An astonishing variety of traditional theatre performances in the eight countries of Southeast Asia—Burma, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam. Chua Soo Pong describes many of the most important theatrical forms, grouping them according to their origins as folk, court, popular, or Western theatre. He considers the theatre from four perspectives: its origins, its art, its role as a social institution, and its function as a medium of communication and propaganda.