Through light and shadows

With the 10th edition of the French-Thai cultural festival La Fete now about halfway through, 0audiences can enjoy a little more of the artistic cooperation between the hosts and the visitors through a puppet performance that’s being staged today and tomorrow.

According to the press kit, Compagnie des Remouleurs’ “Borders” combines “Thai and French traditions, contemporary creation and interplay of light and shadows” and “touches upon the theme of migration in a poetic and visual fashion”.

Stage director and puppeteer Anne Bitran and special effects designer and puppeteer Olivier Vallet created Remouleurs back in 1982 and have enjoyed a close relationship with Southeast Asia since the outset.

“Our first trips to Thailand and Burma date back to 1983. We love Southeast Asian puppetry and were delighted to see that, especially in Myanmar at that time, everybody – adults, children, old people and even monks – went to puppet shows. That’s not the case in France where puppetry is usually associated with childhood,” says Bitran.

Explaining that issues concerning migration and stateless people have always been part of their lives, Bitran says that “Borders” was born two years ago during their trip to Thailand, Cambodia and Myanmar.

“My own grandparents migrated from Turkey in the 1920s and had to hide from Nazis and French police during World War II. I’ve been helping an ‘illegal’ family from Senegal for four years. Ordinary people have no idea how difficult the lives of these people are. In France now, immigration is a big issue. But it’s not just there. I can’t think of a country in the world where migration is not an issue and the subject of heated debates.”

While “Borders” is the result of the company’s two artistic residencies in Thailand that were supported by the cultural services of the French Embassy in Bangkok and Institut Francais in Paris, the subject matter is neither Thai nor French, but universal.

 “We choose not to pinpoint any place in the world and have been working hard to find the commonalities in migrant travel stories,” she explains.

“We try to transmit what goes through the mind of a person or family when they decide to leave everything – home, family and country – to search for a better life somewhere else. What do they have in their pockets? What kind and how much courage do they need to go away just like this? These people risk death, slavery and prostitution and have to trust people they never met before because they might help them to cross a border for a large sum of money. For us these people’ stories are a kind of modern Ulysses’ Odyssey. But they are not, in our world, considered as heroes.”

Three Thai puppet artists have significantly contributed to this project: Sutharat “Tom” Sinnong, Sirikarn “Jae” Bunjontad and Charonpong “Yod” Chulerd.

“It was love at first sight! They saw our work and immediately said they wanted to work with us. Then we saw their work and it was evident that we share the same interests.” 

From May to July last year, Tom was in France where she further exchanged her techniques with Remouleurs. The French company returned to Thailand in December and the three Thai puppeteers organised a trip to many provinces from North to South – evidence perhaps that contemporary French culture is not limited only to Bangkok.

“We conducted puppet workshops with children and adults and performed a small show at universities in Hat Yai and Trang, at a cultural centre in Nakhon Si Thammarat, in villages in Khiri Wong, Amphawa and Dongbang as well as at a cafe in Hat Yai. The show’s subject matter deals with sexuality, desire and gender, and we’re singing French songs. It lasted 15 minutes, but the debate with the audience after the show lasted for at least an hour. In Dongbang, Yod taught us how to build leather puppets. All these experiences have been feeding our inspiration and knowledge.”

“Borders” had its world premiere in Jakarta earlier this month and was also staged in Yogyakarta last week. This weekend, it will be in Hanoi and will be introduced to the French at the Festival Mondial des Theatres de Marionnettes in Charleville-Mezieres in late September prior to touring many French cities.

“The audiences in Jakarta and Yogyakarta was very concentrated and intelligent. After the show, people asked many questions about the purpose of migration, and we could see the concern at this issue. We’re now looking forward to the Thai audience reaction.”

 

BORDER RUN

“Borders” is being staged at 8 tonight and tomorrow at the Alliance Francaise Bangkok, a 10-minute walk from MRT Lumphini, exit 3. 

Tickets are Bt400 (Bt250 for under-25s) at ThaiTicketMajor. 

For more details, visit www.Remouleurs.com/en and www.Facebook.com/lafete.festival.