Known as a good-humoured singer and actor, Watchara Parniem has been in showbiz for almost three decades. This year he's turned his attention to directing, and Watchara has helmed two theatrical productions, Soontaraporn The Musical and Vavoon 2013, the latter premiering tomorrow at M Theatre.
The comedy portrays the friendship of five architecture students who go on to make a name for themselves in entertainment.
The stage play has challenged Watchara to direct an actor to play a sarcastic character called Yoy, based on himself.
"In university, I was referred to as Yoy because in my 20s, I had curly hair. Today I don't have much hair left to be curly," joked the 53-year-old Watchara, whose nickname is now Jeab.
Vavoon 2013 is actually about the ebullient director and his four best friends when they were third-year architecture students at Chulalongkorn University, where they discovered their calling in acting and making music.
After graduating, they all became entertainment icons, namely songwriters Prapas "Jik" Cholsaranon and Nitipong "Dee" Honark, actor/director Sarunyoo "Tua" Wongkrachang and television host Somchai "Coke" Premprapapong.
Watchara debuted in showbiz as the lead singer of Chaliang, a popular band in the mid-1980s, and later pursued movie acting and directing as well as hosting TV shows.
Director Watchara Parniem says the actors did not need to be copies of his friends.
Vavoon 2013 revolves around the exhilarating campus life of the young famous five, which has been told before in the short stories by another architecture student, Vachara Vaewuthinand, whose pen name is Pinda Posaya.
The stories were first published in Priew magazine and then compiled for the pocket book titled Vavoon, released in 1982. Reprinted 19 times, the book was adapted into a TV series and is now a comedy on stage with updated gags, imparted in the title, Vavoon 2013.
"We share the same first name and attended the same secondary school, Kasetsart University Laboratory School. Then we followed each other to study at Chulalongkorn University's Faculty of Architecture," said the director of his long rapport with Vavoon's author. "Sometimes I wish we could have gone our own ways, but we ended up working for the same company, JSL Global Media."
Partnering again for JSL's latest production, Vachara has adapted his book for the script, whereas Watchara has to direct a cast of many young and inexperienced actors.
"Featuring Vachara's refined yet entertaining writing style, the book is full of funny stories that reflect our friendship," the director said. "While we were carefree students, we were serious about stepping into a brighter future together. Whenever one of us fell, we would help our friend get back on his feet again."
In the play, the protagonists go by different names, however, it's quite easy to guess who the young Prapas, Nitipong or Sarunyoo are. The director, however, says the actors do not need to be copies of his friends.
"The actor who plays the character based on Sarunyoo doesn't need to go and live with him for a week in order to perform this role. It's my job to help the actors interpret their characters and fulfil them naturally," said Watchara. "At first, I found it difficult to direct Kacha (Nontanun Anchuleepradit), who plays Yoy, a spontaneous and sharp-tongued character based on me. With his poker face, Kacha seems like a reserved person, but when he starts talking and cracking gags _ he's definitely Yoy."
Besides Kacha, Vonthongchai Intarawat, Weerakaniz Karnwattanakul, Suwikrom Amaranan and Konthorn Taecholarn take the leading roles. Most of them are first-time theatre actors but the director assures they can deliver a good performance.
"Basically, I tell them to act as if they were not acting and they have to crack gags in a timely way to get the audience laughing," he said.
Premiering tomorrow, Vavoon 2013 will be staged at M Theatre, New Petchburi Road. Available at Thai Ticket Major, tickets cost 1,000-2,500 baht. Visit www.facebook.com/vavoon 2013 or call 02-262-3456.
