SILHOUETTES OF DESIRE
Sodsai Pantoomkomol Centre for Dramatic Arts is hosting the world premiere of Pratthana — A Portrait Of Possession, a Thai-Japanese collaborative performance, on Aug 22 at 7.30pm. Five more rounds will be staged from Aug 23-25 at 7.30pm and on Aug 25 and Aug 26 at 1.30pm.
Presented by the Japan Foundation Asia Center in collaboration with Precog and Chelfitsch theatre company, this is an adaptation of Rang Khong Pratthana (Silhouette Of Desire), the latest novel by award-winning novelist Uthis Haemamool reputed for his brilliant examinations of the identity and psyche of individuals living in today’s Asia.
The story revolves around a lone painter struggling to be productive while searching for himself in his artistic activities and the surrounding social context. Within the story lie hidden borderlines between the self and others, life and death, man and woman, past and present, one class and another, the individual and the nation, the controller and the controlled, and desire and its object.
In adapting the novel for the stage, Japanese writer/director Toshiki Okada has chosen to employ a theatrical methodology to super-impose these borderlines on the narrative and the actors’ bodies.
The cast features 11 Thai performers, ranging from novices to veterans. Working behind the scenes is a collaborative team with Thai and Japanese artists experienced in crossing the boundaries of art forms.
Tickets at the door cost 750 baht (450 baht for students). The Sodsai Pantoomkomol Centre for Dramatic Arts is on the 6th floor of the Maha Chakri Sirindhorn Building, Faculty of Arts, Chulalongkorn University, Phaya Thai Road.