Daring young men

Amid indications that the worst of the flooding is over, some of those postponed stage shows have been rescheduled. Among them is “A Love Song” by 18 Monkeys Dance Theatre, led by veteran choreographer Jitti Chompee, who has already impressed us with “In Tune”, “Carmen”, “Sud Sakorn” and “18 Monkeys”.
Jitti explains that he’s interested in tightrope walkers and the risks they take. “I find they’re quite similar to artists. In order to be a great artist, you have to take many risks.”
He read Jean Genet’s essay “The Tightrope Walker” and watched Genet’s film “Un Chant d’Amour”, based on his poem of the same title. “And the idea developed into this double bill, ‘A Love Song’.
“Genet was truly avant-garde and deeply passionate in his art – and really crazy indeed to take such a risk in creating a film like ‘Un Chant d’Amour’ back in 1950. The film is quite different from the poem he wrote four years earlier. It’s much subtler in its homosexual innuendo.”
But Jitti isn’t trying to explain Genet or what he had to say in cinema and on the printed page. He offers a dancer’s interpretation.
“Genet wasn’t a choreographer, and yet his actors in ‘Un Chant d’Amour’ moved as if they were choreographed.
I’ve recreated some of these movements in my choreography, and in some parts we’ll screen scenes from the film and recite parts of his poem, in English, to show the links.”
Jitti is reunited for this show with dancers Krittin Kiatmetha and Anucha Sumaman, with whom he worked on “18 Monkeys”. A shorter version of that piece was staged many evenings at Bed Supperclub.
Jitti says Anucha is like a tightrope walker. “He has talent and always puts much effort into whatever he’s doing. He was trained in rigorous classical Thai dance. He’s very open-minded, willing to experiment and does well in other styles of dance. He reminds me of Pichet Klunchun.”
A major challenge for Jitti has been melding his five performers, who are all from different stage backgrounds, including Western theatre, street dance, classical Thai dance and modern dance. “But I enjoy the variety and challenge.”
The venue for “A Love Song” is unconventional – the PT Gallery and Warp Studio 54, close to the Chao Phraya River.
“I was looking for a place with an atmosphere similar to the prison in ‘Un Chant d’Amour’ and found this warehouse on Soi Charoenkrung 30. It works in other ways, too, because it looks like it could host a circus.
“The warehouse was used to store armaments during World War II, and now it has stacks of lumber. We didn’t ask them to change anything, so the wood is still piled up there.
“Instead, we adjusted our performance areas and the audience seating accordingly. The audience will be very close to the action. And, actually, the second floor would offer a better view.”

GOOD CAUSE
Profits from “A Love Song” will be donated to flood-affected people.
The PT Gallery and Warp Studio 54 are on Soi Charoenkrung 30, near the Si Phraya Pier, this Saturday and Sunday and again on November 26 and 27, each day at 7.30pm.
Tickets cost Bt800 (half-price for students) at Total Reservation, whose outlets now include KTC shops and Home Pro.
Find out more at www.18MonkeysDanceTheatre.com.