The human zoo

The human zoo

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
The human zoo

Director Saifah Tanthana’s new play The Last Schomburgk’s Deer takes the audience to a zoo. It’s a duo performance by Wachara Kanha and Vidura Amranand, who have the curious task of depicting human instinct and desire through the roles of the now-extinct male and female Schomburgk’s deer.

Through a series of dialogues, monologues and physical movements, the play, which was originally staged at the Bangkok Theatre Festival 2013, is essentially about sexual desire and the male-female relationship issues and philosophical questions that revolve around it.

Actors Wachara Kanha and Vidura Amranand from The Last Schomburgk’s Deer.

“The show is about coming to see a couple about to have sex,” says Saifah.

Vidura is best known to the audience through her physical-based performances like The Floating Project and The Last Gasp Of A Mournful Heart and this is the first time she’s been involved in a play with dialogue.

“The dialogue revolves around the male-female relationship,” said Saifah, “And also the philosophical argument between the two. The audience is led into a zoo where the two deer will entertain you, dance for you and let you take photographs with them.”

The other part of the play, Saifah explains, is the world of just the two of them in their bedroom.

“They both want to have sex but neither of them is willing to admit that. The audience get to see the daily life of these characters, they eat, they poop, they have sex and they sleep. It’s about sexual desire and attraction and the strategies they use to beat one another.”

The original script by Thanachon Chanrueng was much shorter, with Orada Lelanuja later coming up with monologues for the male and female characters for Bangkok Theatre Festival 2013. In this version, Vidura has added more dialogue to the monologue for her character, inspired by Orada’s original writing.

The performance is a combination of dialogue, movements and music, with the inspiration for the choreography coming from the habits and movements of the animals.

“There’s also an element of documentary to it too,” says Saifah. “I’ve researched online what Schomburgk’s deer is and put that into the play in order to make the comparisons between the animal and humans much clearer. I’ve never done something like this before. I had to arrange, to put the dialogue, monologues and also information from my research into the animal and find a way to link all this. This was quite a challenge for me.”


- Performances are at 7.30pm on Sept 3-5, 9-10, 12-15 at Crescent Moon Space, Pridi Banomyong Institute.
- Tickets cost 380 baht.
- Call 080 589 1999 or 08-1655-8873 for reservations.

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