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Getting in on the act

Published: 4/04/2013 at 12:00 AM
Bangkok Post Newspaper section: Life
by Amitha



March was a busy month for theatre-goers as artists apparently rushed to stage their shows before holiday-packed April arrived. Here are a selection of theatre and dance productions that were staged last month, some of which are ongoing.

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Phap Luang Ta Jak Neun Mafeung

- Crescent Moon Theatre brought respected writer Sri Daoruang's short stories to life in a double bill featuring portraits of women and the lives on the outer edges of progress the author is so known for. The first short play, adapted from short story Phap Luang Ta Kiaokab Karn Plian Sappanam (The Illusion of the Changing of Pronouns), takes place on a train, where a married woman and a man she loves interact every morning on the way to work and every evening on their way home.

The short story is written from alternating perspectives, and writer-director Sineenadh Keitprapai was courageous enough to have not imagined new dialogue but instead kept the first-person narrative style throughout the whole play. This is a difficult short story to adapt, and the struggle was evident in the play, with the occasional overacting and over-directing. Although the play had a nice bounce to it, both Sineenadh and the performers didn't quite manage to capture and retain the quiet quality of the story and the underlying tension that laces Sri Daoruang's prose. With the lack of the interplay between the words and the images, the play lost the mystery that is so potent in the short story, and the entire time I felt like I was watching a slide show with captions.

On the other hand, the second play, Neun Mafeung, adapted from the novella of the same title, succeeded in capturing the atmosphere and the innocence of the titular rural village rendered by Sri Daoruang. Also directed and adapted by Sineenadh, Neun Mafeung tells the story of teenagers whose lives intersect at the train track that has brought in a handsome young teacher and eventually leads two girls, forced to grow up too quickly, out of the village in hopes of better lives.

Each performer played different characters and sometimes served as the narrator who looked on as the story unfolded, and the way Sineenadh executed this imbued the play with a poignant innocence and a mystical air. The cast, comprised mostly of newcomers, formed a strong ensemble and gave the story a lot of energy and a big heart. Sineenadh, especially, was lovely as she switched from character to character with ease and a kind of brightness I had never seen from her before.


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http://www.bangkokpost.com/print/343825/