Intimacy and Emotion Amid the Razztazz

16 June 2009

Bangkok, Thailand

By Jasmine Baker

Thanks to the muscle of their marketing budget, we got endless reports on what has been happening inside Muangthai Rachadalai Theatre—Myria “Nat” Benedetti flying to and fro over the stage, for example. 

Away from the hype, however, were two small-scale productions, both with English surtitle translations, taking place at intimate performance spaces. They may not be flawless but, for more laid-back theatregoers, they are a breath of fresh air.

LEFT OUT

At the thirty-seater Crescent Moon Space was Dujdao Vadhapakorn’s follow-up to “Something Else”, her successful directorial debut. In her new work “Left Out”, Dujdao once again made use of her skills as a registered dance movement therapist to unleash the creativity of the performers (herself included).

Addressing the stories often left out of conversations amongst women, Dujdao upended the scenery to invite the audience to explore new perspectives. Hung from the ceiling were a table, a pair of stools, and countless dolls. It made a striking composition.

Though the only two live performers were Dujdao and her collaborator, Silpathorn Award-winning actress Sineenadh Keiparapai, young Apichaya Somboon, appearing in a short film footage projected onto the wall, was a vital character who brought an extra dimension to the show. Apichaya was chatty and inquisitive, but her words were always ignored. The film, so dark the spectators could hardly see her face, contributed symbolically to the fact that the little girl was left alone in her own world.

Representing reticent female adults who have been socially conditioned to repress their feelings, Dujdao and Sineenadh never spoke once throughout the play and could only express their agony and frustration though their bodies. Dujdao’s discomfort in dealing with sexual matters led to a scene in which she furiously wrote taboo words on a black board and moved alongside the images of blooming flowers. Sineenadh, as a mother, relived her pain in childbirth while wandering blankly on stage.

The two were dynamic, but on the down side, their movements were extremely monotonous. Stronger dance basics or an experienced choreographer, perhaps, would have helped them live up truly to the performance’s billing as “a combination of dance, film and mind”.

END YOUR DREAM

Over at Democrazy Studio, veteran playwright and director Nikorn Saetang and his Theatre 8X8 troupe staged their new play “End Your Dream”. Centering on young couple Ek and Pueng—a man who’s a dreamer and a down-to-earth woman, his opposite—, this well-written, entertaining feel-good drama offered an important key for any relationship: mutual support.

Despite its somewhat predictable ending, the play’s indispensable messages coupled with its style of presentation—frequent shifts between dream and realities with the help of simple props—made it engaging throughout.

The central images of mist and smoke were used effectively. The cool white mist is like a dream—nice to have, but you can’t have it all the time. In the real world, dreams become smoke, obscuring our perception with unreal expectations and fears. This “pollution” is part of being human, but we still need to clear our heads of it where possible.

The play featured six experienced members of the troupe, three women and three men, with the spotlight falling on each couple while the other four played various supporting roles to add more dimensions to the story. This made a good challenge for the actors in the ensemble style, although, from the audience’s point of view, watching the play once would be enough, as the play’s overall structure and resolution remained the same across performances.