Director and playwright Nophand Boonyai once saw a random photo of four Japanese girls staring dead-faced at the camera. He pondered as to how they had got that look in their eyes and then heard the song I Only Have Eyes For You. He suddenly had a vision of Earth, seen from outer space: there was a dead body lying still, pale white in the moonlight.
Nophand then decided he would write a play about four schoolgirls killing somebody as a sacrifice to the dark side. For what purpose, he wasn't exactly sure.
From that point on, the idea developed into a "comedy noir" titled The Cult: a play about a dark cult in a school named Monte Cristo, where a student goes missing.
"I was always intrigued by the mood and tone of film noir, especially the acting," said Nophand. "You can't find that kind of intense acting these days, not even on Channel 7 soap operas. In the noir tradition, the heroes are always so cool and emotionless and you can't separate the good guy from the bad guy because everyone is a sinner. I guess I wanted to achieve that in the play somehow."
After his previous works Adoption and Utopian Malady, both of which were biting satire on social and political issues — the latter about writers being kidnapped and forced to write a plot to get the country's leader out of a controversial mess — his new work is yet another timely take on the idea of images of good and hidden evil in an educational institution.
"The story is set in 1984," says Nophand. "Two government officers are sent to Monte Cristo school to inform them that they had been accepted to the national music contest. The officers soon discover that one of the band members is missing and nobody knows her whereabouts. At the same time the US announces that a comet is flying straight towards Earth and the chance of impact was 50/50."
The two main characters, the government officers, are played by Saifah Tanthana and Suphasawatt Purnaveja. Pattarasuda Anuman Rajadhon, who starred in Nophand's previous show Utopian Malady, also joins the cast. Nophand says his concept is loosely based an incident from the 80s when there was a lot of discussion about Comet Hale–Bopp and how an American man tried to kill his daughter in the belief that if he sacrificed her so that the comet would not crash into Earth.
"I was also reading 1Q84 by Murakami," says Nophand. "I liked the idea how different dimensions and times merged, but in my case I was attracted to the idea that nothing had to make sense, just like the times we are in now. Although it's 2014 now, somehow everything is still just like it was 30 years ago."
Writing the play has been a challenge for Nophand as even though he already had the theme and setting in his head, there was difficulty in piecing the fiction and the parts that related to ourselves and contemporary issues together.
"To be honest, it was very hard and confusing," said Nophand. "It ended with two main points: one was personal and one was satirical. The latter focused on the socials issues and the design for life that was handed to us, whether we like it or not."
- At 8pm, Oct 16-20 (500 baht), Oct 23-27 (550 baht), Oct 30-Nov 4 (600 baht) at Democrazy Theatre Studio.
- Call 081-852-1641 for reservations.
