Parisienne walkways we've pranced

Thanks to support from the French embassy and Institut Francais, choreographer and artistic director of 18 Monkeys Dance Theatre Jitti Chompee recently spent months in Paris. That explains why his company had disappeared from the stage until last night when “Little Room in Etienne Marcel” premiered at Coffee Club, Silom.

Jitti is enthusiastic about his stay in the City of Lights and just as happy to be back home.

“I got more interested in visual arts, even attending some workshops there. When an artist visited my apartment and saw a monkey skull, a birthday gift from friends, he was inspired and painted a big buffalo skull on my wall. This connected me to the story in the Ramakien, concerning the buffalo Thoraphi who murdered his father Thorapha, a man cursed by Lord Shiva. Sadly, I haven’t had a good relationship with my father but I would never go that far.

“I was more interested in the gender issues in the tale and, in creating this new work, I was inspired by a very vibrant small Paris street named Etienne Marcel. It’s a shopping street, but the back alleys are home all kinds of establishments from gay bars to sex shops. And by the way, that little room does exist.” 

Two regular members of 18 Monkeys, Anucha Sumaman and Krittin Kiatmetha, whose different dance backgrounds form a core of this company, portray the buffalo characters. Watcharahong Kaewploy who worked with Jitti many years ago is also in the cast. “He looks just like a gay man I met in Etienne Marcel,” Jitti laughs. 

Another dancer Kanokporn Vorapharuek has frequented Jitti’s dance classes and is cast because “she looks like the daughter of the little room in Etienne Marcel”.

The most surprising choice in the cast is actor, playwright and director Nikorn Sae Tang, a Silpathorn artist who’s not known as a dancer, despite his training in physical theatre at the Ecole Internationale de Theatre Jacques Lecoq.

“I’ve been looking for an opportunity to work with an actor for a while,” Jitti explains. “I think it started to get boring to work with only dancers. Nikorn and I have had many good conversations after he came to watch my works. And even though he’s not a dancer, he can move very well and adapt very quickly. He’s been helping me lot as a dramaturg, an in-house critic who makes sure that my ideas communicate to the audience.”

“I’ve been a fan of his works for many years,” Nikorn adds. “I especially like the mise en scene, and so when he asked me to join in this new work I instantly said yes. I’m also working on my company 8X8 Theatre’s new work, which premieres next month, but we were able to adjust the rehearsal schedules to accommodate both works.”

Nikorn says that his role in this work is like a narrator, and Jitti explains, “His speech reveals some dark side of me”. 

Nikorn also dances in a few scenes and this has required him to catch up with his fellow performers starting with the warm-up dance exercises he’s not used to.

“As a director, Jitti has very clear ideas but he’s brave and crazy enough to allow his performers to pitch in our ideas and make changes accordingly. I find that it’s easier to make changes in a dance work, as opposed to in theatre where we’re tied up with a script, and that makes the experience more exciting.”

“As a choreographer, he’s also very specific, but he’d rather his performers digest his choreography and express it with individuality. That explains why he’s been working with Anucha [a veteran khon performer] but doesn’t want other performers to adjust their styles to Anucha’s.”

 

A STREET ON STAGE