See no evil
A multiaward winning stage artist returns with another experiential performance
If B-Floor Theatre’s Teerawat “Ka-ge” Mulvilai is the local theatre critics’ darling, having been championed with several awards, then another B-Floor member Dujdao “Dao” Vadhanapakorn is his female counterpart. Over the past five years, she has been honoured with four awards for three different works – one for movement-based performance, two for art direction, and one for her performance in a spoken drama, although she’s better known for her physical theatre.
This woman with many hats describes herself, fittingly, as a dance movement psychotherapist, an experiential performance artist and an empathic communication specialist. And like in “The Secret Keeper” two years ago at Bangkok Art and Culture Centre (BACC), Dao’s new experiential performance “Blissfully Blind” starting on July 13 at Bangkok CityCity Gallery combines all her artistic and professional skills.
“Unlike with a play, I don’t have a specific message to clearly convey to my audience,” Dao explains.
“I’m trying to understand what’s happening in our daily life, specifically the fact that we’re ‘blissfully blind’ to certain information or incidents, and analyse what they are and why we choose to do so. I then create physical movements for my performers based on these findings.
“I’m not saying that these are bad: they’re just mechanics that help make us feel safe. For example, in Thai society, most of us are grateful to our elders and value family legacy highly. But then when we reach a point when a certain set of information starts to come into conflict with those beliefs, we choose to be blind to it and simply hold on to what our parents have been telling us. Besides, many people choose to accept many beliefs, meanwhile ignoring many facts, in order to be able to fit into certain groups of friends as they regard these relationships more dearly. In addition, I find that education makes us blind. The higher education a man or woman has, he or she thinks that he/she’s always righteous and disregards the thoughts of others, who may not have finished as high a degree.”
Knowledge, she adds, is related to light, and Dao says, “That’s why Zeight’s Mont Watanasiriroch and I are using a lighting installation in this work. But sometimes when it’s too bright, we may not be able to see anything.”
As for the venue choice, she says, “It was love at first sight. it’s a very nice space and my body responded to its high ceiling when I attended a visual arts exhibition there for the first time. The gallery owner also knows and has watched B-Floor’s works and so we’re allowed to experiment and get out of our comfort zone.”
In “Blissfully Blind”, Dao teams up with all her performers from “The Secret Keeper”, namely Amornsri Pattanasitdanggul, Vidura Amranand and Navinda Pachimsawat.
“I’d rather work with artists with a background in dance, not theatre, for this work. But these are not dancers who want to show off their great dance techniques. They’re delicate towards their bodies and movements and have a very open-minded attitude,” she says.
There’s also a new addition, Phuttiporn Suttimanad, a recent dance graduate from Chulalongkorn University. “She watched ‘The Secret Keeper’ and interviewed me for her research paper. The kind of questions she asked and the look in her eyes made me ask her to join us in this new work,” Dao explains.
And like “The Secret Keeper”, there are no male performers. “I really don’t know why. Well, when I start conceptualise my work, it’s my voice that I hear, a female voice, and what I see in terms of movements are all female,” Dao admits.
Apart from the performance in the evening, Dao says, “You can also experience our lighting installation in the afternoon every weekend. It’s the same concept but without the human performer element.
“It’s my intention that [unlike watching a play or a dance performance] each member of the audience has a different experience of this work. It’s very loosely structured and organic and the audience has many choices. We cannot see or know everything that’s happening, and we cannot agree on everything. But the only way we can live together peacefully is to open our minds and, without any prejudice, listen and talk to those who think differently from us.”
EXPERIENCE IT
- B-Floor Theatre’s “Blissfully Blind” is at Bangkok CityCity Gallery, Soi Sathorn 1 (five-minute walk from MRT Lumphini, exit 2) from July 13 to 30 (except Tuesday and Wednesday) at 7.30pm. Tickets are Bt 700 (Bt450 for students) at (094) 494 5104.
- The lighting installation at the same venue is open for public viewing every Saturday and Sunday.
- For more information, www.BFloorTheatre.com, or email [email protected]
