Straight man in a crooked country

After hosting Bangkok’s 1st International Children’s Theatre Festival in June, Bangkok Art and Culture Centre’s (BACC) 5th Performative Art Festival (PAF) continues with Anatta Theatre Troupe’s “Dragon’s Heart (Special Edition)”. This is Silpathorn artist Pradit Prasartthong’s revival, not restage, of “Mangkon Salat Klet: The Musical” seen at Thailand Cultural Centre last year and awarded best musical book by IATC Thailand. 

This “special edition” turns out to be the stage equivalent of the “director’s cut”, with Pradit telling this poignant story the way he wants to and leaving the audience |wondering whether the version they watched last year was actually the “producers’ cut”. Indeed, it looked very like an event staged to honour the centenary of the birth of Puey Ungphakorn, late governor of the Bank of Thailand, rector of Thammasat University and Magsaysay Award recipient.

Instead of recounting this long tale chronologically from his young days when he was denying his Chinese roots the way the grand-scale musical did last year for the wider public, the new “Dragon’s Heart starts with the core member of the Free Thai Movement landing with his parachute in Chainat province by mistake. By the end of the first act, the story has already reached the October 1973 student demonstration. That means the second act is meatier, and less biographical. And as the audience witnesses social and political conflicts – in public and in private, on university grounds as well as a restaurant and the family dining room – we are reminded again of the struggle and the blood and tears spilt for the sake of our democracy. As a result, instead of simply worshipping this statesman, his deeds and words, we learn from them and make sure we make our present and future better than the recent past we witness on the stage. For me personally, it highlights a question to which I can find no response: is it because of the system or the people or just how we succumb to the way of the country?

The traverse stage configuration, putting the audience on both sides of the performance area, fits the play as it draws us closer to the stage actions and the messages. Set props are kept to the minimum on the bare stage, although some pieces are too heavy and the sound of rolling them into the performance area interferes with the music. Lighting also helps differentiate the scenes and sets up the right mood and tone on this blank canvas.

Instead of casting different actors |to portray lead characters at different |ages the way he did last year, Pradit |allows his lead performers Passakorn Rungruengdechapat, as Puey, and Tanyarat Pradittan, as his wife Margaret, to show their acting prowess as their characters age realistically. As a professional singer, the former’s singing skills far surpass those of the latter, but there again the musical score, highly influenced by lakhon rong, is truly demanding. Another acting and singing delight is award-winning actress Janya Thanasawangkul, as Puey’s mother, who occasionally appears in his subconscious, and whose appearance is alerted by smoke starting to fill the stage. 

Despite a cast of only 14, most of whom perform different roles in different scenes (with even some leads appearing in supporting roles), the crowd scene never looks sparse. Likewise, music director Gandhi Wasuvitchayagit deftly leads his four-musician ensemble who produce a sound more textured and layered than what we would expect from two pianos, one violin, one Thai flute and percussion. 

And in a piece of good news for the non-Thai speaking audience who would like to enjoy a contemporary Thai musical, this special edition comes equipped with English surtitles, accurately translated though difficult to read at times when the stage lights are full on.