The Siamese were avid theatre-goers at the turn of the 20th century. Mime; dance; plays and shadow puppetry were all very popular. Many of the stage plays involved dancers; mostly female; who adorned themselves in jewellery and exhibited lithe movements portraying beauty and flexibility; especially in bending the fingers back. The most common plays were called 鈥榢hon'; which essentially feature scenes from the 鈥楻amakien'; the Thai version of the Hindu epic 鈥楾he Ramayana'.