The Bard in Bangkok

Naked Masks Network's King Lear will be performed at 7.30pm from today until Sunday at the Pridi Banomyong Institute, between Thonglor Soi 3 and 5 (BTS: Thonglor).  The play will be in Thai.

For Naked Masks Network, one of Bangkok's most prolific theatre troupes, 2007 is the year of the bard. The ongoing project entitled "Shakespeare in Bangkok" comprises workshops and productions involving translations and adaptations of "The Merchant of Venice", "King Lear", "Twelfth Night", and "Hamlet", and spans seven months.

"Some Shakespearean plays can directly and clearly reflect what's happening in Thailand at the moment," says Ninart Boonpothong, artistic director and founder of the troupe. "I think our society is not very different from the English society in that period, in terms of people's faith and behaviour."

"Besides, performing in Shakespearean plays is a challenging task that will give our younger members a chance to test and improve their acting skills."

Completed last month is "Shylock the Merchant of Bangkok", in which the troupe members gave theatre workshops to high-school students and let them adapt the play and develop their scenes. Ninart explains, "It reflects their views on politics. The process is very democratic: no one was assigned as a director or a playwright. They're all in it together, using what they learned from our workshops. There were fights here and there, of course. In the end, their play has both original Shylock's ideas as well as ideas about Buddhism and Islam in Thailand. It's pretty controversial and we needed to prep talk the audience before the show in schools."

The students who have been through the process will then lead another group of students in another workshop. In September, they will present an adaptation of "Twelfth Night" to their school peers.

In the meantime, "King Lear" is being presented to the public. Ninart who serves as the director of this production says, "I picked 'King Lear' at the same time as 'Hamlet' [scheduled to be adapted into 'The Night I Slept over the Revolution', to be performed in December]. The former is the father's, the ruler's, story while the latter is the son's, or the citizens'. 'King Lear' is about actions, various types of them, and their results."

"The central concept is that, in our hearts, we all are kings. In rehearsals, the actors need to first apply this, and then find ways to interpret each character. All would show different facets of what's in the title character's mind. I hope that in general the production of 'King Lear' would be able to reflect the macro view of our country, before we get into the micro views in [the adaptation of] 'Hamlet'".

"The first problem we faced is that of the language. While there is much fun in the original's wordplay, the syntax of Thai language is very different. Our solution is that we've broken away from both Thai and Western frameworks. Instead, I emphasise animalistic traits in each character. The play took place in a primitive period when people lived in tribes and clans and human instincts were not yet distinctive from those of animals. Our costume design reflects this concept as well. It doesn't look clearly Thai or Western, but will enhance certain animalistic features of the characters."

"In the first week of performance, the pay-what-you-can shows, we presented it uncut. Then, after hearing some comments from the audience, we'll decide if we should trim some parts. Plus, now that the actors are more comfortable with the lines, it's more fun." n

Tickets are Bt200 (40 per cent discount for students and groups of 10 or more). For reservations, call (087) 722 1435 or (081) 291 0096. For more information visit www.nakedmasks.com.

Pawit Mahasarinand  

The writer can be reached at pawit.m@chula.ac.th.