Thai theatre and Bangkok Theatre Festival 2024...
If you are in Bangkok this November you might want to pick up on the riches of the Bangkok Theatre Festival.
I’ve long been impressed and delighted by Thai theatre and a short visit to Thailand in August confirmed that it’s still as fascinating as ever, whether it is traditional or contemporary.
The Bangkok Arts and Cultural Centre was hosting a children’s theatre festival and that yielded The Settlers. This was shadow puppet work from Homemade Puppet but with a difference. Much of the things casting shadows in their work are bits of rubbish when you see them laid out before the show. but in a dark room with selective lighting they become plants and spaceships and all kinds of images made out of mere detritus.
The Settlers is a piece about ruthless colonising…take over a planet….push out the original inhabitants…change the terrain…and then look for a new planet to spoil… the work of Sutarath Sinnong (Tom) is not afraid of difficult themes.
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| The Settlers' set up. |
Tom also worked with Makhampom Theatre Group which is where I first encountered her. Makhampom’s training courses were also where I first met Tua Pradit Prasartthong, actor, director, teacher and it turned out he was directing a musical version of Romeo and Juliet called Todmala.
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| Todmala. |
This was a grand piece staged at the Thailand Cultural Centre. No subtitles but if you knew your Shakespeare and a little Thai the shape of the piece was clear, albeit with a Thai viewpoint.
The opening fights were Muay Thai fights, Friar Laurence became a very Thai ajarn (teacher), the wedding seemed to be a co-celebration between him and the Nurse and there appeared to be a happy ending with Juliet leaping up from the bier to lambast everyone about the evils of blood feuds.
It was gorgeously done with loads of feeling and singing and an orchestra pit that rose up with the orchestra still playing on it for the curtain calls and bright young performers from the pop song area who were getting a chance to work with one of Thailand’s best performers and theatre teachers.
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| Khon Museum display. |
Outside of Bangkok near Ayuthaya there is now a workshop combined with a museum (part of the Arts of the Kingdom museum set up by Queen Sirikit) that introduces people to the making and the operation of sets, masks and costumes for traditional khon performance. The next set of performances are 7 Nov - 8 Dec this year at the Thailand Cultural Centre.
At the museum you can wander through vast rooms that display set items and backdrops appropriately lit and in some cases they move animatronically. Theatre crafts are taught and you can watch work on masks and the painting of backdrops. One backdrop we saw in the process of being painted is clearly finished and turns up on Facebook in the show. (Interesting that it was being painted on the floor but that’s probably because it was mostly stencils.)
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| Painting a backdrop, Khon Museum. |
If you are in Bangkok now The Bangkok Theatre Festival is well worth chasing up. It’s an annual event showcasing more contemporary Thai theatre, although strong traditional elements and performances can and do turn up.
There’s adult theatre, children’s theatre and workshops. Certain performances might be marked as ‘foreigner friendly’ but that’s never stopped me from going in and watching something entirely in Thai. If I were in Bangkok I’d certainly try to go to Tua’s Anatta Theatre piece Deception of the Demon for example.
https://www.facebook.com/reel/1338842013753749
These days the main venue for the Festival is the grand circular Bangkok Arts and Cultural Centre, easily accessible by Skytrain (BTS), opposite the big MBK shopping mall and full of all kinds of nooks and artworks and crannies. But you might also find yourself in an old shopfront or a park or found space somewhere down the line.
It is always wonderful to encounter cultural difference. And if we can’t get on a plane, Facebook is filling up with tantalising glimpses.
https://www.bacc.or.th/en/events/82952
Alanna Maclean
