Can't shut the speaker up
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Our political desk has discovered one of newly elected Senate Speaker Nikom Wairatpanich's secrets.
He was spotted with a bottle of Red Bull at Parliament last Friday.
“Need a boost?” we asked. He said he’s been imbibing energy drinks since 1995, when he ran Bangkok’s Klong San district. “The district was badly flooded and I needed some help!” he laughed.
He soon became a fan of the wide-awake cocktail, though it doesn’t have to be Red Bull. “I can drink any brand.”
And they actually work? “Not likely – I don’t feel anything special – but I drink it anyway.”
If you haven’t sent a congratulatory bouquet to Nikhom yet, you might want to festoon it with little bottles of Red Bull, Carabao Daeng or M150.
Khon keeps on
For the fourth consecutive year Her Majesty the Queen’s Support Foundation is staging an elaborate khon performance. Every year it’s sold out, but organising committee chairperson Thanphuying Charungjit Teekara says the annual event still isn’t profitable.
The stage set and costumes cost a fortune, for one thing. “Our most expensive ticket used to be Bt800, but this season we have to raise the price to Bt1,520, and we still won’t make any money,” she tells Dichan magazine.
The intention is to reach as wide an audience as possible, so some shows are reserved for students at lower prices. In the meantime, though, the shows have become family outings. “It touches me when I see kids bring their grandparents, some of them in wheelchairs,” Charungjit says.
Some young people help their elders get seats, since, as Charungjit recalls, many seniors complained at the beginning that thaiticketmajor’s online sales were too complicated.
“But I managed to get thaiticketmajor to set up a booth in front of the theatre, just like in the old days! Many big corporations also sponsor the shows and some book seats for their customers.”
This year’s featured episode from the Ramakien is “Jong Tanon” (“The Building of the Causeway”).
