Finally, FIAO

Originally scheduled for November but another victim of the floods, the FIAO Creative Live Performance Festival is finally taking place this weekend and next at Nakarin Theatre.

“Nakarin Theatre itself wasn’t flooded though it was in the risk zone for weeks. However, the houses of many participating artists were under water and so was my house,” says Chattiya “Lena” Thaipiromsamukkee, the theatre’s artistic director.

“The founder of Nakarin Theatre, Howard Chen, has a personal commitment to support artists, having realised that they lack financial support from the government and private sectors in addition to space and technical equipment to stage their works. That’s one of the reasons why he started this theatre. He’d also like to host an annual event and that’s the FIAO,” Lena explains. “The word FIAO suggests that we prefer contemporary works that dare to explore new ideas. During the flood, we all saw how creativity and innovation led to survival. And that’s an important message behind this festival — creativity is crucial in our daily lives.”

Unlike many other festivals here that invite selected groups of artists to perform, FIAO started in the middle of last year with an open call to all — amateurs and professionals. Many submitted proposals for works that cross boundaries between performing arts disciplines and between performing and visual arts. 

The FIAO committee — made up of Lena, Yuthana Boonorm, Manop Meejamrat, Zcongklod Bangyikhan and myself — studied the sample works then interviewed the artists in late August and selected 10 groups. While Nakarin Theatre provided financial and technical support, some committee members in respective fields then helped the artists further develop their ideas to fruition.

Previously planned to spread out over four weekends in November, the programme is now compressed into two different sets on two weekends. 

“This weekend’s programme seems to have more dramatic content than next weekend’s. Mong Teng Mong’s ‘Khun Suek Siam Paragon’ blends martial arts, sculpture and theatre; B-Floor’s ‘Goya and Glung’ is physical theatre, with social and political issues; Waewdao Sirisook’s ‘Lanna Dream’ is dance theatre with a strong message; and Nor San’s ‘Muan’ mixes singing, dancing, painting and music,” says Lena.

“Next weekend’s programme is more media-based. Motion graphic director Klang b.o.r.e.d. has created a mixed media installation; graphic and typography designers Pongtorn Hiranpruek and Anutin Wongsankakorn will collaborate with composer and video artist Noraset Nipatkusol in ‘Beyond Words’; and then there’s another collaboration between acrobat Rajanikara ‘Leng’ Kaewdee and Anant Narkkhong, musical director of Korphai Ensemble. There are also special programmes next weekend On March 3, Arak ‘Pe’ Slur” Amornsupasiri will collaborate with Klang, and on the following day, there’s an acoustic concert by Pang Ko and O-Pavee.

“These programmes are good for our expat and tourist audiences too, as they’re more visual than text based.”

Lena says two previously scheduled FIAO performances—“4 Loves”, a play by Suankularb Wittayalai students and “18 Monkeys”, dance theatre by Jitti Chompee — cannot fit in with this new time frame, but Nakarin Theatre will host them in the next few months. 

All the profits from ticket sales will be donated to the Wishing Well Foundation, which takes care of children with cancer.

Along with the ongoing Bangkok Theatre Festival and La F