The play's the thing

Despite a limited budget and some unnecessary visual effects, Bangplay Learning Theatre Group's "Thi Chob Thi Chob" offers some commendable performances and delivers important messages on how to lead our lives.

Premiering last year as a student-and-staff production at Kasembundit University, where some members of the group lecture, this truth-seeking yet easy-to-follow play portrays the long and often thorny journey taken by characters in search of "The Right Place" - the place where each will attain a true sense of belonging and get what they ultimately wish for.

In the end, all find that it is closer than they think, and some reach it much sooner than the others.

The script by Natthaphong Yaemcharoen was further adapted by Thawiwat Kamnoedphet, and watching a play that has been through several stages - rehearsals, performances and revisions - the audience has no problem understanding the situations, dialogues and themes.

Further tinkering, however, should be considered for the play's next revival.

For example, the main character Aphichat's desire to become a king sounds foreign and dated, making it difficult for the audience to empathise with him.

Thawiwat and his co-director Phaibun Sophonsuwaphap's nifty use of performance space is noteworthy.

They've turned the otherwise dull, poky auditorium at Sun Sangkhitsin (the Musical Art Centre) into a traverse stage configuration, with the acting area in the middle running almost the entire length of the rectangular room and allowing the entire audience to get close to the action.

This set-up not only corresponds with the voyage that the characters are taking but also, as the audience is seated facing one another, creates a sense of community.

At each ends of the stage there's a white screen where visual effects are created.

The use of both fluorescent and candescent light along the edges of the acting area is simple yet effective in creating an abstract and eerie atmosphere. Some visual effects, though, seem a bit clichéd, as when the performers shake long pieces of white cloth to portray rivers.

Others apparently limit the audience's imagination, like the use of shadow-puppet techniques to create images in the flower-field scene. During Thawiwat and Phaibun's time on stage their years of experience as actors shone through and it was a delight to see them so natural. No less credit is due to Kriangkrai Fukasem, who was totally credible as a white-collar office worker.

The play features musical numbers by Gandhi Anantagant, who's uncomplicated work succeeds in giving more clarity to the themes without overemphasising them, as well as adding more entertainment to the play without making it a musical extravaganza. Some young members of the chorus, unfortunately, weren't as comfortable singing as they were acting.

As Bangplay Learning Theatre Group's emphasis is on youth development through theatre, many high-school and university students spend their summer break working on and off the stage here.

Financial support should have been given to the two-year-old troupe to take this play on school tours, instead of the big spending on anti-drug concerts by pop artists trying to sell CDs and ringtone downloads.

One last note: A few years ago, the worst enemy for the theatre-going public was the ringing of mobile phones.

These days, theatregoers have become more careful and perhaps discreet, but a new foe has arrived: digital cameras flashed frequently all through last Friday's performance.