A meaty musical

“About four years ago, Sulak Sivaraksa proposed to me the idea of a biographical play based on the life and works of Puey Ungpakorn,” says Pradit “Tua” Prasartthong, the first recipient of Silpathorn Awards in performing arts. 

“While he was looking for producers and sponsors, I staged the first part titled ‘Mangkon Salat Klet’ at the 2013 Bangkok Theatre Festival. My idea was to work gradually episode by episode, each with a different title. The information is based on a large pile of books he gave me as well as an official website created to mark the centenary of Puey’s birth.” 

Pradit restaged “Mangkon” at “Silpathorn: A decade of success in Thai contemporary art” at the Chang Theatre, and then the committee members of the Thammasat Economics Association heard about it, watched an excerpt of the performance on YouTube and invited him over to present the project.

“They pledged full support and said they would like me to turn all four episodes into one complete large-scale production this year [a year before the late economist would have turned 100]. Thammasat University and its Faculty of Political Science and Bank of Thailand also came on board.

“Of course, it’s very difficult to turn four one-hour plays into one production. Also, there’s plenty of information about him so in the end I decided to focus on a portrayal of him, his changes from youth to golden years with his success and failure with the changing political situations as the background.”

Pradit is happy to offer some examples. “The first part is set during the reign of King Rama VII, when large numbers of Chinese migrated to Siam. They started as labourers and were in conflict with those who had already settled in the country decades before and had risen to much better positions in society. Born in Siam to an immigrant father and second-generation Chinese-Thai mother, Puey denied his Chinese blood at first. His paternal grandmother set him straight, advising that his virtues and what he did were more significant than his birthright.

“In the second part, we can see how much he sacrificed for the sake of his country. While on a government scholarship at the London School of Economics, he joined the Free Thai Movement during World War II. Back in Thailand, he met an old lady whose family was dispersed because of the war, and that’s another important lesson he learned.

“In the following part, we can see how, despite being an economist, he always put human interest first and foremost. You can see that our national economic and social development plan has the ‘social’ in it – he saw clearly that both must be worked on simultaneously. In the final part, we can see how politics – military regimes, to be specific –affected his life and work when he was the president of Thammasat University in the mid-1970s.”

Already this sounds nothing like the subject matter of any musical we’ve seen here. And it’s not simply a celebration of one life, as much of what happened during Puey’s era is still taking place now.

Fans of Pradit’s work know well that the Bangkok Theatre Network’s secretary general hasn’t been bitten by the Broadway musical bug and so his style of musical is actually the Thai style known as lakhon rong. He has championed this in many critically acclaimed works such as the recent “2475” by his company Anatta, seen at Democrazy Theatre Studio and Bangkok Art and Culture Centre. “Mangkon Salat Klet” is no exception.

“Our music director Gandhi Wasuvitchayagit is working with an orchestra that also boasts traditional Thai instruments. Musically, the production has three styles. First is that of lakhon rong with traditional tunes; second are the slightly rearranged traditional ones; and last are the more modern ones, which Gandhi originally composed to support Puey’s poems and writings. These I use as lyrics. Overall, it sounds very Thai.” 

Pop singer Navin Yavapolkul portrays Puey in his prime and TV actress Primrata Det-udom his British wife Margaret. National Artist Suprawat Pattamasoot and Kornkan Sutthikoses, who both received much acclaim for their performances in last month’s “Hom Rong”, are reunited as the senior and the young Puey respectively. Along with many stage veterans like Janya Thanasawangkul, Montakan Ransibrahmanakul and KrKriengkrai Fookasem in supporting roles, Pradit himself will portray the character of a Thai marshal, whose political actions were frequently cautioned by Puey, known in the play simply as “His Excellency”.

 

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