Brace for feminist fury in 'Details Cannot Body Wants' - this performance has been R-rated
Some of the content of the Singaporean play "Details Cannot Body Wants" meant that no one under 20 could see it when it premiered in 1992, but every night was sold out.
Age restrictions come down to parents' common sense for the play's revival in Bangkok next week. Best keep adolescents away.
Helen Gilbert included playwright-poet-performer Chin Woon Ping's work in her anthology "Post-Colonial Plays". The first section, "Details", she wrote, "dramatises the minutiae of the Woman's daily life, the objects, events, actions, sounds, encounters and taboos that she must possess and manipulate in order to give some shape to her existence".
In "Cannot", "the performer enacts, and subverts, the disciplinary measures of feminine ascription that she faces as an 'Oriental' woman".
The segment "Body", Gilbert said, "shows how the female body becomes the locus of male desire and power which, in turn, marks women's bodies in quite specific, and sometimes damaging, ways".
And "Wants", the last part, shows "the suppressed desires of the Woman, suggesting her socialisation into becoming an inveterate consumer with myriad 'wants' in hankering after which she often compromises or effaces herself".
Young Thai actress Patcharakamon Chantree heard about the play from Kulthida Maneerat, her drama professor at Chulalongkorn University. "She thought it fit my character, I guess—and she was right."
Patcharakamon is co-producing and starring in next week's staging.
"My first impression was that it's a very difficult play, with many social and cultural references that I didn't understand - an Indonesian poem and a Chinese song, for example."
But English-language major Ming Panha, who translated it into Thai, "helped me a lot with his research, and we also asked a Chinese-language professor to help.
"Of course, we needed to make minor changes in the script in consideration of our Thai audience."
Patcharakamon presented the piece earlier this year at the Bangkok Art and Culture Centre (BACC) as her senior project, and her professors were unanimous in their acclaim.
"I chose it because it's very challenging, since it requires not just acting but singing and physical movement," she says.
"I was quite worried, though, especially the content and gestures in the 'Body' section. I'm not a feminist, but when I read the play, I agreed with it.
"The audience at BACC enjoyed it. Some said they got really involved with the story and felt pity for the Woman. Others were quite surprised that I could single-handedly hold the audience for an hour."
Now acting professionally, Patcharakamon is reviving the play with the help of former classmates who have formed the group Should Play.
"It's a very good script and we want a broader audience to experience it," she says.
"I'm working with the director, Malinda Phamornsuwan, to fine-tune it. Last time I focused more on the character's objectives, and this time Malinda and I are discussing the audience's perceptions as well."
NOT FOR KIDS
See "Details Cannot Body Wants" next Wednesday through Sunday at 7.30 or at 2pm on the weekend.
It's at Blue Box Studio on the second floor of M Theatre on New Petchaburi Road.
Tickets are Bt500 (Bt250 for students) at www.BananaBooking.com. Sign up at www.PlayMember.com for free and the seats are Bt350.
The show is in Thai with English surtitles.
The mature content makes it inappropriate for children under 13.
Feminist scholars will lead a discussion after every performance.