Parallel Normalities
“Whispering Blue – I heard your voice from the back of a blue car”
| Duration: | Monday, July 17 – Sunday, July 23 2023 *This is a seven-day long performance and will be performed only once. |
| Sites: | Various points around the city center of Dansai district, Loei province *Details will be announced via LINE official account. |
| Language: | Thai, Japanese and some English |
| Free Admission | |
| This work is a part of Loei Art Fes 2023: “Third Place”. This work is produced for the Japan Foundation’s International Creations in Performing Arts 2023 and supported by The Saison Foundation (International Projects Support Program). | |
●Seven days to witness “everyday life” with travelers
Watch the video record of the performance here
Two travelers came from far away to a small town surrounded by mountains and rivers. Both of them were carrying something in their hearts. Guided by whispers of memories, they continued their journey for seven days, where they might have seen old friends again or meet new ones. Or they might remember something. Then they gained and gave something, and another page was turned in the calendar of their lives. “Whispering Blue- I heard your voice from the back of a blue car” was a seven-day performance in which the audience followed Ryu and Tomo on their journey to a small city in Northern east Thailand, Dansai. Every day they received a message from Fah (meaning blue in Thai), to let them know where they should meet each other. Audiences could read the message through a special website, official LINE account of Fah and other social media channels. Audience was invited to follow Ryu and Tomo to destinations designated by Fah and witnessed the daily events that they encountered by being the places. Photos taken by Ryu (Ryuichiro Suzuki, photographer) and diary written by Tomo (Tomonori Shimoda) was also available everyday during the performance period.
●A Thai-Japanese collaborative projects which designates a beauty of everyday life as starting point
Parallel Normalities was a three year collaborative project between a Japanese playwright, Natsuki Ishigami who worked on site-specific theatrical and art projects using cities and communities as subject matter, and Thai playwright/ author Nuttamon Preamsamran. As the culmination of the project, “Whispering Blue – I heard your voice from the back of a blue car” was performed in Dansai District, Loei Province, Thailand. This work was an adaptation of the prototype version of the play “Ao ni au” that Ishigami has produced in Kyoto in 2017. For the production, both the Thai and Japanese production team did research in Dansai and Gotemba city, in Shizuoka prefecture, the hometown of Ryuichiro Suzuki who is a photographer and one of the actors in the performance.
●How to see the performance
– During the performance period, you will receive a message on LINE from Fah with the location for the next day. You will be able to see the performance by just being there at the time and place indicated in the message. In order to receive a message from Fah, please add Fah as your friend on LINE. The play score will be posted on the special website and Facebook event page.
– Recording videos and photos are allowed during the performance without interrupting other audiences viewing.
– Please post your videos and photos on social networking sites with the hashtag #WhisperingBlue or #ฟ้าบอกว่า.
▼ Fah’s LINE account
*required to receive messages about locations and time of the performance
https://line.me/R/ti/p/@178vsbkr
●Special website and Facebook event page
Website: https://whisperingblue.wixsite.com/whisperingblue
FB event page: https://fb.me/e/3IwwgIlD9
●Inquiries
Prayoon for Art Foundation (English, Japanese, Thai) prayoonforart@gmail.com
For inquiries on how to access Dansai, please contact us.
▼Artist biography
Natsuki Ishigami
Playwright.centered around the theatrical group “Pepin Structural Designs” since 1999. In recent years, she has been working on site-specific plays and art projects using cities and communities as subject matter in and outside of Japan. Her recent works include writing and staging “Oesiki Project Tour Performance ‘BEAT,’” being Guest Curator for ADAM Artist Lab in Taipei Arts Festival 2019, and directing “Theater Today” in On Stage Shizuoka (FY2021), directing “Yoroboshi” at Shizuoka Performing Arts Center (2022). She is a chair of the non-profit art organization “Places and Narratives,” based in Shizuoka since 2020.
Nuttamon Pramsumran
Writer, playwright. Born in Samut Sakhon, Thailand in 1993. Cofounder of Circle Theatre.B.A in Dramatic Arts program from Chulalongkorn University and M.F.A in Art Theory from Silpakorn University. Her works include “La maladie de l’amour: Detoxification of a Heart” (World Stage Design Festival, Taipei, Taiwan, 2017),”OK LAND” (Best Ensemble from Bangkok Theatre Festival 2020 and was selected to be in the M1 Singapore Fringe Festival 2022). She was Invited to TPAM2020 (Yokohama, Japan) and also joined HEKTOMERON (Craiova, Romania) in 2021.
▼Parallel Normalities
“Whispering Blue – I heard your voice from the back of a blue car”
| Organized by: | Place and Narrative, Prayoon For Art Foundation |
| Co-organized by: | The Japan Foundation |
| Supported by: | The Saison Foundation (International Projects Support Program) |
| Created by: | Nuttamon Pramsumran, Natsuki Ishigami |
| Performed by: | Ryuichiro Suzuki, Tomonori Shimoda, People in Dansai |
| Produced by: | Chigusa Tomita |
| Curated by: | Siree Riewpaiboon |
| Project Manager: | Hikaru Kuwahara |
| Coordinator: | Kritsakorn Kanitchayanan |
| Assistant Producer: | Wayla Amatathammachad |
This work is a part of Loei Art Fes 2023: “Third Place”.
This work is produced for the Japan Foundation’s International Creations in Performing Arts 2023 and supported by The Saison Foundation (International Projects Support Program).
