation and sympathy among the performers and the spectators. Taazyieh preserves the old traditions, the national culture and the mythology of Iran, and plays a major role in preserving other types of art as well. Its effect on the audience is so great that many of the proverbs of ordinary people are taken from this type of theatre. Moreover, because of its flexibility, it has been able to adjust itself with different cultures of Iranian tribes; therefore, Ta’azyeh has become the common language of different tribes and has been prominent in creating “unity” among them and helping them communicate and share creativities. Ta’azyeh performers are divided into two main groups: agreeing performers (the Good forces) and disagreeing performers (the Evil forces). Agreeing characters wear green, white and blue costumes as a symbol of goodness and peace and sing Iranian folk songs. Disagreeing characters on the other hand wear red, orange and bright colors as a symbol of cruelty and brutality and speak aggressively in a declamatory style. Music is used in two forms: with songs and with musical instruments. Moeen-ol-boka, the director of Ta’azyeh, who has complete knowledge of music, poetry and all the techniques of Ta’azyeh, is actively present on the stage. Women are less involved in Taazyieh and the roles of women are also played by men drawing a veil over their faces. Each Ta’azyeh script has its own subject and requires its own special tools, costumes, conventions, symbols and music. Observing the rules of performance, the audience also cooperates in some scenes by chorusing the song or the poem. There are even some people who have taken vows of food (taking a vow to give food to people, especially poor people is very common in Iran) who serve the spectators during the play and fulfill their vows. Business people and official fraternities and small public groups called “religious groups”, the number of which reaches three thousand, attempt to perform Ta’azyeh in many areas and provide the tools and costumes, and also decorate the area where Ta’azyeh is going to be performed. In general, all the script writers, actors, spectators, and sponsors of this ritual play are from the people in the street who have different jobs during the year and perform this theatre only to reap otherworldly rewards. Taazyieh has also caused many skills to develop. For instance: calligraphy artists by writing Ta’azyeh scripts, musicians by holding classes of singing and playing instruments, painters by painting the events on large curtains, “curtain narrators” by narrating the stories painted on the curtains with a good voice for people, poets by composing new poems for the dirges in the intervals of Ta’azyeh, industrial workshops by making different tools and instruments used in Ta’azyeh, tailoring and handicraft workshops by making different costumes and masks and accessories for Ta’azyeh, cultural institutes by making films of Ta’azyeh and making them readily accessible to the public, documentarists by making documentaries about Ta’azyeh and preparing them to be shown on TV, each help develop a special skill through Ta’azyeh.

Iran 2010

Kun Qu Opera developed under the Ming dynasty (fourteenth to seventeenth centuries) in the city of Kunshan, situated in the region of Suzhou in southeast China. With its roots in popular theatre, the repertory of songs evolved into a major theatrical form. Kun Qu is one of the oldest forms of Chinese opera still performed today. It is characterized by its dynamic structure and melody (kunqiang) and classic pieces such as the Peony Pavilion and the Hall of Longevity. It combines song and recital as well as a complex system of choreographic techniques, acrobatics and symbolic gestures. The opera features a young male lead, a female lead, an old man and various comic roles, all dressed in traditional costumes. Kun Qu songs are accompanied by a bamboo flute, a small drum, wooden clappers, gongs and cymbals, all used to punctuate actions and emotions on stage.

China 2008

"Yike" is a popular theater among the locals. In the past, there was a Yike group in most district village to perform at important festivals or events in the community. During each performance, locals, young and old, come from everywhere to watch the performance. Therefore, the famous Yike performer is loved and remembered by the people around him or her forever. If the story is sad, the audiences often shed tears with the story without realizing it. Yike can be performed in both traditional and modern themes. When performing traditional repertoires, some characters such as giants, monkeys, Ei Sei, and Tlok (clown) all wear face masks, while male characters (kings or Devadas) wear sharp crowns, and some female characters (princesses, angels) wear crowns and Kbangs (another kind of headdress). Costumes are also very luxurious and elegant. However, it would change to adapt the story’s context. Spoken word and singing are the communication medium for the theater genre. Performers usually have to sing live, but if the characters do not sing well, they can lip singing. The accompanying music is Yi Ke music with 3 to 13 drums and 1 Tror. Tror is for opening the song and for the vocals of both the choir and the soloist to match. As for Sralai, it is used only in the song "Jeut" in the opening ceremony. Before starting to play, they have to do an opening ceremony or dance for their masters/spirits.There is music, singing and dancing, with a Yike teacher playing the drums and singing the opening song. Today, in addition to the Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts, Yike remains in some provinces, such as Pursat, Kampot, Kampong Chhnang, Kampong Thom, Kampong Cham, and the most famous Yike troupe is in Takeo. Therefore, Yike theater can be different from one place to another. Today, Yike is included in the curriculum of the Secondary School of Fine Arts. Among the dramas performed in Yike theatre, "Tum Teav" is the most popular. The Yike performance of Tum Teav was first performed in 1967 at the Suramarit Theater. The well-known Yike teachers who passed away are Lok Ta Khi and Lok Ta Duong. The stories that were performed include: -\t"Tum Teav" was staged in 1967 by Professor Pich Tum Kravil Prof. Hang Thorn Hak and Prof. Chheng Phon -\t“Ah Neak Khak Kam” were staged in 1967 by Prof. Pich Tum Kravil and Prof. Vann Sunheng under the direction of Prof. Chheng Phon. -\t“Sovann Chankiri” staged in 1973 by Mr. Mom Soth -\t“Mak Theung” staged by Prof. Pich Tum Kravil, edited by Prof. Chheng Phon and Prof. Hang Thorn Hak. -\t“Loyal Commander” and “Oh! Ptei Srok Khmer” staged in 1973 under the direction of Mr. Reach Teng -\t"Hang Yun" was edited in 1994 by Mrs. Uy Lattavann -\t"Phka Sla Bei" was staged in 1995 by Mr. Mom Soth, Professor Pich Tum Kravil, Professor Hang Soth and Mr. Mao Keng. -\t"Tip Soda Chan" was staged in 1995 by Mr. Ieng Sithul and Mrs. Uy Lattavann under the direction of Professor Hang Soth, Professor Pich Tum Kravil and Mr. Mao Keng.

Talchum is a performing art that encompasses dance, music, and theatre. An ensemble of six to ten musicians accompanies masked performers who sing and dance and exchange verbal interactions through theatrical movements. The primary themes satirized by traditional mask dance dramas include the hypocrisy of Buddhist monks, the arrogance of the yangban nobility, and people's suffering under the male-dominated patriarchal system. Diverse social issues are humorously explored through dramatic combinations of songs, dances, movements, and words. Masks with exaggerated archetypical representations of everyday personages are an indispensable element in the presentation of talchum. A Korean mask dance drama does not require a formal stage: Any empty space can become a venue for talchum. The audience for a masked-dance drama are not passive spectators, but important participants. They complete the production with their cheers and jeers as the drama unfolds. Talchum is a dynamic theatrical flow of action and sound created through the combined efforts of both the players and spectators. This flexibility provided to talchum by the audience's active participation and its thematic orientation toward social criticism gave birth to the unique phenomenon of large-scale transmission of talchum among young people, particularly university students, during the 1970-80s. This generation continues to play a critical role in the transmission of talchum. In talchum, physical and emotional conflict among the characters always ends in a dance of reconciliation. While criticizing that which needs to be criticized, talchum always aims toward a greater unity.

South Korea 2022

Gagaku is one of the Japanese performing arts, which are expressed by playing musical instruments, with long, slow songs and dance-like movements, and performed at ceremonies or banquets at the Imperial Palace or in a theatre, such as the National Theatre in Tokyo. Gagaku consists of (i) Kuniburi no Utamai, (ii) the Japanized dance and music which had been derived from the Continent, and (iii) Utamono. The substances or repertoires have been created in the history and culture of Japan and become distinctive. Kuniburi no Utamai had been formed up around the tenth century with original Japanese songs and dances long before foreign music and instruments were brought into Japan in the fifth century. While the dance and music that came via the continent use only musical instruments, Kuniburi no Utamai is mainly composed of songs and played just partly with a Japanese harp and Kagura flute. The choreography of Kuniburi no Utamai is simple but noble and grave. The Japanized dance and music which had been derived from the Continent consist of an instrumental tune, kangen, which developed from such Asian music and dances that reached Japan via ancient China and the Korean peninsula during the four hundred years from the fifth century through the ninth century, and was shaped by the history and culture of Japan, and (b) bugaku, the ceremonial dance to this tune. The Japanization is the process as follows: (i) the configuration of performance consisting of those derived from China, Central Asia, and India and those from the Korean peninsula: (ii) the selection of foreign music instruments and the formation of the smaller chamber music ensembles. Those used here are wind instruments (Sho, Hichiriki and Fue), strings (Biwa and So), percussion instruments, and others. Utamono is the vocal music that was newly formed around the tenth century in Japan under the influence of music from abroad. Some of its lyrics are Japanese folk songs and some are ancient Chinese poems. As briefly explained above, the history of Gagaku stretches over more than a millennium. Gagaku-ryo, i.e. the department of Gagaku, was set up as a national institution by the enactment of the year 701. The Imperial Court aimed at establishing a centralized State under the rule of written laws and regulations, known as Ritsu-Ryo Kokka. Historians think that Gagaku was incorporated into the national system as an essential part of official ceremonies. In 752, for example, these performing arts were performed at the ceremony to bring the soul into Great Buddha statue in the temple of Todai-ji, which has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1998. In the tenth century the performing arts from the Asian continent were sophisticated and Japanized while new Utamono and new repertoires of Bugaku were composed under the influence of performing arts from abroad; the form of today’s Gagaku was being established. Moreover, the style of acting and the performance space were also being set. The individual members who compose the Music Department of the Imperial Household Agency in charge of the transmission of Gagaku are mainly descendants of specific families who occupied such posts as a family profession. Although the tradition of Gagaku faced difficulties several times because of the decline of the Imperial Court and the aristocracy, who were patrons of Gagaku, and because of political turbulence and conflicts, certain families in Kyoto, Osaka, and Nara have kept the tradition, and do not let it cease. In the latter half of the 18th century, the Musical Department of the Imperial Household Agency was established, incorporating musicians from several localities, and this was the predecessor of the Musical Department of the Imperial Household Agency. As explained above, the Department members recognize Gagaku as part of their precious cultural heritage transmitted from their ancestors. As Gagaku has been designated as an Important Intangible Cultural Property of Japan since 1955, it is recognized as an item of important cultural heritage which has high historical and artistic value for the Japanese people. Gagaku is the oldest tradition among the Japanese traditional performing arts. The Music Department of the Imperial Household Agency is widely recognized as the authentic transmitter of the tradition. The transmitters recognize Gagaku as their own unique culture of which they can be proud before their contemporaries in Japan and throughout the world. The transmission and performance of Gagaku contribute greatly to raising the holding community’s sense of identity and continuity. Thus, Gagaku has been transmitted from generation to generation for a long time, developed corresponding to the politics and the surroundings of each time, and constantly recreated. The history of Gagaku illustrates very well how Japan has transformed culture from abroad and sophisticated them as part of our own culture. The performing arts transmitted to-day varies from those originating in ancient Japan to Japanized, sophisticated and developed ones derived from abroad. In this sense, Gagaku is the crystallization of the culture created by the society and history of Japan. In 1955 Gagaku was recognized as a part of cultural heritage, and designated as an Important Intangible Cultural Property. Therefore, Gagaku functions as one cultural tool to reconfirm the Japanese identity.

Japan 2009

There are three types of "shadow theater: large shadow theater, small shadow theater, and colored shadow theatre. "Large Shadow Puppet or Lkhon Sbaek Thom" is one of the oldest and most revered theaters in the country. It is interesting that in the inscription of Wat Baseth (K, 78) written in AD. 668 and 677 with the word "tokkatak" and the inscription of Kork Chak temple (K. 155) in the 7th century CE, there was the word "tokk tor", which are now called "tokkaktar". A picture that can be held up or down or a drawing that plays a story. Although it is not possible to confirm that this word is an ancient Khmer word called for "shadow theater", but it is also a proof or idea for consideration. The Lkhon Sbaek Thom only plays the story of Reamker, which is an ancient epic, and because the story of Reamker is too long, the whole story is never performed. Therefore, it is only excerpted the scene only. Traditionally, Lkhon Sbaek Thom is performed only in large ceremonies that are characterized by faith, devotion, prayer, and so on. Major ceremonies with large shadows include the Royal Cremation Ceremony and the Royal Family, Samdech Preah Sangkhareach, Chao Athikar Wat, Coronation Ceremony, and Birthday Celebration of the King, Chao Athikar Wat .... As for the ceremonies in the villages and districts, there are burial ceremonies in Khan Seima, the Inauguration Ceremony of the Buddha Statue, the ceremony for various achievements in the pagoda, Bon Phum, and so on. Lkhon Sbaek Thom is performed with a white canvas, about 2-3 meters wide, about 8-10 meters long, stretching about 1 meter above the ground. Behind the white cloth, there is a fireplace about 1 meter above the ground for lighting to illuminate the skin on the white cloth. Before the performance, they have to hold a ceremony to offer and pray to the masters and the souls. In that ceremony, a puppet shadow is put in front of the stage, and the most important image is Ey Sei, which is placed in the center and accompanied by the main characters, such as Noreay Pleng Sor, Preah Ream, Krong Reap, Hanuman, etc. In front of the skin, they prepare offerings of Bay Sei, Sla Thor, bananas, Mlu Sla, flowers, candles, incense, and rice ... as well as a bowl of blessing water. During the ceremony, all the performers must come and light candles and incense, with a teacher leading the prayer ceremony. At the end of the ceremony, the performance begins with the performer (also known as the "Neak Jert Sbaek") picking up a piece of Sbaek that is already arranged according to the story, places it next to the white cloth to reflect the shadows, and move it up and down with the rhythm of the music, accompanied by a narrative voice. In a fighting scene, the Sbaek are placed one on top of the other, or sometimes the two Sbaek are pressed against each other, slightly apart from the canvas, in order to make the fighting scene more realistic, leaving the two skins behind the performers to turn to a fight, pretend that the Sbaek is fighting like that. The audience can easily understand the story of the large shadow drama because of the narrator. That is why the narrator has a very important role. The narrators are usually old people who know the story well, although sometimes they have to look to the Sastra for help. Narrators sometimes have one and sometimes two to correspond. The words that are said are a collection of words, a poem and a list of words. The best narrator is one who uses humorous words to make the audience laugh. The fire that accompanies the large shadow theater is the music of Pin Peat ensemble. Usually, the skins for the large shadow theatre are made of cow skin, but according to some opinions, the main characters such as Ey Sei, Eyso and Noreay in ancient times were made from the skins of big tigers or bears, because these characters have higher power than the other characters. Freshly peeled skin is first cleaned and "killed" by staining the ashes and soaking in boiling water. The type of wood that is used to soak the leather is mixed with a strong sour and bitter wood so that it gives the leather color, lasts a long time and prevents insects from eating. Then the leather is carved into pictures according to the desired story. When carved, the bark is boiled to make ink to turn the leather brown, and the most important bark is the middle bark. Finally, a bamboo stick is used to tie the leather vertically, using one or two bamboo strips the size of the figure to hold the skin so that the leather can be held for the performance. According to research reports, between the 1960s-70s, there are large shadow theater groups in Phnom Penh, Siem Reap and Battambang. In 1965, the large shadow theater troupe was formed in the traditional dance troupe under the "National Preservation of Performance" and later become the "Department of Performing Arts", now under the Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts. In addition to the large shadow theater group of the Department of Performing Arts, there are also large shadow groups of the Arts Associations and Communities such as large shadow group, Sovannaphum Arts Association (Phnom Penh), Kork Thlok Arts Association (Phnom Penh), Wat Reach Bo (Siem Reap), Large shadow troupe Lok Ta Ty Chien (Siem Reap), large shadow group Lok Ta Hing (Siem Reap) and Banteay Meanchey Provincial Department of Culture.

This ancient theatre form created by Malaysia’s Malay communities combines acting, vocal and instrumental music, gestures and elaborate costumes. Specific to the villages of Kelantan in northwest Malaysia, where the tradition originated, Mak Yong is performed mainly as entertainment or for ritual purposes related to healing practices. Experts believe that Mak Yong appeared well before the Islamization of the country. It was performed as a royal theatre under the direct patronage of the Kelantan Sultanate until the 1920s. Hence, the tradition was perpetuated in a rural context without forsaking the numerous refinements acquired at court, such as sophisticated costume design. A typical Mak Yong performance opens with an offering followed by dances, acting and music as well as improvised monologues and dialogues. A single story can be presented over several consecutive nights in a series of three-hour performances. In the traditional village setting, the performances are held on a temporary open stage built of wood and palm leaves. The audience sits on three sides of the stage, the fourth side being reserved for the orchestra consisting of a three-stringed spiked fiddle (rebab), a pair of doubleheaded barrel drums (gendang) and hanging knobbed gongs (tetawak). Most roles are performed by women, and the stories are based on ancient Malay folk tales peopled with royal characters, divinities and clowns. Mak Yong is also associated with rituals in which shamans attempt to heal through song, trance-dance and spirit possession.

Malaysia 2008

It is an indigenous Kazakh performing art that combines theater, music, and puppetry. Some people say orteke is a street theatre, others might claim it is a musical instrument, some would see it as a decorative art, and children perceive it as a toy and use for entertainment. Orteke represents a simultaneous ensemble of music performance on Kazakh traditional two-stringed instrument dombyra and a hopping dance of a wooden puppet. Fixed on a surface of a traditional drum (daulpaz) by a metal rod a flexible wooden figure of teke (a mountain goat) is connected to the fingers of a musician by one or several threads. Flexible head and joints of a puppet are connected to the pulling string. As the musician strikes his/her fingers playing dombyra, the puppet starts hopping in sync with the beat set by an artist. The figure turns alive making amusing dancing movements and tapping a rhythmic beat on a firm skin surface of a drum.Some masters of genre can play with 3 and more puppets at the same time. Sound of dombra, audience public in anticipation, leather surface as flat as the steppe itself, and a small wooden figure of a mountain goat, tied to the puppeteer musician by a single thread, began to beat out the rhythm with its tiny hooves. This action, fascinating with its magical simplicity, is known among the Kazakh people as "Orteke", which is fancied by both children and adults.

Kazakhstan 2022

Hát bội (or can go with the name “tuồng”) is a traditional performance art form in Vietnam, it has a rich historical foundation. The oldest manuscript about Hát bội can be found back in the 18th century. However, Hát bội is believed to appear earlier than that and has become a dominating theatre practice, especially in the Inner Lands/Đàng Trong (a part of South Central area and Southern Vietnam). Just like any traditional art form, the stage of Hát bội also consists of aesthetic values of the Viet people, reflecting the life, stories, and aspirations of the common Viet people. Hát bội has charmed the audience not only for its humane storyline, but also for the sophisticated visual of face-painting, costuming, choreography, staging, and symbolic gestures. In recent times, Hát bội has slowly lost its place in public perception and became more of a spiritual performance to serve communal temples instead.

There exist approximately thirty thousand traditional performing arts transmitted throughout Japan. This kind of performing arts is performed by ordinary amateur people in their daily life in order to pray for an abundant harvest, for example, and differs from theatre performing arts in the way of transmission, where professionals performer in front of the audience for the sake of art appreciation. Such performing arts are classified into intangible folk cultural property in Japan, and the transmission of them depends upon the further detailed classification. Dainichido Bugaku is a folk performing art transmitted by ordinary people of the four communities in Hachimantai Town of Kazuno City, Akita Prefecture, positioned in the northern part of the main land of Japan. Japan has the ritual dance and music, called bugaku, that is one of traditional performing arts. It was a performing art brought about to Japan via the ancient China or the Korean peninsula from the fifth to the ninth century, and later sophisticated, developed, and finally Japanized in its long history; it was performed at a rite or a banquet in the imperial palace. While bugaku has been transmitted at the political centre of each age by professional performers, it gradually permeated widely into local areas in the course of a long history of Japan, and ordinary residents in local areas learned it. As a result, bugaku was introduced into local festivals or events, rooted there, and respectively transformed into locally distinctive performing arts. According to a legend of Dainichido, it originates from bugaku performed by professionals from the then Capital City on an occasion of reconstruction of Dainichido, i.e. the shrine pavilion, in the early eighth century. From this legend it was later named Dainichido Bugaku. While it was transmitted in Hachimantai Town, however, it acquired new features in its repertoire, musical instrument and choreography, not found in bugaku. In this sense it is recognized as an important element of cultural heritage which indicates the transition process of performing arts. It was designated by the National Government as Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property. It is one element of intangible cultural heritage which represents the ‘extraneous category’ among the folk performing arts. It is dedicated to the deity on the stage set inside Dainichido on January 2nd with a prayer for the happiness of the year; performers successively dedicate with background music of flutes and drums. It has been transmitted by the people of the four communities, i.e. Osato, Azukisawa, Nagamine, Taniuchi, in Hachimantai Town. Those people are recognized as assuming the special role in the transmission of the performing arts. The transmitted repertoires are nine in total, and they are divided among the four communities for the transmission. Inside each community the elderly transmit its assigned repertoires to the younger and children. Thus, Dainichido Bugaku has been transmitted from generations to generations by the people of the four communities to-day. It is a kind of intangible cultural heritage collectively transmitted by a local community. Moreover, people are proud to perform the ritual dance. Performing the ritual dance deepens people’s sense of affiliation to a local community and reinforces their identity. Dainichido Bugaku is repeatedly performed for a long time from the dawn to noon of January 2nd every year, according to the fix performance order. After the people dedicate Dainichido Bugaku at the fixed site in each of the four communities, they proceed to Dainichido in a line. On the stage set inside Dainichido they together dedicate the nine Bugaku; in some of those Bugaku they put a head of shishi (an imaginary lion) on; in some they put a mask on; in others children perform. Thus, the style of Dainichido Bugaku has some variations, reflecting the local features. Many of the residents in Hachimantai Town gather around the stage on this occasion every year, since Dainichido Bugaku is also significant to people other than the performers in that it prays for the happiness of a new year and let them reconfirm the identity with a local community. Thus, Dainichido Bugaku reflects the history, culture and climate of Japan, and has a great meaning to today’s Japan from the social and cultural viewpoints. On the other hand, the performers are eager to transmit what they have inherited from the ancestors to successors.

Japan 2009

Saba set foot and expanded in Kuala Jengal Village in Hulu Dungun, Terengganu. Its origin was a healing ceremony with the purpose of treating various illnesses. Saba was first played around 300 years ago by a lady traditional medicine practitioner by the name of Cek Mek Comot. Saba is a tree made from the shoot of young coconut created and arranged like a lush tree. This object is compulsory in a Saba ceremony. It is said that this Saba tree signifies the descending venue of the heavenly god to cure the sick. According to the treatment methodology of Saba, there is a middleman between human on earth named Peduang and god in heaven named Muda Di Awan (literally translated as “Young at the Cloud”), that are in dialogue to sell and buy the Saba tree for treatment purposes, and allowing the heavenly princess to descend to treat the sick. Peduang is a traditional medicine practitioner that knows specific mantra for every type of sickness. In the Saba theatre there are elements of singing, dancing and dialogue between Peduang and Muda Di Awan. There are 36 songs with various stories with each one has specific aim and purpose in treating the sick. Now, Saba performance does not anymore contain elements that can divert one’s religious belief so that the theatre is relevant according to the change of time.

“Bassac Theatre” Originally known as “Treung Khlok” Theatre, it originated in Kampuchea Krom Bassac District, Preah Trapeang Province (now under Vietnamese rule). Bassac troupe originally formed by the chief of Khsach Kandal pagoda (Kampuchea Krom) names of Sour and Lok Ta Cha Krun, as well as his students, Kru Kmoa, Kru Korn, and Kru Khla. During the 1930s, Lok Ta Cha Krun brought the Trung Khlok theatre to perform in Phnom Penh and other provinces along the Bassac River. The theatre also quickly gained popularity in Phnom Penh. At first, it was called "Theatre from Bassac District", then later abbreviated as "Bassac Theatre" and is still named today. Bassac theatre is performed in both speaking and singing and accompanied by the Bassac music. The theater genre is influenced by Chinese and Vietnamese operas. The female characters (princesses or goddesses) dress similarly to the characters in classical dance. The male characters (kings, gods, or giants) dress similarly to the male characters in Chinese or Vietnamese operas. But today, the male characters’ costume is also similar to the costumes of the actors in the classical dance, except that the giant characters still wear the same costume as before. The stage is often decorated with paintings of temples or artificial mountains. Bassac theatre often features artistic legends. Performances include sword fighting, stick fighting, or other martial arts or battle scenes. The songs are both traditional and modern. During the 1960s, the Bassac Theatre gained immense popularity. There were two famous characters that almost all Khmer people at that time knew until he was named the King and the Queen of Bassac, Lok Ta Saing Sarun and Lok Year Chek Mach. Nowadays, Bassac is included in the curriculum of the Secondary School of Fine Arts. Famous Bassac theatre teachers who have passed away, including Lok Ta Saing Sarun, Lok Year Chek Mach, Mrs. Un Wang, Mr. Sous Kanan, Ouk Si Phally, John (Battambang), Tapov, Tork Khmao, Em Samphon and Kru nhoun (Outstanding Tror musician).