What many may not know, probably because most members of the mass media do not care, is that another experimental theatre space, the 30-seat Crescent Moon Space, also opened a few weeks ago, with the ongoing "Women in the Moon: A Women Playwrights and Directors Festival".

The resident company at the Rachadalai Theatre is Scenario, which has produced only four musicals in the past 10 years. The latter is the 31-year-old Phrachan Siao Kan Lakhon (the Crescent Moon theatre group), whose long resume may not fit on this page. This disparity between commercial and non-mainstream theatre companies reflects the current situation in contemporary Thai theatre, and if it persists the spotlight on both will not shine very bright.

Lack of space has always been a problem for the advancement of contemporary Thai theatre and has crippled a good number of theatre troupes. They are unable to create and to present their works continually as well as to develop a strong and loyal audience. In other words, they are unable to have a sustainable career in theatre. Most existing rental venues are not specifically designed for theatre productions, but rather as multipurpose auditoriums with proscenium stages to accommodate a wide variety of events - dance, ballet, opera, concert, film, lectures, etc - none of which they serve most effectively.

Considering this deficiency, the two new purpose-built - or, in the case of the latter, reconfigured - spaces will be warmly welcomed by members of the theatre-going public, who continue to grow in number. In the same way that venues such as the Bangkok Playhouse, which is unfortunately defunct, and the Theatre in the Garden resulted in the fruitfulness and consistency of works by Dass Entertainment and the Patravadi Theatre, Scenario and Phrachan Siao can draft a realistic annual plan now that they have found new homes.

Questions remain as to how many multimillion-baht-budget musical spectaculars a television producer like Scenario, and other companies renting the Rachadalai Theatre will be able to stage each year at the venue. And since it is built for musicals, many are wondering whether the growing number of theatregoers will want to watch, and the actors want to perform in, star-studded musicals only.

Certainly, staging a less grand, dialogue-driven play in such a large house would not work as successfully, mainly due to the vast distance separating the actions on stage and the audience. Even in places such as Broadway and London's West End, spoken plays are staged in considerably smaller houses to better engage the audience's empathy.

On the other side of the coin is the question of how much of an effect plays, projects and festivals at the Crescent Moon Space will have on Thai theatre as a whole, given its current rate of 30 audience members per night.

The situation is even worse when we consider that a recent transfer of a play by the 8X8 Theatre Group, which runs another small converted 30-seat space, to the 600-seat Bangkok Theatre at Metropolis was not a commercial success.

Clearly, what is lacking now is the bridge between these two kinds of theatre spaces, namely a more artistically and commercially practical medium-sized playhouse, seating around 200 to 400 and equipped with a flexible stage configuration. In an ideal situation - and this has been the model recently in newly built theatre complexes elsewhere - this studio theatre would be housed under the same roof as the main theatre. Not only can the former serve as the rehearsal space or the try-out venue for the latter, but two productions with highly distinctive styles and subject matters targeting different groups can also be presented concurrently. As posters for both productions are put side by side in the same lobby and details printed in the same brochure, audiences frequently "cross over" and watch the kind of play they may not have otherwise heard of. The audiences for both kinds of theatre increases, while prejudices lessen.

Ignored by Thai theatre producers, this concept has already been proven successful by renowned companies around the world. The list includes the National Theatre and the Barbican in London, the Lincoln Centre of the Performing Arts in New York City, as well as the Esplanade: Theatres on the Bay in Singapore.

It cost hundreds of millions of baht to build a playhouse, yet only a little bit of added vision to do it properly. Let's keep our fingers crossed for future projects.

Guest columnist Pawit Mahasarinand teaches Dramatic Arts at Chulalongkorn University's Faculty of Arts, and is finishing his PhD dissertation on "Translation and Adaptation of Modern American Drama in Contemporary Thai Theatre" at the University of Michigan.

 Pawit Mahasarinand