This weekend’s Live at the Scala presented a rare opportunity for collaboration between British artists and their talented, Thai colleagues.
Throughout the theater space, performers, some of whom had flown in from the UK for the event, presented art installations and performances that took the idea of “theater” as their theme and ran with it in variously fascinating directions.
The festival’s first show, held in the Scala Theater’s lobby, presented just such a playful reimaging of a traditional trope. Two performers – Gemma Paintin and James Stenhouse from UK’s Action Hero – performed a 50-minute skit entitled “A Western.” The skit took this classic Hollywood convention and turned it into an intimate, engaging experience.
At one point Gemma, who went by the sobriquet “The Whore” throughout the performance, described her partner James’s approach as taking place “on a horse.”
James was actually speeding around the lobby on a red bicycle. The crowd couldn’t help but laugh.
A short while later, Gemma read, “This is the scene where our hero shoots at a bandit’s feet, forcing him to dance.”
Some unlucky audience member was forced to jump around as imaginary bullets hit the ground near his feet.
One spectator said, “I don’t think this works for the Thai crowd. It’s not our culture.”
To which another responded, “That’s why you need it!”
This interaction proved indicative of the event as a whole.
After the “Western” audience members were allowed to explore the rest of the theater, where a variety of acts and installations were taking place.
One UK performer set out to dance for three hours non-stop, while Thailand’s very own Nana Dakin offered some very public kisses in her high-profile “Kissing Booth.”
At the end of the day, Live at the Scala Theater’s forceful meeting of East and West yielded results that were sometimes odd, but not once boring.
