Sharing The Angst

If you’ve ever wonder what goes on in a therapy session, actor, playwright and director Nophand Boonyai and his frequent collaborator Dujdao Vadhanapakorn Boonyai, who’s also an actor and director in addition to dance movement therapist, are about to open the doors with their new production, “Therapy (After the Flood)”.

“The idea cropped up while I was writing a play with three male characters – a patient who forgets everything, a therapist and a nurse,” says Nophand. Then I thought, what if all of them have mental problems? I also had the cast members in mind – Saifah Tanthana, Supasawat Buranawej and Sarut Komalittipong.

“I shared this idea with Dujdao, wondering if it were possible for them, as characters, to be treated by a therapist. Dujdao suggested we do this with a group of therapists – art therapist Anupan Pluckpankhajee, drama therapist Sarinrat Thomas and herself as a dance movement therapist. This group called Arts Container was also interested in creating a performance based on their practice and so all the pieces of the puzzle came together.”

The initial idea was for a performance on a larger scale, with music, at the Poonsuk Banomyong Auditorium, but they later decided to keep it small and intimate at B-Floor Room.

“Then, I added two more characters who would give more background to Saifah and Sarut’s characters. Donruedee Jamraschai will be Saifah’s wife, and Jarunun Phantachat, Sarut’s mother.

“I wrote for each actor a few pages of character background, very detailed, and told each therapist their symptoms. Supasawat’s character is suffering from schizophrenia; Saifah’s cannot control his anger; and Sarut’s is a young man who is very depressed and doesn’t want to speak.

“Then, all actors attended workshops in which I came up with scenarios for them to improvise to further develop their characterisation. In real life, Saifah can control his emotions very well and so the character was at first very challenging for him. After the workshops, his anger started to come out.

“We also had a group therapy session in which I joined. After that, I realised that this couldn’t be a one-off – the relationship between a therapist and a patient is significant and has to develop over a period of time. And so, our rehearsals have been proceeding like a series of therapy sessions.”

Of course, these actors are not performing themselves nor are they sharing their personal problems with the therapists. Yet, Nophand notes, “There’s a very thin line between an actor and a character he’s performing, especially in this kind of environment, so I think it takes much courage for them to be able to do this.”

There’s no script for the performance, and each evening, the audience can witness one therapist’s session with one patient, paired together in accordance with their symptoms, over one hour. In the cases of the Saifah and Sarut’s characters, the former’s wife and the latter’s mother will also be in their sessions. Nophand will also allow his therapist and patient to talk to the audience intermittently. 

Every performance will thus be different, and Nophand says none of the rehearsals so far has been the same.

“In one session, for example, when Saifah was with Anupan who asked him to draw, I could see how art had the power to win over his angst. I could also notice how calm Anupan was when dealing with a bomb that was ready to explode at any second. But when Donruedee, performing as his wife, joined the session on another day, the session was totally different.” 

“And both of these were very different from the session with the son and the mother, performed by Sarut and Jarunan, in which I could see how difficult the therapist’s job was when dealing with someone who didn’t really want to work with him.”

 

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