Last month was apparently a month of theatre politics. At the height of political unrest due to ongoing protests and gatherings, two university productions staged biographical plays and poetry-driven body movements. Meanwhile, the Bangkok Theatre Festival was also the host of political satires and parodies.
To begin, Thammasat University's Faculty of Fine and Applied Arts presents Khue Phu Apiwat (The Revolutionist), a play based on the true story of statesman Pridi Banomyong. To commemorate the 120th anniversary of his birth, artistic director Sineenadh Keitprapai deliberately retains it for 2020 as it is restaged with its original essence and style like when it was first performed by the Crescent Moon Theatre in 1987 and over the past 33 years.
Known as "poor theatre" that rids itself of lavish sets and props, this 80-minute performance centres on the skill of actors who are all performing-art students, whose talent showed us the life journey of Pridi Banomyong, a revolutionist who dreamt of changing Thai social structure so that people could have a better life.
It addresses issues such as fighting old power that resists change, accusations to discredit his trustworthiness, and his thoughts about the way he "revolutionalised" Thailand. While the play used just a few mobile props to obtain maximum results by transforming the characters and the story, the trade-off was that weariness emerged through a streaming sequence of historical facts and intense pacing of presentation.
The praiseworthy script by Kamron Kunadilok illustrates a clash of ideology or simply put, old power and new heads. It wisely presents Pridi's ideology for national progress amid resistance, exemplified by intense conflict through two main fictional characters from MR Kukrit Pramoj's Si Phaen Din (Four Reigns) and Seni Saowapong's Piisart (Demon), both of whom shared different political ideologies and beliefs. The play effectively relates itself to the present state of thought and the current political situation, echoing why the new generation needs to change, if not revolutionalise, the old power that does not tolerate change.
Talking about remaining in the comfort zone and daring not to change is also seen in a lavishly full-fledged production by Bangkok University's Faculty of Communication Arts. Phleng Rak Prufrock, director Pannasak Sukee's adaptation of Noble-prize winner T.S. Eliot's The Love Song Of J. Alfred Prufrock, is an experimental physical theatre that combines non-verbal language through body movement, graciously designed by noted choreographer Narapong Charassri, and copious set designs and lush costumes.
Khue Phu Apiwat by Thammasat University's Faculty of Fine and Applied Arts.
Throughout 20 sequences of 90-minute storytelling, Prufrock is presented as a dream-chaser who laments his intellectual inertia, lost opportunities in his life and lack of spiritual progress, as the poetry goes. With the juxtaposition of storytelling through digital visualisation and a talented troupe of promising university performers, Prufrock's unattained carnal love leads him to a sense of weariness, laments and regrets, and later to a consciousness of mortality. Some questions emerge here: how long can one really live a dream? Without change, can one's dream actually come true?
Springing in a montage of Democracy Monument and crowds gathering on a vast digital backdrop purposefully illustrates the association of this theatrical piece with the current political sentiment. Messages such as "Dare to change or be changed" seem to echo here and there throughout this intriguing physical movement. It offers multiple-layered interpretations varying from a human quest for self-actualisation to need for transformation through the eyes of the main character who may have confused fact and fiction for so long. As Prufrock has already become one of the most recognised voices in modern literature in the 19th-century, it also makes its place in the 21st-century as a well-versed physical performance in Thai theatreland.
Meanwhile, the Bangkok Theatre Festival 2020 which wrapped up last week featured a pop-up festival where young artists and veterans met. In the face of Covid-19, a whirlwind of artists managed to stage 30-plus productions varying from spoken plays to pantomimes and experimental performances. However, the heartbreaking part is that it will run until this weekend only at the Bangkok Art & Cultural Centre.
A handful of shows are political satires and parodies. The comedy Lakorn Haeng Prathet Farung Farang 1684, for instance, became the talk of the festival as it features a shift in a long-held norm in the royal patronage of theatrical arts. If life imitates art, this acid-tongued parody successfully rib-tickles audiences with insider mockery, politics in theatreland, and political jokes and satire. Meanwhile, at another venue named Shophouse 1527 on Rama IV Road, Throw BKK's play Too Much Heaven discusses socio-political problems while offering promising solutions and positive thoughts about the society we live in.
Nonetheless, a handful of productions opt for political castigation, employing devices such as vulgarity and violence as a means to exercise freedom of speech and convey artistic expression. While theatre is not expected to be a sanitised sphere, using it as an uncouth, anger-filled space raises some concerns among certain theatregoers and critics who view theatrical art -- in its best form -- as a circle for positive forces and creative energy to groom aesthetics and intellects. Certainly, protest art is normal and can be a revolutionary device, yet it should be done with well-thought motivation and meticulous creativity.
After all, the theatre of politics aims to appeal to our inside growth and intellect, not just natural instincts.
