All the city is a stage

The harmony world Puppet Carnival in Bangkok, the largest international puppet festival Thailand has ever hosted, might well attract the lion’s share of attention when it gets underway this Saturday but the organisers of the 12th Bangkok Theatre Festival, the country’s largest annual showcase of contemporary Thai theatre, which starts on the same day, are hoping that it won’t reduce audience numbers too dramatically. 

Democrazy Theatre Studio’s Thanapol “Dtam” Virulhakul, who along with Pavinee “Ae” Samukabutr, is a core member of the production team is sad about the overlap. “Unfortunately, we only learned about the puppet festival a while ago,” he says. 

Last year, Bangkok Theatre Festival moved its main hub from Santi Chaiprakan park in the historic Bang Lamphu neighbourhood to Bangkok Art and Culture Centre in the centre of the city. This year, BTF will have the opening weekend at the former venue and then move to the latter, in addition to many theatre studios across the city.

“I think it’s good that we’ve spread the programmes to many theatre studios, instead of focusing on only Santi Chaiprakan Park and BACC like in previous years,” Dtam says.

“This reflects not only the evolution of BTF but also that of contemporary Thai theatre. Thanks to these theatre studios, artists are now presenting their works year round and they’re not just waiting for BTF to present their best works anymore. That’s another issue for all theatre companies to reconsider after BTF this year.” 

Ae concurs. “BTF is no longer the annual highlight, or apex, of contemporary Thai theatre. For me, it remains the period when all Thai theatre artists meet and share with one another and the audience as well as the period when the space is freely open for their creativity.”

“Of course, you can get a very clear overview of contemporary Thai theatre when you look at BTF’s programme. For example, you can see the artists working in the Thai theatre today and the theatrical styles and dramatic content they’re interested in. That’s why we’ve invited many theatre spaces, which have significantly developed the audience base in recent years, to join us in organising this BTF together.” 

And thus, apart from the two main venues, audiences can enjoy BTF 2014 on any of the 16 days at Creative Industries at M Theatre on New Phetchaburi Road; Thonglor Art Space, B-Floor Room and Crescent Moon Space on Soi Thonglor and Sodsai Pantoomkomol Centre for Dramatic Arts on Henri Dunant Road, all of them not far from the BTS or MRT.

“For me, the co-operation among all theatre spaces in organising BTF 2014 is truly special,” says Ae. “It requires a lot of managerial skills [which most artists do not have] and I think we’re doing quite well in that regard.”

“Because we’re in Bang Lamphu for only two days this weekend, the scale may be less than in previous years, especially in comparison to that of BTF’s early years in the last decade,” Dtam adds. 

“However, BTF has established a strong relationship with Bang Lamphu community – the people there are already familiar with what contemporary Thai theatre is and how it impacts our society – and we’d like to do the same with the communities where other venues are located as well.

“I also notice that in addition to the core members of BTN, there are many young talents coming up. Many new groups have joined the festival this year and their members studied theatre in university. This should answer many people’s questions, or doubts, on what they’re doing after graduation.”

And the festival has such a good name that theatre companies from overseas are now also showing interest. 

“We’re receiving more and more proposals from theatre companies overseas, both in our region and further away”, Ae explains. 

“Unfortunately, we have to turn them down as we don’t have budget for their travel and accommodation.

“But thanks to other overseas and local supports, BTF 2014 can present some productions from overseas. The weekends of the festival will respectively feature Japan’s Inzou Theatre Company’s production, ‘Smell: The Blind and the Dog’ at Creative Industries, as well as Hanchu-Yuei’s ‘Girl X’, also from Japan, and Asa Palomera’s ‘The Curious Lives of Shakespeare and Cervantes’ both at Sodsai Pantoomkomol Centre for Dramatic Arts.

In other words, although puppetry is a genre of theatre, audiences will have to divide their time between these two festivals. 

 

CURTAINS UP

The Bangkok Theatre Festival runs from Saturday to November 16 at Santi Chaiprakan Park, Bangkok Art and Culture Centre and many other venues.

There are both ticketed and free performances. 

Find out more at www.Facebook.com/BangkokTheatre|Festival.