Showing 51 - 60 of 87
Forgetting Julie
Life, Amitha Amranand, Published on 09/04/2015
» In a recent interview with the Bangkok Post, TV and stage director Yuthtana Lopanpaibul asked the audience to forget about the character played by Julie Andrews in The Sound Of Music, and instead enjoy the Thai-language version of the musical he directed.
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.
Thailand in a room
Life, Amitha Amranand, Published on 05/02/2015
» None of us own Bang-La-Merd, but we are all living in it. In Bang-La-Merd, you must be careful not to use the words "freedom" and "rights". The term "human rights" is especially sensitive and most likely prohibited, and in circumstances relating to the sacred, absolutely irrelevant. In Bang-La-Merd, it is advisable to not criticise all that you love and uphold for it is illegal to criticise those whom you must love and uphold.
Playing with roles
Life, Amitha Amranand, Published on 04/12/2014
» Two plays and a dance opened in Bangkok last Thursday. All three of which required their performers to play multiple roles.
Kiss and make up?
Life, Amitha Amranand, Published on 16/10/2014
» On the page, sentences in Cloture De L’amour (Love’s End) snap off arbitrarily, words tumbling into the next line and the next. There is no real beginning or end to sentences, no capitalisation, no full stops, no commas. Onstage, a man and a woman try to end to their relationship with this same cascade of words.
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.
Breasts and body politics
Life, Amitha Amranand, Published on 21/08/2014
» Being in the presence of Thai visual artist Pinaree Sanpitak’s work, whether a print or an original, has always put me in a state of calm. Her minimalist style is neither cold nor distant, but intimate and nurturing. It somehow invites you to breathe and expand as it envelopes you in its warmth.
Foetus' dark dreams
Life, Amitha Amranand, Published on 14/08/2014
» When it comes to dance, it's difficult to tear the focus away from the body, especially when there's a heavily pregnant performer onstage. Yet Bo Kittiphon's latest butoh creation, A Fetus' Dream, co-directed by Grisana Punpeng, also journeys beyond the physicality and into places we seldom associate with motherhood.
Comments to be taken on board
Life, Amitha Amranand, Published on 31/07/2014
» When I first learned about the premise of The Comments: Kam Kid Hen, the latest play directed by Jaturachai Srichanwanpen, I was both intrigued and sceptical. Intrigued because the audience was promised that their opinions would guide certain parts of the play and sceptical because the play’s seeming aversion to a culture in which everyone is a critic felt strange in a time when people are incarcerated for their thoughts and sometimes tried in military courts.
Examination of Loneliness
Life, Amitha Amranand, Published on 19/06/2014
» After a year-and-a-half away from the stage, Lithuanian theatre teacher and artist Egle Simkeviciute Kulvelis decided it was time to get back to her beloved craft. Kulvelis began taking an interest in theatre after high school and chose it as her major in university. After graduation, she moved to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, where she taught children and teenagers at a drama academy.