After the confusion that was ‘Sorry I’m Late’ at Abac, Bang Na, the clowns and their colleagues moved onto their next destinations with ice-white smiles beaming with an eagerness that was so real it felt like radiation emanating from their faces.
Thammasart University, Rangsit, was the next stop, where the group would come together with student collective ‘Art Addicted,’ famed for organising a variety of art related events on campus Art Addicted’s vision is to have an audience who smile, laugh and cry together with the performers. Shadow puppetry, movie discussion and musical plays are but three of Art Addicted’s many offerings to its members.
Some technical problems with an overbearing sun causing some of the props to shrink could not deter our faithful clowns and their newfound companions as they went about their ways. Songs were sung, and a lively student acted as a master of ceremonies for the event. Other student activities included a variety of photographic displays and exhibitions of handheld ornaments, proving that Thai youth culture is creatively clued up after all. What were we worried about?
Thammasart gave Lunge its first clown casualty as Nancy was rendered out of action due to some high flying acrobatics which resulted in an injured leg. Missing in action for some time now, there are rumours of a return to regular clowning duties soon.
On the final day of the stopover at Thammasart, the university invited pop sensation and uni alumni Buachompoo Ford to perform tracks from her new album. Buachompoo’s presence was a lesson that dreams can come true. The clowns’ presence was a lesson that sometimes dreams really need to come true.
Sinakharinvirot University, also located in Rangsit, was next to be graced with the presence of the travelling clown brigade. A number of students from the faculty of fine arts, working in a collective known as ‘Imagining Art,’ joined in with the shenanigans. The students opened the festivities with an exuberant rendition of a Thai dance. The Black Eyed Peas were, thankfully, nowhere to be seen. Lunge then went about their usual antics of causing members of the audience to question their very existence.
A gem of a student initiative materialised on day two of the Sinakharinvirot project. ‘Rang-Ban-Dan-Jai’ (‘inspiration’ to you and this writer) performed a piece based on the mundane routines that present themselves to us in the form of everyday life – a young girl seeks to break out of this eternal routine and so takes her blossoming flower and walks against the flow of the normal people in the world, attacking these poor folk with her floral weapon to force them to see life with a rose-coloured tint.
As the performances reached the three day climax, the Imagining Art collective performed two intriguing shows. The first, entitled ‘Sang-Tien,’ or ‘candlelight,’ used the symbol of a candle’s flame as a metaphor for the burning light that is life. In order to make one candle brighter, the light from another candle is needed, presenting the curious puzzle of whether or not the human mind is capable of acting as if it were a candle, making a sacrifice for another.
The second of Imagining Art’s performances was aptly named ‘confusion.’ The story saw five colour-coded characters interact in a tale laced with innocence, love, envy, power and sin. Sophomore student and ‘Imagining Art’ representative Chayanee Sornprathum said that the idea behind ‘confusion’ was to convey a message reminding the audience of the powers that lie within the uglier side of the human psyche.
Whoever it was that said there was no art scene in Bangkok should take a trip to the universities of the city where the next generation of great performers and expressionists are already displaying original and innovative concepts and ideals. Catch them while you can.
