Between two rooms, among many people

As they wait to buy tickets in the Pridi Banomyong Institute’s courtyard for “Between” (“Raya Hang An Woengwang”), a new collaborative work written, performed and staged by Theatre 8X8’s Nikorn Saetang and Crescent Moon Theatre’s Ben Busarakamwong, audience members’ eyes are drawn to the special instructions on the signboard. 

These tell them that, for example, the performance alternates between Crescent Moon Space and the slightly smaller B-Floor Room – some scenes are even simultaneous. 

No-flash photography and selfies are allowed. We can however sit in either of the two rooms, walk back and forth, or we can choose not to enter but instead watch from the small hallway where the lighting control table is located. When the door of each room is closed, that’s the sign for us to remain in that room. Yet while it seems as if we won’t get to experience all the dramatic actions at first, the performance is so deftly planned that we actually see and hear most of it. And with the doors of both rooms directly opposite each other, we can sit in one room and hear and see the actions in the other too.

At the start of the performance Nikorn, in the B-Floor Room and wearing a jacket and hat, introduces his room, and asks us to use our imagination to change its colour to one we’d like. Ben, in the Crescent Moon Space, is in full taekwondo garb and giving a lesson in the Korean martial art.

Later Nikorn, reading from his smartphone, introduces, among others, differences between vegetarian and bio-organic foods. Afterwards, Ben asks Nikorn, now in a painter’s outfit, to repaint his room blue, but then backtracks as it’s not the exact shade of blue he wants. Back in Nikorn’s room, Ben delivers two dinner boxes by mistake while Nikorn is tucking into his barbecue-pork noodles, and Nikorn invites Ben to join him for dinner. 

Although the scenes may sound and look dramatically disconnected, little by little, the audience begins to make some connection. For example, in a subsequent scene, Ben reveals his family recipe for making egg noodles directly to an audience member, who, on opening night, happened to be a well-known stage actor.

Although Nikorn has more than a decade as a professional actor over his counterpart, Ben is never overshadowed, which makes “Between” something like the Mayweather-Pacquiao fight without the latter’s injury. I wonder, though, how different the performance would be if another director were overseeing the overall production – after all, Mayweather and Pacquiao have several members on their respective teams. 

Unlike many works where the messages are so strong and straightforward that you feel stupid if you don’t get them, “Between” doesn’t hit hard but rather simmers through the thoughts and emotions. It’s open to various interpretations by each individual audience member and the effects last much longer. It made me think about the old friends and relatives whom I no longer meet on a regular basis and how the Bangkok traffic has increasingly prevented me from meeting with a lot of people – something that may be remedied by the ongoing construction of a new MRT station three kilometres from my house. 

I’m glad the Friday evening traffic didn’t prevent me from attending this memorable performance. 

 LAST TWO SHOWS

 n “Between” will be performed at 8 tonight and tomorrow at the Pridi Banomyong Institute, between Thong Lor sois 1 and 3. It’s in Thai with English surtitles. 

n Tickets are Bt500 (Bt400 for students) at (081) 929 4246. 

n For details, check Facebook.com/|CrescentMoonTheatre.