Second to none

A recent meeting of the Thailand centre of the International Association of Theatre Critics (IATC) noted that last year a few Thai plays inspired by foreign pieces had failed to properly credit the originals.
That agenda item popped into my mind recently when I entered Crescent Moon Space to watch Splashing Theatre’s new work “Thou Shalt Sing: A Secondary Killer’s Guide to Pull the Trigger”, a piece originally slated for the later-cancelled Bangkok Theatre Festival.
Showing in loops on the wall were excerpts from a Japanese cult movie and absurdist classic, “Branded to Kill” (1967). Unlike some of his senior counterparts though, young playwright and director Thanaphon Accawatanyu, a film graduate from Thammasat University, wasn’t coy about showing his inspiration for this play, though it must be said that the film wasn’t listed in the play’s programme leaflet.
In this thoroughly gripping and unpredictable play, Number Two, performed with the highest level of naturalism by Pakapol Srirongmuang, was a hitman who never failed in any of his hired missions. That changed when he was hired for a highly improbable job by Player, a gambler effortlessly portrayed by B-Floor Theatre’s Sasapin Siriwanij, who seamlessly blended with younger cast members. An example of deft adaptation: in the original film the yakuza had a sexual fetish for the smell of boiled rice; here Number Two’s fetish for salmon sashimi wasn’t really sexual and he actually despised people who put too much wasabi in the soy sauce. His assistant Junior, Chettapat Kueankaeo who wasn’t always credible as a boxer, was waiting in the wings to replace him and Junior’s brother Veteran, Surapat Klovuttisatien who needed more confidence for the policeman role, also wanted to take him down. The spirit of the legendary Number One whose shooting was so sharp that his bullet could make his victims sing in their |last breath, was portrayed by award-winning actor Thongchai Pimapunsri..
In accordance with the title, which made some audiences think this was a musical, the play was divided into 12 scenes, called “Tracks”, with each track having a title. As the playwright, Thanaphon needed to diversify different characters’ dialogues to add more colour to the play. As the director, he set the play at the right pace and two hours never felt long. He also knew how to make a full use of the limited space, and his actors’ business with the windows and the roll-up curtain was the smartest I’ve seen in this intimate studio theatre. 
Given the strong and calculated control in his script and direction, it was a relief to see him let |his actors, if slightly, out of character and the story in the improvised last scene titled “Bonus Track” before retaking control in the final tableau. 
As the characters loved playing “double” card games in which each participant tried to find matching cards to the ones in his hand, the audience was subtly reminded of other dualities too – Numbers One and Two, nature and artificiality, theatre and film, for example. Already a signature of this playwright, “Thou Shalt Sing” was filled with many other thoughts yet never felt overfull or overwrought, thanks in part to its absurdist nature. 
    Having watched the troupe’s two latest works which were vastly different in subject matter, I now feel the way I did a decade ago with playwright and director Nophand Boonyai’s pieces. When you haven’t studied theatre but instead have strong passion for it, you’re not bound by what your teachers or professors have taught you in class and can thus be more experimental—as you should be while working in contemporary theatre. You are also not afraid of making mistakes and learn from them instead. 
I’ve indeed become a fan of Splashing Theatre.

 A BIGGER SPLASH
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