06/10/2014
Troupe : Bangkok International Playback Theatre Co
United Kingdom
Director : Duncan Foster
Cast : Duncan Foster (Bangkok), Hugh Willbourn (Hong Kong), Anne Chua (Singapore), Michael Cheng (Singapore), Benito Ou (Taiwan) and Kan Cheong Li (Hong Kong)
Concept:Improvised theatre based on stories given by the audience
Detail :
Playback Theatre is a form of physical theatre which originated in the USA and which has recently become very popular in SE Asia, but which has not yet taken off in Thailand. I would like to bring together a team of top professional playback performers, all of whom I have worked with previously, from Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, London and New York to create an ?all-stars? cast to put on a Playback show in Bangkok.
The performers in playback theatre are: four actor/improvisers, one musician, one MC ?and the audience.
The MC elicits a story from one audience member ? a real story from the life of that audience member ? and then the MC invites the actors and musicians to act out that story in one of various forms of physical and musical improvised theatre. After the applause the MC checks out with the audience member what it was like seeing that extract of their life acted out, and then the MC asks if that story has inspired anyone else in the audience to tell a story. And the actors act out the next story, probably in a different style of improvisation. Thus the show progresses, themes develop amongst laughter and tears ? the stories may vary from light-hearted tales of romantic disaster or wayward pets through to very emotional stories of serious illness, loss, and personal tragedy.
At the end of the show the room is different. A group of people, most of whom did not know each other, have gradually opened up and revealed a rich tapestry of experiences from their lives to be witnessed in front of each other. And this sense of sharing is often taken out into the bar/foyer/ street/future meetings. It is often said that the audience are a key part of theatre. In playback, without the audience stories there is literally no show!
The performance is a rich mix of styles of lively physical theatre, sometimes dance, sometimes mime, sometimes verbal, often musical.
For the individuals whose stories were reenacted the experience may vary from a bit of fun and a fond memory relived, to a profound, emotional, even transformational public witnessing of a key moment in their life. Playback shows are popular as bonding events at weddings, company conferences and so on, and are also frequently used as therapeutic sessions in hospitals or mental health institutions. And, as in this case, Playback is an entertaining, amusing yet moving night out for the general public.
