Showing 11 - 17 of 17
The historical made personal
Life, Amitha Amranand, Published on 06/10/2016
» We don't know where they are -- a man and a woman, he in a white three-piece suit, she in a white wedding gown. Soon we find out that they don't know where they are either. Then we find out who they are, but soon realise they are not sure.
A colourful unpeeling of youth sexuality in Paula Vogel's play
Life, Amitha Amranand, Published on 10/03/2016
» After the success of The True History Of The Tragic Life and Triumphant Death Of Julia Pastrana, The Ugliest Woman In The World, Peel the Limelight returns with another thought-provoking and emotionally nuanced play, Paula Vogel's 1998 Pulitzer Prize–winning How I Learned To Drive. At once gentle and disturbing, funny and poignant, the play tells the story of Li'l Bit and her unusual relationship with Uncle Peck during her adolescence.
India takes centre stage
Life, Amitha Amranand, Published on 03/03/2016
» NUNi Productions, a young Thai opera company, has been known to make the genre more digestible for the younger generations and novices. In the hands of versatile director and NUNi co-founder Pattarasuda Anuman Rajadhon, opera suddenly feels malleable and full of possibilities. In the past two years, she and Saran Suebsantiwongse, opera singer and NUNi co-founder, have been putting together the jigsaw puzzle that is Sakuntala.
Ladies, lies and languages
Life, Amitha Amranand, Published on 09/04/2015
» A pair of screeching nang itcha (female antagonists, literally "jealous women"); a beauty pageant full of eccentric, barely literate contestants; one ballad after another; and a romantic Pretty Woman-like ending.
From the inside, out
Life, Amitha Amranand, Published on 18/09/2014
» Sasapin Siriwanij stood defiant in the rain. In front of her was the shallow circular pool of Pridi Banomyong Institute courtyard, surrounded by shoes — boots, heels, flip-flops, sandals, trainers, flats, pumps. The actress was clad in a blood-red dress, her head crowned with a wig of the same shade. On top of the wig was a flimsy structure from which she slowly unfurled a scroll containing a collage of texts, in Thai and English — poems, song lyrics, official guides, government propaganda and campaigns — on beauty, especially female beauty. As she read the words, Sasapin went around the pool, placing her feet inside all the mismatched shoes. Her struggle was apparent, but it only made her actions and voice more defiant. She even fell into the pool, only to get up and continue her act until the end.
Fusion and Confusion
Life, Amitha Amranand, Published on 06/12/2012
» This year, the International Dance Festival programme features, for the first time in 12 years, nothing but young and promising contemporary companies from Thailand, Singapore, South Korea, India, and the UK. And the quality of the performances they've brought shows a marked improvement from previous years. This past weekend alone, there were at least two productions worth exploring.
Spelling it out
Life, Amitha Amranand, Published on 20/09/2012
» This year, all of B-Floor Theatre's productions have been a reaction to Article 112 cases and social sanctions against those who have, or are accused of having, less-than-glowing views of the Thai monarchy. However, Bang La Merd (My Wonderfully Smiling City), written, directed and performed by Oranong Thaisriwong, is, thank heaven, the first to simply say that yes, we're talking about the lese majeste law and the constant fear and possibility of landing in jail for doing or saying anything that touches up on the monarchy.