Phuket dot net

What better way to test the inner creative spirit of Thai students than to bombard them with images of the surreal? On June 16, a warning was sent out; the clowns are coming. Two weeks later and they have arrived and are alive and well, up to all manner of peculiar activities, traipsing around eight of Bangkok’s universities over two months.

The experiment begins. First stop for our intrepid colony of clowns is Assumption Univesity (Abac) in Bang Na. A safe enough distance from the metropolis of central Bangkok, Abac is situated in the middle of vast farmlands; an apt location for a troop of clowns to bewilder unsuspecting students with their tomfoolery.

Beyond the courtyard plaza, with its classical columns and arcades, scenic stretch out alongside neatly manicured lawns up to the university mall. The mall is a small building, complete with obligatory convenience store, restaurants and a book shop. This is to be the beginning of a two-month tirade against the conventions of popular culture and art. Is Bangkok ready for such shenanigans? This writer can only frown and shake his head with a wry smile.

‘Lunge’ are here, and the show begins with an air of significance about it. A few groups of students converge around the action with looks of puzzlement on their faces as an oversized baby crawls into his living room and begins playing with his toys. In come the mother and father to watch the enormous television, completely unaware of their son’s presence.

The curtain on the television is pulled up to reveal an advert for a new product aimed at keeping children quiet – whiskey-in-a-baby-bottle. The students look amused. Satire is at large in Abac.

A game show begins. As with any game show, contestants are needed. Interactive circus street theatre would normally call upon the audience for help at this point, but the terrified looks on the students’ faces suggests that convincing Thailand of the joys of street performance may take a little longer than expected.

Day two begins in the cathedral plaza, below marble halls and painted ceilings. University orientation is under way, and droves of students are in the vicinity. The performance space is a little out of the way, but word seems to have spread and a healthy audience is already in attendance before the show has even begun.

The students, being a little more prepared this time around, embrace the idea of interaction with the show and at last, a game show contestant is found and the fun begins. There is no turning back now.

On the final day of ‘Lunge’s’ first tour stop, members of Abac Bang Na’s own arts and performance students club sit through the entire two hour performance. “That was really cool,” mentions one of the newly devoted. The club is so impressed that the clowns are invited back to the university for a work-shop.

The first week of performances comes to an end. The clowns, musicians, mime artists and everyone else involved revel in the satisfaction of confusing and entertaining students by challenging the safe boundaries within which their enjoyment is so often confined.

More or less every person passing by the show at least stopped and had a quick look at what was taking place. The audience numbers never dipped below 30-40, and some 500-600 people saw the show every day. Some of the students were so taken by what they saw that they offered up their services for future performances.

“It’s good to see that there are at least some Thai kids who are interested in more than commercial pop and hanging out at the mall,” quips Top, one of the performers. Next week; the action moves on to Thammasat University in Rangsit to join ‘Art Addicted.’ Thammasat, they are coming.