Showing 1 - 10 of 17
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?
The evolution of an artist
Life, Amitha Amranand, Published on 01/04/2021
» It's impossible for me to critique choreographer Jitti Chompee's latest show Melancholy Of Demon without viewing it as part of a larger project, which also includes a film, a book, a photo exhibition, a dance demonstration and a seminar of a more academic nature. The show was staged at Lido Connect from March 18-22. This review is the first part of an essay about the project and focuses only on Melancholy Of Demon.
Garden of dreams and delights
Life, Amitha Amranand, Published on 09/05/2019
» B-floor Theatre, Thailand's only physical theatre company, turns 20 this year. And they are marking the occasion with Shakespeare.
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.
Freeform art
Life, Amitha Amranand, Published on 01/12/2017
» A decade ago, theatre was still seen an art form on the margin in Thailand. That is less true today. Visual art and design events are beginning to include theatre in their programmes. The new art and design event Freeform Festival has revived an abandoned school building at ACMEN Ekamai Complex with exhibitions, workshops, food trucks, plays and dance. Their performing arts programme is a solid one. Hopefully, this will become another platform for quality theatre in the future.
Passionate, but ultimately superficial
Life, Amitha Amranand, Published on 21/09/2017
» There is no shortage of passion and potential in the new Thai-language musical, 21¾, about the dreams and struggles of urbanites in their early 20s.
A dull history lesson
Life, Amitha Amranand, Published on 24/08/2017
» Anatta Theatre Troupe's Rak Talerd (Love Astray) is a small play with lots of big messages and an even bigger desire to educate the audience about Field Marshal Plaek Pibulsonggram's regime, from his fascist approach to the modernisation and Westernisation of Thailand to the Franco-Thai War to Siam's alliance with Japan during World War II.
Fundamental, Stick Figures win big
Life, Amitha Amranand, Published on 21/04/2017
» Theatre artists from 17 productions were nominated this year for the IATC Thailand Dance and Theatre Review, which took place on Tuesday at the Bangkok Art and Culture Centre (BACC). Now in its fifth year, the ceremony is hosted by the International Association of Theatre Critics Thailand Center. The casual and intimate event honours plays, musicals, and movement-based productions by artists residing in Thailand.
A peek into our inner landscape
Life, Amitha Amranand, Published on 24/06/2016
» It's no surprise that stage director, playwright and actor Shogo Tanikawa's plays have a small following in Bangkok. As a writer, the Bangkok-based half-Thai, half-Japanese has a keen sense for quirky details in the mundane; his characters are relatable yet lovable and not-overly strange; his stories are about small moments in the lives of seemingly ordinary people in heartfelt, even sentimental, ways.
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.