The spice of life

With the junta keeping a tight grip on the country’s power base until 2016, chances are that nothing except the Thai capital’s notorious traffic and perhaps the weather will disrupt trips to the theatre this coming year.

The declared “return to happiness” also means more grand-scale musicals can be expected. JSL gets that ball rolling with another Suntraporn jukebox musical, “Kho Hai Muean Doem”, starting on January 24 at M Theatre. And Mind Matters, JSL’s subsidiary, will restage “Klai Kangwon Musical on the Beach” from January 28 in Hua Hin. 

Scenario and BEC-Tero bring “Disney’s Beauty and the Beast: The Original Broadway Musical Spectacular” to Muangthai Rachadalai Theatre from February 24, two decades after its Broadway premiere.

April will see the opening of a new venue, the K-Bank Siam Ganesha theatre atop Siam Square One with “Hom Rong: The Musical”, Workpoint Entertainment’s stage adaptation of the acclaimed historical drama film. 

And for those who enjoyed TV’s “Phol Nikorn Kimnguan”, Dreambox is said to be working on bringing it to stage.

There’s no word on a new production from Scenario though we know that the Broadway-hopeful musical “Behind the Painting” is still in development.

As always, we should never forget that the core of contemporary Thai theatre is not the musical but rather the wide variety of works seen at smaller venues. 

Thong Lor Art Space starts the year on January 15 with “Falling from Heaven”, with five performers from Konnakhao Mime Academy portraying 14 characters in eight short scenes directed by master Paitoon Laisakul.

B-Floor Theatre is up next at Thong Lor Art Space with a revival of Ornanong Thaisriwong’s solo show “Bang Lamerd”, the winner of IATC Award 2012 for best original script. Not far from Thong Lor, Blue Box Studio will host Young Novice Repertory’s translation of William Inge’s “The Rainy Afternoon”, beginning January 16.

Contemporary dance lovers are now looking forward to Belgium-based German choreographer Arco Renz’s “Alpha” on January 23 and 24, featuring Eisa Jocson and Daniel Kok, award-winning pole dancers from the Philippines and Singapore respectively. And thanks to Japan Foundation, lighting design specialists and students can join the LED lighting workshop by Japanese master Fujimoto “Kinsei” Takayuki at the Sodsai Pantoomkomol Centre for Dramatic Arts around the same time.

In late January at the same venue, Pichet Klunchun Dance Company will perform “Gentlemne”, a reworking of “Nay Nai”, which had its world premiere in Singapore last year. It’s based on the story of men-in-waiting in the court of King Rama VI. Pichet’s company will later collaborate with Japanese writer-director Toshiki Okada and visual artist Tomoko Soda on an interdisciplinary work that premiered last February at Kobe-Asia Contemporary Dance Festival.

With the Wa Project by the Japan Foundation Asia Centre focusing on exchanges between Japan and AEC member countries, we can expect plenty more in the next six years. The first of these is “Dance Dance Asia”, a collaboration of regional dance companies based on street dance. It will be at M Theatre on March 28 and 29. 

Another major theatrical event is playwright Oriza Hirata and robotics specialist Hiroshi Ishiguro’s “The Metamorphosis (Android Version)”, a co-production of Seinendan Theatre Company and Festival Automne Normandie. Again thanks to the Japan Foundation, Bangkok will be part of their Asia tour and we will get to see Irene Jacob, winner of Cannes Film Festival’s best actress award, on stage here in August.

We’re also exporting productions. Apart from the Pichet Klunchun Dance Company’s works, which are seen more overseas than on their home soil, Thanapol “Dtam” Virulhakul’s adaptation of the post-3/11 Japanese play “Girl X” will be at the Tokyo Performing Arts Market in early February. Later the same month, his “Hipster the King” and “I Am Thai” will be at Germany’s Open World: International Festival Ludwigshafen, along with another solo work “Virginian”. 

With Thailand celebrating the 60th birthday of Her Royal Highness Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn this year, we can expect a variety of dance and theatre performances to mark the occasion. Already the Princess’ Chulalongkorn University classmate Professor Pornrat Damrhung is working on a children’s theatre adaptation of the Princess’ “Tap Tap Talap Tap Tap”. The fun for the young and the young at heart begins in mid-February.

Also as part of this celebration, and marking the anniversary of Thai-British diplomatic relations, theatregoers might also have a chance to watch the Globe Theatre’s “Hamlet”, which is on a worldwide tour that ends in 2016. Should this dream be realised, it will be down to the cooperative efforts of the British Embassy, the British Council and our Foreign Affairs Ministry.

Later on in September, there’s Bangkok’s International Festival of Dance and Music of which the Princess is the patron. Organiser International Cultural Promotions’ says that the opening performance has been recommended by Her Royal Highness and promises to delight lovers of the performing arts.

La Fete, the Thai-French cultural festival, takes place in June. Among the performances is “Notte” by Compagnie 14:20, which was cancelled last year due to injury. However, instead of concentrating on only one month, the French Embassy plans to spread out the events throughout the year and cooperate with more local partners. For example, contemporary dance company a.lter s.essio, seen in “Loss” as part of La Fete last June, returns on January 20 with “EXTension”, followed by five-day workshop by the French dancers. 

Dance fans are smiling now that Julie Nioche is to include Bangkok in her Asia tour of solo work “Nos Solitudes”. Expect her in the autumn. 

On the contemporary Thai theatre scene, the largest event will once again be the Bangkok Theatre Festival, which will stick to its main hub at the Bangkok Art and Culture Centre. Although the exact dates haven’t been set, we know it’s in November and that “Mahabharata”, a new production from acclaimed Japanese director Hiroshi Koike, will have its world premiere – proof of the rising significance of the BTF. Afterwards, we can expect the Friends of the Arts Foundation’s International Dance Festival as well as the Butoh International Festival, all at BACC.

Last but not least, the Thailand Centre of the International Association of Theatre Critics has announced that they will honour veteran director Kamron Gunatilaka with the Lifetime Achievement Award and other artists at the IATC Thailand Dance and Theatre Review 2014, on February 24. 

And so we should prepare to get away from our couches and while, with so much variety, we cannot be sure of what we will get, it’s guaranteed to be different from what we can get at home.