Three’s family, four’s a crowd

Time really does fly and all of a sudden, Life Theatre is celebrating its 10th anniversary even as fond memories of its first work “Water/Time” remain fresh. 
With almost all key members back in town and not busy working for other companies, Life Theatre recently staged the Thailand premiere of Yasmina Reza’s “Life X 3” at Thong Lor Art Space (TLAS), the third play by this contemporary French playwright we’ve seen here, after “Art” and “The God of Carnage”. Add to these her compatriot Pascal Rambert’s “Closing of Love” and “A (Micro) History of World Economics, Danced” and foreign critics and scholars who regard contemporary Thai theatre a desert might well be surprised.
In a little less than 90 minutes, the play offered three different versions of the same dramatic situation late one evening. Young couple Sonya and Henri find themselves needing to entertain, with more alcohol than snacks, his superior Hubert and his wife Ines, even though they’re a day early for their dinner date and Hubert has just informed Henri that his research paper, two years in the making, is similar to one submitted by another scientist that morning. Thanks to director Bhanbhassa Dhubthien, the play succeeded in showing that even a small change in a very minor detail can trigger a totally different effect, reminding us that life itself is always more unpredictable than we think.

The minor alteration was also evident in Ritirong Jiwakanon’s set design, which gave the audience views from slightly different angles in each of the three versions. The same too can be said for Udom Naewnontan’s costume design, Pornpan Arayaveerasid’s lighting design and Rapeedech Kulabusya’s sound design.
With only four characters on stage – Sonya and Henri’s six-year-old son who had trouble falling asleep was making noise, live, off stage – it was nothing short of an acting battle. And while New York-based Thai actor Danainan Kridakorn, in the play’s poster, looked like his character didn’t quite belong to this play, he, as Henri, blew his co-actors off the stage with strong characterisation and clear diction –audience members in the balcony could hear and understand every word. Unfortunately Henri’s dominance overshadowed Sonya – Sasithorn Panichnok was simply too relaxed in her role as a lawyer and I occasionally had trouble hearing what she was saying. American actor Will Sturek made his Bangkok stage debut as Hubert and with his character being comfortably seated most of the time, he was frequently too comfortable with his lines as well. A rare stage appearance by award-winning playwright Parida Manomaiphibul made Ines so colourful that the audience enjoyed her character even though we couldn’t understand everything she said. 
And that leads to a debate of why this play needed to be staged in English, with the majority of audience being Thai. Noticeably, all the seats were angled in such a way that we could read the Thai surtitles, the translation of which was excellent, on either side wall from every seat. Last Tuesday evening, for example, more than half of the full-house audience was reading more than watching. And while Hubert’s and Henri’s accents sounded like they came from the same city, those of Sonia and Inez gave the impression that they hailed from different corners of Asia. 
“Life X 3” finished its two-weekend run yesterday and now the audience is waiting for the next work by Life Theatre, which has been busy running acting and directing workshops—an original Thai play soon perhaps.
  NEXT UP AT
THONG LOR
  Next up is “21?”, a new pop musical composed by Yossral Songkiatkul, directed by Napisi Reyes and featuring “Thailand’s Got Talent” finalist Fascinating Four. ItHAT’S September 14 to October 1 except Tuesday and Wednesday. Tickets are Bt 650 at 083 371 6836. 
 Find out more at Facebook.com/FascinatingFour.