Showing 1 - 10 of 12
The unstoppable puppeteer
Life, Amitha Amranand, Published on 04/06/2025
» The friendly and familiar faces emerged from the bags one by one: a buffalo, a dog, a bird, a crocodile and a pink-haired duck. Many Thais who grew up in the 90s will not only recognise these faces, but they will also know their names: Cha-ngon, Hang Dab, Jao Khuntong, Khon Loy and Ped Noi. These are the stars of children's television programme Jao Khuntong.
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.
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.
Performance in the wild
Life, Amitha Amranand, Published on 26/05/2022
» For Kok Heng Leun, memories of Pulau Ubin, an island northeast of mainland Singapore, go as far back as when he was a teenager.
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.
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.
Like dolls in boxes
Life, Amitha Amranand, Published on 16/12/2019
» Before we were ushered into the theatre one floor above the waiting area at Hostbkk theatre and dance studio, the actors, clad in period costumes, stared down at us from behind glass windows, still and silent like dolls in boxes.
Of madness and joy
Life, Amitha Amranand, Published on 25/11/2019
» We review two original works -- a Thai-language political satire and an English-language musical -- with LGBTQ central characters.
Not entirely transfixing
Life, Amitha Amranand, Published on 07/06/2019
» For its second production, Qrious Theatre transplants the 2005 American film Transamerica to Thailand. TranS I-Am is an awkward US-to-Thailand and screen-to-stage adaptation, but it's sweet and offbeat enough to charm.
Pearls of wisdom
Life, Amitha Amranand, Published on 22/05/2019
» Nana Dakin is a familiar name on the Thai theatre scene. The member of B-floor Theatre is known for her intelligent and sensitive pieces of physical theatre that deal with such issues as identity, migration and violence.