Funny old friends

Co-produced by Get Live Management and Asia Mime Creation, the 14th Pantomime in Bangkok, which ended its five-performance run yesterday, served up a true theatrical treat to its many fans, who had been eagerly waiting to exercise their imaginations in the comfortable seats of the intimate Muang Thai Life Assurance Auditorium on Ratchadaphisek Road.
Opening on Thursday, instead of Friday like in the previous years, each session was full, with the audience delighted at a seven-scene programme that ingeniously balanced comedy and drama plus an intermission that wasn’t too overwhelming.
Japanese trio Cru Cru Cirque turned the comic tempo up high from the very beginning and their “Cru Cru Circus” demonstrated that juggling could be more than a showcase of special skills.
South Korea’s Ko Jae-kyong shifted the mood with his dramatic, slow and abstract “Hair”, which had the audience exercising their imagination as hair kept appearing wherever he was and whatever he did.
Bangkok-based Japanese artist Yano brought back the comedy in his “Samurai BTS”, which shows a traditional Japanese warrior facing a truly challenging time getting on to Bangkok’s favourite form of mass transportation. Laughter was loud as the audience shared much of this frustrations including the fact that one cannot
 put bank notes into the ticket machine. His “Samurai Subway” served up a surprise twist from the start, in that it had nothing to do with our own MRT but rather referred to the American sandwich shop. Yano cheekily made fun of Japanese ritual hara-kiri when the shop was out of tomato sauce and juice.
Closing out the first part was Thailand’s only professional pantomime troupe Babymime and their “Giant”, a prime example of how Thais prefer adapting to adopting. In this case, they adapted the foreign performing art style to fit the Thai sense of humour plus a few light moral digs, just the way we like them. This was a revival of their award-winning collaboration with 8X8 Theatre years ago and I was pleased to find that I could still remember some gags.
The true highlights came after the intermission. In “Hara-kiri”, Japanese duo Kanikama, comprising veterans Kojimanya Mansuke and Honda Aiya, showed three versions of the Japanese ritual much to the hilarity of the audience.
The evening ended on a high note with “Sake”, as Yamada Toushi masterfully retold his personal story of his father who loved drinking sake and his son who wished to become a baseball player. His shifts from one character and one locale to another were smooth and clear, greatly assisted by Tachikawa Naoya’s lighting design.
Last but never least and as always a signature of this event, Guri Guri Girl and her accordion player partner Yumiko Ota brought a soft feminine touch to a stage filled with male artists.
“Pantomime in Bangkok” is like a high school reunion and we enjoy being updated about our friends every year. In the future though, it would be nice if they brought along some new friends as well exciting news.
With the French Embassy moving more and more towards exchange and collaboration, and taking account of the fact that French pantomime is very different from its Asian cousin, wouldn’t it be wonderful if the two nations could share the same stage? That would make Pantomime in Bangkok an international event, instead of the strictly Asian one it has been for the last 14 years. Or, if they want to roll with the Asean wave and get substantial support from our AEC-crazy government, they could also look more closely at our region.