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Published on February 26, 2008

"I never thought I would be a person who tries to give good things to the public and convince them to realise the importance of giving, as before I did not give others anything, behaved badly and caused problems to society," said Thos (not his real name), a 22-year-old performer who was previously detained in Kan-chanapisek Remand Home.

He is one of five men who have been freed from the home so that they can learn acting.

Thos and his fellow performers visited Ban Karuna Remand Home yesterday to perform the play that aims to influence inmates in doing good deeds.

The play includes four minor stories. The first encourages inmates to rush to help people in trouble whenever they see them.

The second tells them to get rid of bias against a person who has refused to help them and to give the person aid if he or she needs it.

The third teaches them the importance of sacrifice in helping people.

The last story is based on a real incident that happened to two men in Kanchanapisek Remand Home. A man tried to kill another in revenge for killing his father, but eventually he forgave him and eventually helped one another. The story taught them to learn forgiveness, which is very hard to accomplish in the circumstances.

Players got the audience involved by asking them to decide whether they would behave the same as the characters.

Twelve actors took turns to perform their powerful play, watched enthusiastically by 500 remand youngsters.

Thos said he decided to join the group because he wanted to show that helping people was not shameful for teenagers.

"I want our play to be able to change just one person's opinion after watching it. Only this will make me happy.

"Although this is the last show for us, my friends and I will surely try to initiate other projects that will be useful for the public," Thos said. The play has been performed in communities, schools and remand homes for over a year with support from the Thai Health Promotion Foundation, Sharing for Sustainable Society, Social Venture Network and Arsom Silp Institute of the Arts.

Audience member Big (not his real name), 17, said he liked the play as he had to get involved by thinking about what he should do.

"The play was great. It let me know what is right and what is wrong. It also reminded me to be a good person and to aim to help others as much as I can when I'm allowed to go out of the home," he said. "For me, a motto I got from the play was to 'share out'. I will now try to adjust myself to share things with others."

Wannapa Phetdee

The Nation