The theatre's had plenty to celebrate in the first decade of this millennium but the most important event of the noughties was undoubtedly the formation of the Bangkok Theatre Network (BTN) in mid-2002. This alliance of professional and student dance and theatre troupes led to the organisation of annual showcase known as Bangkok Theatre Festival, which kicked off later that year and is still going strong.
Collaborations between members of different troupes were also initiated and we've seen remarkable works, among them Chai Yak ((Gi)ant), by Theatre 8X8 and Babymime.
The decade ended on a high note with BTN's highly acclaimed production of Sao Chaona (Girl of the Soil), tradapted from the Japanese play Nogyo Shojyo written by Hideki Noda, whose production of Yak Tua Dang (Akaoni) here 12 years ago brought together actors from various groups and started the informal alliance that became BTN.
Space, a major problem 10 years ago, is now available, with six small venues across the city now hosting performances almost every weekend.
The opening of Muangthai Rachadalai Theatre in 2007 marked another milestone on the Bangkok theatre scene. , and many audiences are still excited with the fact that we now have the so-called “Broadway-standard” private-run playhouse—in other words, a good hardware, backed up by great paperware, or money. House company Scenario regularly stages spectacular productions at the privately run playhouse though reviews have been mixed and more acclaimed works in the venue are by other companies—Theatre 28’s Man of La Mancha and imported productions of We Will Rock You and Chicago.
Genre-wise, the imported production of Action Theatre’s Chang and Eng: The Musical from Singapore in early 2001 started the trend of musicals. Scenario followed it and has been able to draw the attention, of the public and the media, to grand-scale musicals, despite its quality, especially in terms of acting and script. Elsewhere, with more small venues, more experiments in using physical movements and multimedia in theatre have been evident. There have been, however, too few collaborations between dance and theatre artists, and the number of dance productions is still lacking behind.
Content-wise, with the ever increasing number of works, contemporary Thai theatre offers more variety than ever before though it still tends to avoid politics. This is a proof perhaps that the audience may be tired of reading about and watching these political soap operas in newspaper, online, and on TV.
It should be noted here that a stage performance, unlike film and television, differs, to a certain degree, from one evening to another. Occasionally, I missed good and great stage works because of other duties, locally and overseas. I’m sorry if I missed out some of your favorites but as I say very often, a theatre critic is just an avid playgoer, and vice versa. On that note, I’d like to hear your thoughts as well.
However, I've watched some of these local theatre works more than once, usually at their restagings, and would enjoy seeing them all again as each time I discover something new in them that moves me in different ways. Here they are, listed in chronological order rather than by preference.
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SALANG (BITTER LOVE)
Written and directed by Crescent Moon Theatre's artistic director Sineenadh Keitprapai, this is a poignant two-character drama about romantic and parental love. The production featured two thespians of very different styles, and yet the director was able to balance and hone their performances. Fittingly so, Sineenadh was honoured with Silpathorn Award in 2008, and is still the only female Silpathorn artist in the field.
Read more:
http://blog.nationmultimedia.com/danceandtheatre/2010/01/31/entry-1
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