Performance Reviews

Abstract

Staged as a part of the “Asia in Resonance” series and presented by the Japan Foundation Asia Center, Pratthana was the result of an extended collaboration between Thai novelist Uthis Haemamool and Japanese playwright/director Okada Toshiki. Originally premiering in Bangkok, followed by a tour in Paris before being presented in Tokyo, Pratthana combines Okada’s physical actor vocabulary and strong visual style with Haemamool’s powerful story of sexual experimentation and political dissidence. Staged in Thai (with Japanese and English subtitles), the play, although four hours long, was a fascinating examination of the multiplicity of ways in which issues of art, sexuality, freedom, politics, and responsibility (both political and personal) intersect.