Showing 1 - 10 of 13
A taste of art
Life, Amitha Amranand, Published on 25/04/2024
» We were told from the beginning to not think of Street Food Theatre as performing art, but rather an "experience". We were also informed of the belief of the project's creator that art can take place everywhere.
Art of Precarity
Life, Amitha Amranand, Published on 13/10/2022
» What is the possibility of art in a precarious and even dangerous environment? The answer could be found everywhere at documenta fifteen.
The Last Supper?
Life, Amitha Amranand, Published on 16/06/2022
» It's no surprise that as Covid restrictions are easing around the world, people are seeking new experiences to pluck themselves from mundanity, and to see, touch, smell and taste things in ways that awaken them. Why sit inside a theatre when you can walk around an art space or a neighbourhood while stories are spoken into your ears? Why only eat in cafes and restaurants when you can do that and watch a scene of a play unfold? Why dine in a restaurant when you can dine in an old airplane and participate in strange, semi-religious rituals?
Strangers, neighbours, others
Life, Amitha Amranand, Published on 09/06/2022
» For me, the word "ritual" evokes tradition and cycle. And there's plenty that is traditional and cyclical at this year's Singapore International Festival of Arts (Sifa). But with a new festival director, Natalie Hennedige, the programme under the theme "Anatomy Of Performance: Ritual" also embraces questions of the future and the digital space.
A stroll through nostalgia and hope
Life, Amitha Amranand, Published on 21/04/2022
» After the first Covid lockdown in Thailand in 2020, the first performance that brought Bangkok theatregoers back to the physical space was Fullfat Theatre's Save For Later. At that time, the number of cases in Thailand was at a negligible level, and the idea of physical distancing and other pandemic measures were still a novelty. These inconveniences and constraints inspired and pushed theatre artists to experiment and create. Digital technology had a large presence in live performances back then, even in on-site ones.
The evolution of khon
Life, Amitha Amranand, Published on 22/04/2021
» Choreographer Jitti Chompee's ongoing khon project, which includes Melancholy Of Demon, a dance performance that I reviewed earlier this month, is supported by the Ministry of Culture and departments and offices under its umbrella. This is a surprising level of governmental support granted to a contemporary dance artist who wants to do not-so-genteel things with khon and the character of Tossakan. I still remember how in 2006 the Ministry of Culture reportedly forced Somtow Sucharitkul to change the scene in his opera Ayodhya that depicted the death of Tossakan (Ravan in the opera version) onstage, a practice that is considered a bad omen in Thailand.
Where does a performance begin?
Life, Amitha Amranand, Published on 03/03/2020
» Where does a performance begin? This is the question I kept asking myself during TPAM Performing Arts Meeting in Yokohama this year.
A decade in the limelight
Life, Amitha Amranand, Published on 30/12/2019
» In choosing the 10 best theatre productions of the decade, I started by listing some of my favourite productions, based almost purely on enjoyment. That would not do, of course. The more important questions are those of cultural and artistic impact. So of the shows that made it on this list, some are Thai-theatre-scene firsts, some are rarities, some are triumphs of age-old and underappreciated crafts. But all of them are ambitious, original and uncompromising. They have become indelible to me and, I hope, to many others. And they excited me then as much as they excite me now, looking back months and years later.
Angel on a mission
Life, Amitha Amranand, Published on 27/06/2019
» The theatre scene is marking a few anniversaries this year. First, B-floor Theatre celebrated its 20th birthday with an outdoor musical version of A Midsummer Night's Dream. This month, an even older company, Dreambox, originally named Dass Entertainment, kicked off its 33rd-anniversary celebration with a revival of an old musical from its early days. The company will bring back another musical in November, Mae Nak: The Musical, which came from what they consider to be the company's second period in their development. And in a few months, Dreambox will stage Namngoen Thae, a new musical adapted from a historical novel of the same name by one of Thailand's most popular novelists, Lin Lyovarin.
New singers, oldest band
Life, Amitha Amranand, Published on 28/03/2019
» The Suntaraporn Foundation has been staging musicals for seven years, and I finally made the time to go see one this past Sunday. Theatre critics in Bangkok are very aware of their annual productions, but we have largely ignored it. Perhaps it has to do with our limited definition of "contemporary theatre", and our tendency to turn our noses up at anything that feels traditional and conservative.