Truth or dare

STILL BASKING IN the success of “Bang la Merd: The Land I Do Not Own”, B-Floor Theatre continues its prolific run, this time with a work by the company’s co-founder and co-artistic director Jarunun “Jaa” Phantachat, one of the many members of this 15-year-old company creating their own works.
Her new “art project” titled “The Test of Endurance”, will be precisely that, as anyone wanting to see it will need to pass a test of sorts.
“I started to develop ideas for this work last May when I was in New York. My reaction might be naive but I just couldn’t believe how a coup took place, again. I was thinking of phrases like ‘Thai-style democracy’ and so maybe it’s a ‘Thai-style solution’,” Jaa says, hinting that this is another political work from B-Floor.
“Then I thought of ‘endurance’ and how much Thai people have been enduring during this current period of political turmoil that has lasted more than a decade now. In addition to the incidents that took place around the country, we also have to endure, for example, our friends’ different views on politics. And so in this work, I’ll share my endurance with the audience.”
Asked if this endurance is physical, emotional or intellectual kind, Jaa says that it will be the combination of all three.
She refers to this as “an art project” not “a performance” because, “The amount of time each member of the audience will spend experiencing this ‘Test’ differs from one to another – they can leave whenever they feel like leaving and the ‘Test’ will end after the last audience member leaves.”
If you’re interested to join, you can only do so by e-mailing the company – no Facebook messages or comments on IG, please. After a few e-mails back and forth, you’ll be given a set of conditions, all of which you need to agree to comply with before you can attend “The Test of Endurance”. Only then will you get the info on the dates, time and venue too.
Jaa notes, “After getting the first e-mail reply from us, some people have disappeared.”
I did e-mail the company and although I agreed with all the conditions, I couldn’t fit it into my hectic schedule, and so the last e-mail I received reads, “Sorry, you’re not qualified for ‘The Test of Endurance’.”
Jaa confirms that this pre-screening process is not because of what recently happened during the entire run of “Bang la Merd” at Thong Lor Art Space where representatives from the army, in or out of uniform, watched, with or without video recorders, every performance.
“I thought of this process even before the ‘Bang la Merd’ incident. We have to keep in mind that this ‘Test’ is not for everybody and so we need to know about each member of the audience, and vice versa, before they can experience it. And of course, we’re not going to make a lot of money out of this kind of project. Each audience member will be given an envelope and they can put in any amount of money that they deem the work is worth and return the envelope to us when they decide to leave.”
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OUT MORE
- “The Test of Endurance” is taking place soon somewhere in Bangkok. E=mail [email protected] to find out more details and whether it’s your cup of tea. Admission is pay-what-you-can. One condition is that latecomers have to pay a fee of Bt 1,500, so be on time – traffic is not an excuse.