It all started one day in July, when Sun Tawalwongsri visited Silom Society coffee shop and saw empty space on the fifth floor and rooftop, with BTS Skytrains passing by. Just a few months later, the veteran director, actor and choreographer established the appropriately named Sun Dance Theatre. The theatre is now celebrating its launch with The 1st Bangkok Queer Theatre Festival, which began last week and will continue until the end of year with six productions from five directors.
A scene from Panuwat Inthawat's Drunk.
"Setting up my own theatre has been my dream since I first studied theatre," says Sun. "Because it's right in the middle of the city with the BTS and MRT, I decided to open up this space for myself and other artists come in and put on their productions."
Sun has seen quite a few performances by people he knows in the theatre circle and saw how they connected with one another, especially under the concept of a marginalised group of people in society. That's where the idea for the festival originated. There are quite a few small-scale theatres which have thrived with constant productions around the city, but Sun says there are many quality theatre troupes that do not have space to present their work, due to a lack of sponsorship from the public and private sectors.
"Thailand is thought to be heaven for the LGBT community. My question is: If this attitude is true, why isn't there performing or visual arts that concretely reflect that?"
Sun set up the Sun Dance Theatre performance troupe in 2008. It has since produced contemporary dance and theatre productions for the Bangkok Theatre Festival. This was put on hold when Sun left the country to study drama and theatre at Royal Holloway, University of London. He later earned a degree in dance teaching and learning (children and young people) at the Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance in London.
"When I first planned the project, I thought theatre festivals, which are usually one-week-long, were too short," says Sun. "Those who produce lose the profit and the audience who want to see many shows can't make it because of time management and financial reasons. So it's better to find shows I have seen or take part in and spread them out during a three-month period."
Because the form of each performance is different — from dance and theatre to solo performances — Sun hopes to attract various types of audiences, thus creating a small community of ideas and creativity. He says most works reflect different issues in society — marginalised groups of people, gender diversity, classism, and social and family issues.
The ongoing musical comedy The 4 Sisters + 1, written by Shogo Tanikawa and directed by Bhanbhassa Dhubthien, is about the relationship of four siblings as a modern family in an urban community. This will be followed by 18 Monkeys Dance Theatre's two site-specific performances, My Betrayal Is Beautiful and Le Funambule, Sangsan Santimaneerat's solo performance TARO: The Little Poodle and Panuwat Inthawat's Drunk. Actor Wannasak Sirilar's solo show I Shall Pass will wrap up the festival.
"Even though our debut project is queer theatre, we are not against other types of performances that speak about other issues. I'm not planning for Sun Dance Theatre to be solely LGBT-based, but I want the works staged here to be different, giving more space to understanding a diverse number of issues that have never been addressed."
- The 4 Sisters + 1 is staged at Sun Dance Theatre, 5th floor and rooftop of Silom Society Building, Silom Road, from Friday to Monday and on Oct 10-12 (at 8pm, with
a 2pm performance on Sat and Sun).
- Tickets cost 600 baht including a beverage.
- Visit Facebook.com/SunDanceTheatre or call 088-018-5966.
