When the Hipster's the king

A cast comprising Duangjai Hirunsri, Farida Jiraphan, Gandhi Wasuvichayagit, Saifah Thantana, Suphasawatt Puranaveja, Panchana Soonthornpipit in addition to Pradit Prasartthong, the first recipient of Silpathorn award in performing arts, would be nothing short of stellar in any play.

So the first question that came to mind in “Hipster the King”, which is labelled “a contemporary dance performance”, was whether these seasoned stage thespians could really dance (I for one would never pay Bt100 to watch Gandhi and Suphasawatt in any contemporary version of “Swan Lake”). The second was: what exactly is a hipster? 

As it turned out, director Thanapol Virulhakul wasn’t really interested in answering the first question but rather in asking us to reconsider what exactly dance is. As for the second, we were given a brief history of hipsterism and its continuation into the 21st century. That led to another question about the private self and the public persona: is it in fact the public who have turned these certain individuals into “hipsters”.

On a clearly defined and lit area of the stage, the seven actors, in multi-layered costumes that were often changed and stripped off, performed tableaux vivants of “hipsters” from the mid-20th-century. Two stagehands brought in props and costume pieces so immense and various in number that the design team themselves merited a large round of applause. Some characters were instantly recognisable while others needed further time and additional background for certain members of the audience to realise who they were. I wish there had been a few Thai hipster idols among them, if for no other reason but to underline that hipsterism is not totally foreign.

The actors neither uttered a word nor moved except for when they left the performance area, took a few sips of water and stretched out before returning to the stage to portray those characters again. Audiences members, prompted by Thai and English surtitles on the back wall and further encouraged by the two stagehands, were invited to help relieve them of their apparently painstaking tasks from time to time too.

“Hipster the King” was not highly entertaining from start to finish. In fact, having heard the producer say that the show would last a little more than an hour, I checked my watch twice during parts when the performance – both the performers and the surtitles – became repetitive and seemed to be stalling. Those surtitles also set a condition for the performance to finish but the opening night didn’t really follow that rule and the stage lights simply went out, almost as if somebody thought the curfew still started at 10pm. If Thanapol wanted to toy with the audience via his surtitles, I wish he had pushed the envelope further and allowed his surtitles to be more improvised – even though that might have meant extending the performance longer into the evening.

Nevertheless, it was that unique kind of contemporary performance that didn’t end when the audience left the theatre – the ideas and questions stayed with us and we could discuss it with our peers for far longer. And in a country where people love to group things into categories, it’s always refreshing to be reminded that contemporary dance has a wider scope than we often think, that it allows for diverse interpretations and that life and arts are always interconnected. 

Thanapol was honoured with Best Direction award by the Thailand centre of the International Association of Theatre Critics (IACT) for his “Transaction” last year. I am certain that “Hipster the King”– in which a choreographer like him cares less about dance movements and more about the meaning of dance and its relevance to life – will once again land him on the nominees’ list.

 

HIP OR COOL?

“Hipster the King: Keep Calm and Love Me” runs until June 16 at Democrazy Theatre Studio on Soi Saphan Khu, a short walk from MRT Lumpini, exit 1. Shows are at 8 nightly, except Tuesday and Wednesday, at 8pm. There is no dialogue; surtitles are in Thai and English.

Tickets are Bt 590 (discounts are available). Book at (081) 441 5718. For more details, Facebook.com/DemocrazyStudio.