Movements on the boards

Such was the profusion of large-scale musicals in 2015, it’s pretty safe to predict that there will be fewer of them this year. Musicals cost big baht to bring to the stage and those producers who believed they could profit have no doubt learned an expensive lesson. Theatregoers are out of money too. 

That said, the first two musicals of 2016 are still worthy of both our attendance. After more than a year in hiatus, Dreambox returns this weekend with Daraka Wongsiri’s adaptation of MR Kukrit Pramoj’s “Mom” at M Theatre. Given her long list of credits, fans of the novel as well as dog lovers who haven’t read the book, are guaranteed plenty of smiles and tears. The production, which is staged by Suwandee Jakravoravudh, stars Teeranai “Nammon” Na Nongkhai, one of Thailand’s best musical-theatre performers.

Later this month, Kanda “Net” Witthayanuparpyuenyong, acclaimed for her title roles in “Miss Saigon” and “Cixi Taihou”, will headline the cast of “The Wife”, Kiattipoom Nantanukul’s new adaptation of Kritsana Asoksin’s novel “Mialuang”. Director Chavatvit Muangkeo, producer of new company Bangkok Studio 41, will turn Sodsai Pantoomkomol Centre for Dramatic Arts into an arena stage putting the audience very close to the action, which will introduce more than 30 new songs, in Thai with English surtitles.

Thonglor Art Space, last year’s busiest venue, begins with two tuneful works – “Cocktails: The Musical” starring Witwisit Hiranyawongkul and “Sukkhasakkarat” with Saowakhon Muangkruan.

Turning to non-musical works, on January 13 and 14, the Bangkok Art and Culture Centre, with support from the Japan Foundation, hosts “Another Story” by Company Derashinera, which blends pantomime, contemporary dance, ballet, butoh and more. 

Over at the Alliance Francaise Bangkok, on January 15 and 16, there will be “Unwrapping Cultures”, a collaboration by Pichet Klunchun and his Filipino-Canadian dancer-choroegrapher Alvin Erasga Tolentino, seen last October at Vancouver’s Scotiabank Dance Centre and MAI (Montreal Arts Interculturel).

The following week, Democrazy Studio’s “Plan B” will open. An interactive piece, it’s based on director Peerapol Kijreunpiromsuk’s research of homeless people and investigates how they reflect the problems in today’s societies.

Chinese New Year and Valentine’s Day approaches, the K Bank Siam Pic-Ganesha Centre of Performing Arts hosts American playwright Steven Dietz’s “Dracula”, in English with Thai surtitles. It’s a new touring production by Ewing Entertainment, which plans stops in Malaysia, Singapore and Hong Kong. Staged by Joe Harmston, known for his production of “The Father” a few years ago, the title role will be performed by British actor William Belchambers during the previews before London-born Thai singer-songwriter Chulachak “Hugo” Chakrabongse takes over. The creative team is mostly British, comprising Olivier Award-winning lighting designer Ben Crackwell and veteran set designer Sean Cavanagh, whose credits include “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.” Supported by the British Council, the production, which claims to be both “scary and sexy”, is self-rated 12+. 

Also in February, Art Stage San’s puppet theatre “Dallae Story”, supported by the Korea Arts Management Service’s Travelling Korean Arts programme and the Korean Cultural Centre, will be at Sodsai Pantoomkomol Centre for Dramatic Arts. It will be followed by Japanese company Ryuzanji, whose motto is “dancing, singing and loving”. They will stage “Journey to the West” in March.

And then there’s a Thai work with support from several foreign producers and presenters, and overseas performance dates, yet with neither Thai producers nor local venues. While that sounds like an Apichatpong Weerasethakul film, it’s in fact Pichet Klunchun Dance Company’s largest production to date. “Dancing with Death” will have its world premiere next month at Tokyo Performing Arts Market (TPAM) and then its Southeast Asian premiere at the 2,000-seat Esplanade Theatre in Singapore in May, before touring Australia in 2017. If you’d like to watch this work in Thailand, you’ll have to donate towards the cost through www.Meefund.com.

In June, youngsters will be heading over to the BACC for Thailand’s first international children’s theatre festival. Organised by Democrazy Studio in collaboration with Arts on Location and the Japan Foundation, it will feature performances from the UK and Japan though the line-up has yet to be finalised. 

The world will be marking the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death this year and so we can expect more as part of the British Council’s “Shakespeare Lives”.

While the French cultural festival La Fete has come to an end, there are still plenty of French stage works to look forward to. 

Also in June, and following the success of the Thai translation of his play “Cloture de l’amour”, Pascal Rambert will be at Sodsai Pantoomkomol Centre for Dramatic Arts working with Thai actors on “A (Micro) History of World Economics”. Earlier staged in New York, Los Angeles, Pittsburgh and Cairo, this Thai-French collaboration is being supported by the Institut Francaise and French Embassy.

In September, the two French bodies will present the Asia premiere of “Hakanai”. Billed as “a solo choreographic performance that unfolds through a series of images in motion”, it is a work by Claire B and Adrien M whose “Cinematique” thrilled us a few years ago.

Also in the same month and at the same downtown venue, Democrazy Studio’s Thanapol “Dtam” Virulhakul will premiere his new intercultural work on the topic of German-Thai romantic relationships. It will then head to Germany for more performances in Karlsruhe. Thanks to the support of the Goethe Institut, Thai and German actors, dramaturgs and producers are collaborating and continuing the relationship built from the contemporary Thai theatre presence at the Offene Welt festival last year. Dtam’s critically acclaimed “Hipster the King” will also be seen in February in Tokyo and in June at Festival Theaterformen in Braunchweig.

Starting the same month is Bangkok’s 18th International Festival of Dance and Music at the Thailand Cultural Centre, where we can expect the usual foreign classical ballets, operas and contemporary dances.

The BACC’s fifth Performative Arts Festival will include B-Floor Theatre’s new work in commemoration of the 40th anniversary of October 6, 1976, staged by co-artistic director Teerawat “Ka-ge” Mulvilai in September, Bangkok Theatre Network’s Bangkok Theatre Festival and Friends of the Arts Foundation’s International Dance Festival in November as well as Butoh Co-op and B-Floor’s Butoh International Festival in December.

Elsewhere, Silpathorn artist Nikorn Saetang and his 8X8 Theatre are continuing his intercultural project on the decreasing roles of masks in contemporary theatre with Japanese and Indonesian artists. Their performance will premiere at the Bangkok Theatre Festival in November, before going to Tokyo in February 2017.

Contemporary Thai theatre’s most prolific director Damkerng Thitapiyasak and his New Theatre Society will stage “Sainam Morakot”, on the life of Madame Jiang Qing, at BACC in March and a stage adaptation of Kaew Kao’s “Plai Thien” at Thonglor Art Space in October.

And lest we forget, Scenario hopes to take its American-Thai musical “Waterfall” to Broadway, notwithstanding negative reviews from its Pasedena and Seattle trial runs. Meanwhile, it’s working on a new work, Thailand’s grandest show, at a new venue, D Luck Theatre in Pattaya, targeting Chinese tourists. 

My evening is now either at the theatre or a pond where I walk my young and overweight beagle for a few kilometres. With such an active line-up of dance and theatre, he may soon have to take his walks alone.