Southern storyteller | Bangkok Post: Arts & Culture

REVIEW

Few productions on the Bangkok theatre scene have tackled the violence in the Deep South. None that I've seen have moved beyond beating around the bush. Granted, it's a very delicate and complex subject to handle, rendered more difficult for the artists by the geographical and cultural distance, not to mention the dearth of information. Not that any of these constraints should stop an artist from finding a way to dig deeper and create a work that moves and awakens. Many seem to flock to Worapot Phanphong's Thi Kerd Hade, a collection of articles about a year spent in the Deep South, as their number one reference. The book shines with compassion and is effective as an introduction to the problems in the South, but also drips with the romanticisation of the rural and small-town Muslim ways and lacks a critical edge.

Last week at Silpa Nana Pun Festival, Pridi Banomyong Institute's annual social- and political-themed art event, Farida Jirapun staged her Aslam... Jak Jaoying Siang Sao Hang Duangdao Duang Thi Si (Aslam... From the Sad-Voiced Princess of the Fourth Star). Adapted from two short stories from Binla Sankalakiri's SEA Write-winning book, Jao Ngin, the play is so far the most full-fledged theatrical creation about the southern unrest.

Aslam began as a staged reading two years ago at the Crescent Moon Theatre's Read to Peace event, in which Farida collaborated with Colid Midam, stringing together the lyrics of John Lennon's Imagine, the Muslim greeting "Aslamu alaikum" ("Peace be upon you"), and passages from the Koran. Both artists are Muslim and have produced smaller-scale pieces on issues surrounding Muslims in Thailand over the years. At last year's Crescent Moon's Play Reading: Women Read, Farida performed 'Lok' Kong Jaoying Nok Binlai Kub Jaochai Nok Binha (The 'World' of Bird Princess Binlai and Bird Prince Binha), the last tale in Binla's Jao Ngin.