At the ending of the 1937 novel Khang Lang Phap (Behind The Painting), author Kularb Saipradit, also known as Sri Burapha, wrote: “I die without the one who loves me, but my heart is fulfilled that there’s someone whom I love.”
The character ML Kerati writes this on a piece of paper to Nopporn, a younger man whom she loves but has gone on to love someone else. This line and the couple’s ill-fated love story is one of the best-loved and most remembered in Thai literature.
Director Pradit Prasartthong has written all the songs and will perform as well.
This year marks the 40th anniversary of the death of Kularb and to celebrate the occasion, Silpathorn Award-winning director Pradit Prasartthong of Anatta Theatre Troupe, together with Writer Publishing, presents the musical Sri Burapha: Memoir Of Freedom. The performance is part of the Performative Art Festival at the Bangkok Art & Culture Centre (BACC).
The “memoir of freedom” title is so-named because Kularb, apart from penning a number of notable novels like Luk Phu Chai (1928) and Songkhram Chiwit (1932), was also a newspaper editor, journalist and activist. In one of his best known articles Manutsayaphap, Kularb wrote that “Integrity is truth, truth is integrity”. And it was such firm belief, through his writing and activism against Field Marshal Plaek Phibunsongkhram’s dictatorship, that later led to his arrest for treason, imprisonment and finally exile to China, where he died in 1974.
Gandhi Wasuvitchayagit, who is also the music director, plays Kularb Saipradit.
Kularb later made the Unesco list of the world’s great personalities and his works still remain popular, but it’s his spirit for freedom in a time of muffled media that he is most celebrated.
This musical focuses on Kularb’s four years in prison following the charge of treason after helping set up the Peace Foundation of Thailand and protesting against the Korean War and press censorship.
A scene from Sri Burapha: Memoir Of Freedom .
“I want to present a significant figure in history who was resolute in what he believed in,” said director Pradit. “As humans, our integrity is constantly challenged and tempted to give way in order for us to survive. There are some unpleasant elements and powers that we can’t control and we have to admit that our present situation is just like that.”
Pradit believes that Kularb apparently managing his time and emotions so well whilst in prison reflected his strong and calm character.
A scene from Sri Burapha: Memoir Of Freedom .
“I read his memoirs about when he first went to prison. No one would be able to accept having their freedom taken away like that and locked up in such a horrible environment, but after a while, he started to write. He began to become calmer and more reflective of what had happened and started to look forward. That’s when he started the novel Lae Pai Khang Na (Looking Ahead).”
The fact that the musical’s current run is the third time it has been staged in less than 10 years (2006 and 2008), shows how the Bangkok theatre scene has managed to stay relevant with regards to political matters, despite now being arguably less popular than film and literature. When Writer editor Binlah Sonkalagiri approached Pradit to stage Sri Burapha: Memoir Of Freedom again, he quickly said yes.
Danaya Buntasnakul stars as the young version of Kularb Saipradit.
“Binlah wants to present to the audience the kind of writer who didn’t just write, but also took the role of guiding society forward. In this production, the cast may be smaller than before, but the main characters are played by the same actors.”
Gandhi Wasuvitchayagit, who is also the music director, plays Kularb Saipradit while Montakan Rangsipramanakul, the editor-in-chief of Madame Figaro and host of TV show Diva Café, stars as Kularb’s wife Chanid Saipradit. Pradit himself has written all the songs and will perform as well.
A scene from Sri Burapha: Memoir Of Freedom.
Although the musical is set over the span of Kularb’s imprisonment, Pradit said that all significant moments in the author’s life, both personal and professional, are sure to be recounted through use of flashback, including when Kularb was young, when he was fighting with the conservatives, his courageous talks with the dictator, his career as a journalist and the first meeting with his wife.
The young Kularb will be played by Danaya Buntasnakul, who will be coincidentally bringing historical and symbolic gravitas to the role as he is a grandson of Pridi Banomyong. In fact, Danaya’s own grandmother, Thanpuying Phoonsuk Banomyong, was actually one of the many who were arrested in 1952 along with Kularb. Some parts of the musical will be told through the viewpoint of Chanid, Kularb’s wife and it is these bits that hold special significance for Danaya.
Gandhi Wasuvitchayagit plays Kularb Saipradit, while Montakan Rangsipramanakul plays Kularb's wife, Chanid Saipradit.
“I see a lot of similarities between Chanid and my grandmother. They were both strong women who kept the families together in tough situations. I can say that I know her quite well so I’m very into this character in the musical.”
The content of the musical is a combination of what we know of Kularb in the historic context, his life through his memoirs and his personality reflected in his literary works. Pradit said that he structured the story with fact and pieced everything together with fiction.
When recounting the time when Kularb and his wife Chanid first met, for example, Pradit had the story run in parallel with the love story between Rapin and Pleon from Kularb’s novel Songkhram Chiwit.
“I spent two years researching his life,” Pradit recounted. “Words from his novels and memoirs were the inspiration for the lyrics in the musical. There are some words and stories that really affected me so I came up with lyrics and put a melody to that. What’s really difficult about writing the songs is maintaining the meaning and emotions as close as I can to the words in his fiction and creating a melody that goes with it, too.”
What is strikingly different about this musical from previous productions is Pradit’s decision to direct the cast to express as little as possible through their facial expressions and acting styles.
“In this musical, we wanted to present the story through a literary work’s point of view,” said Pradit.
“We want the music and acting to be still and let the lyrics and dialogue say it all. The acting is not going to be as dramatic as before. It’s like sitting still and reading Kularb’s words. When you read a book, the words are still and quiet and they work with your emotions and feelings. I want the words to be the hero of the performance, not the acting.” The musical will be accompanied by live music from piano, cello, percussion and Thai flute and fiddle. While the cast will be much smaller than the 2009 production, Pradit said the story will be more complete and the characters more human in terms of dimension.
“For the 2009 production, it was a centenary celebration of his birth so we portrayed him just as a hero. In this production, there are going to be other sides of him; his weaknesses and fears.”
Sri Burapha: Memoir Of Freedom runs until Aug 31 (at 7pm on Fri and at 4pm and 7pm on Sat and Sun) at Bangkok Art and Culture Centre. Tickets cost 600 baht.
Call 092-257-0667 for reservations and visit www.facebook.com/Sriburapha.Isara for more information. The musical has English subtitles.
The story of Kularb Saipradit
Kularb Saipradit and family.
‘Much of Sri Burapha’s writings, and his own existence, revolved around the notion of moral consciousness and a steadfast belief in truth, justice, equality, sacrifice and respect for fellow humans.” This is a quote from Phra Paisal Visalo’s acceptance speech for the Sri Burapha Award, a highly-regarded accolade for Thai writers, named after Kularb Saipradit’s non de plume.
Kularb Saipradit was born in March 1905 in Bangkok’s Hua Lamphong district. His father was a Railways Department clerk who taught his son to read and write before he was four years old. His mother came from a farming family in Suphan Buri.
Kularb’s father died when he was just six and his mother, a dressmaker, supported her two children and managed to get Kularb into the select Thepsirin School, where he was a contemporary of several students who would also go on to become renowned writers.
Like many writers of his time, Kularb began his career in journalism, a low-paying profession in which the fires of idealism are easily ignited. Although well-established and highly respected as a journalist, he found that novels gave him a channel to explore his thoughts more deeply and more powerfully. He also wrote many articles on politics, religion, philosophy and social issues and translated foreign works from English into Thai.
His pen name, Sri Burapha, meaning “the good man of the East”, was created by Kosol Komolchan, one of Thailand’s novelists at the time.
Kularb was well respected and remembered by university students. His works were published many times, including Lae Pai Khang Nah ( Looking Ahead ), Jon Khwa Rao Jah Pob Kan Eek ( Until We Meet Again ) and the most famous novel of all, Khang Lang Parb .
Khang Lang Parb ( Behind The Painting ) is a tragic romance about the married Khunying Kirati who meets Nopporn, a Thai student 12 years her junior, while they are in Japan. Their relationship gradually develops into unrequited love.
Kularb’s stance against dictatorship was steadfast throughout his career. Accused of being a communist, he was forced into exile to China until his death in 1974, at the age of 69.
In honour of Kularb and his works, the Sri Burapha Fund was set up in 1988 by Suwat “Rapeeporn” Voradilok, a young writer from Kularb’s era, who was also a close protégé of Kularb.
