All in the family, all the right notes

With the stage calendar last month filled with such experimental works as Full Fat Theatre’s “Co/exist” and For What Theatre’s “What we talk about when we don’t talk about the elephant in the room”, a fellow theatre critic wondered out loud whether we’d finally reached the era of post-dramatic theatre and post-structuralism. 
OTW Theatre’s comedy “Sut Saen Chek Chai” doesn’t directly answer this question though it does again prove the diversity of contemporary Thai theatre. In short, this domestic comedy doesn’t aim to do too much, and yet hits all the right notes. And sometimes, that’s all the audience needs for a good evening at the theatre. You simply enjoy it while you’re there; you don’t need to analyse or discuss it further with your friends.

OTW Theatre’s comedy “Sut Saen Chek Chai” is performed by All are up-and-coming theatre artists comprising theatre graduates from Srinakharinwirot University. Photo/Ben Kosolsak

A Chinese-Thai family who runs a small noodle shop is encountering major financial and domestic problems. The father has passed away and mother has been disappearing for six months. Running all the chores is their second son (Jirakit Soonthornlarpyod) who also has to take care of the youngest son (Atikhun Adulpocatorn), who’s still in high school. The eldest son (Wachara Kanha) is pitching in but his food delivery job doesn’t really allow him to help much; and the third son (Teeraphan Ngowjeenanan) is planning to go overseas to work. 
When it’s almost at a dead end, the play takes a surrealistic and comedic twist as the mother (Neelacha Fuangfookiat) appears in Chinese goddess attire with her assistant (Kamolsanti Chutisorn) and takes all of them up to heaven. In a TV game-show lookalike, audience members become council members of the heaven and it is their votes that help decide the fate of these characters. 

Director Yadamin Jamsuksai adapted the script originally written by Tananop Kanjanawutisit and deftly balanced the first act’s drama with the second’s comedy. The characters, their relationship and situation were credible and, as evidenced by our votes later on, different audience members empathised with different characters. Her actors also worked well together. Jirakit delivered his best performance to date as a new family leader; Wachara was low-key but arresting; and Neelacha, the most senior of all, simply lit up every scene she was in.
The play is a fond reminder of how family plays an important part in the lives of Thai, and how many people, like the second son here, put family first and foremost without even questioning it. It also reminds us how ridiculous our TV game shows have become. No matter how insanely difficult the questions or arduous the tasks contestants are asked to tackle, in the end, it’s our popular votes, not their skills, which decide the winner. 

Credit is also due to set designer Lapin Laosunthorn who deftly made a small foyer of the studio look really like a living room of a Chinese-Thai family on the ground floor of a shophouse. Democrazy Theatre Studio is already a shophouse, but the extra decor made it far more believable, and the use of an actual door, sliding panes and staircase was well calculated and fit the transition of the play. Equally deft, his lighting counterpart Palita Sukulchaivanich clearly differentiated the scenes on earth from those in heaven. 
Comprising theatre graduates from Srinakharinwirot University all of whom are also affiliated with other companies, OTW lives up to its full name “On the Way”. All are up-and-coming theatre artists, and many would agree that this new troupe, that’s just a year old, is definitely on the right way.
THE LAST LAUGH
- The last performance of OTW Theatre’s “Sut Saen Chek Chai” is at 8pm tonight at Democrazy Theatre Studio, Soi Sapan Khu, Rama IV road (MRT: Lumphini, exit 1). 
- It’s in Thai with no English translation. 
- Tickets are Bt 450 at (083) 371 6836. For more details, go to Facebook.com/DemocrazyStudio.