Scary movie, unalarming theatre

The fact that Scenario’s new horror play “Laddaland” is being staged a mere two years after sister company GTH’s critically-acclaimed blockbuster of the same name is not only selling tickets but also inevitably means that comparisons will be drawn. After all, records show that we Thais love watching stories we know well and that Thai filmmakers excel at horror movies. 

Watching the movie onboard a long flight from Zurich to Bangkok last year, I found myself unable to sleep long after the closing credits had rolled. That wasn’t just because of the nail-biting thrills, but also because the script made me think about my life and confirmed to me that people are much more evil than ghosts. In my view, the movie deserved all the awards it garnered.

The same cannot be said for its stage counterpart witnessed last Thursday at the gala opening night. 

Despite the addition of few minor details to the Laddaland urban legend, the script followed the screenplay so faithfully that I wondered if the folks at Google had come up with a new program called “Google Adapt”. And if that were so, why the screen-to-stage adaptation needed as many as six writers, all of whom appeared to have forgotten that film and theatre have different storytelling techniques. Scenes changed too often and every time a new set was moved in, the dramatic tension was lost.

Scenario may also have forgotten that since the arrival of film more than 100 years ago, horror has not been a major theatrical genre . When it does come to the boards, then successful horror plays tend to be staged in old, medium-sized playhouses where the atmosphere can be controlled.

The result was that the play was neither spine-tingling scary nor dramatically moving as the film. It was like watching a film made entirely in long shots and the flicking on and offs of the stage lights accompanied by sound effects seemed like an archaic theatrical trick that failed to scare the contemporary audience.

Former teen idols Patipan “Mos” Pattavikan and Nicole “Nikki” Theriault, as the middle-class couple Thee and Pan who had recently relocated to Chiang Mai, bore no comparison to their film counterparts Saharat “Kong” Sangkapreecha and Piyathida “Pok” Woramusik. It’s intriguing that Mos and Nikki, and not Kong and Pok, are parents in real life, yet on this stage looked, moved and delivered their lines the way they did in movies and music videos that made them famous a few decades ago. 

As their teen daughter Naen, the film’s Sutatta “PunPun” Udomsilp was much more credible than the play’s Rita “Chacha” Ramnarong, who gave a good impression of a surly teenager in almost all scenes, rather as if she were pregnant but didn’t know who the father was. The scene when she fought with her father, for example, looked like an unmarried young couple discussing whether to keep to baby. 

With his compelling character work, Vitit “A” Ladd, another former teen heartthrob from Mos and Nikki’s generation and in a rare stage performance, stole the show as their mysterious neighbour Somkiet and many theatre-goers would probably like to watch him more often. 

To enjoy “Laddaland”, buy a DVD of the film or check the cable TV schedule. This stage version by TV sitcom director Jirasak Yojiw is simply like an entr’acte before “Lueat Khattiya: The Musical”, Scenario’s major production of the year by his boss Takonkiet Viravan – and that’s similar to his previous stage work “Rueang Lao Khuen Fao Phi”, which preceded “Si Phaendin: The Musical”.

Meanwhile, there’s a rumour is that Scenario is considering adapting GTH’s megahit “Pee Mak Phra Khanong” into a stage comedy. 

Hang on … didn’t Scenario stage just four years ago “Mae Nak Phra Khanong: The Musical”?

 

Creeped Out