Shadow theatre has a long tradition in many countries, but it is in Southeast Asia and Thailand especially where it became high art. There are other forms of shadow puppetry in Thailand, Nang Talung in the South for example, where crowds are entertained by articulated puppets telling bawdy jokes. But Nang Yai, which probably predates the Ayutthaya period, was reserved for the royal family and reached its zenith in the Rattanakosin Era when stories from the Thai epic, Ramakien were performed for the court.