On the auspicious occasion
of 130th Anniversary of
Thailand – Japan
Diplomatic Relations
“Super Premium Soft Double Vanilla Rich”
Stage play from
chelfitsch Theater Company
Written and Directed by Toshiki Okada
 |
| A contemporary stage play that will let you dive into the Japanese present society |
[Venue]
Sodsai Pantoomkomol Centre for Dramatic Arts
Faculty of Arts, Chulalongkorn University
[Date & Time]
Friday 10 March 2017; 7.30 PM
Saturday 11 March 2017; 2 PM and 7.30 PM
Sunday 12 March 2017; 7.30 PM
*Performed in Japanese with Thai & English surtitles*
A contemporary play that has turn heads throughout various countries.
 The Japan Foundation, Bangkok, the Department of Dramatic Arts, Faculty of Arts, Chulalongkorn University, chelfitsch Theater Company, and precog, presented a contemporary stage play “Super Premium Soft Double Vanilla Rich”, written and directed by Toshiki Okada. The well renowned play which has performed in Japan and all over Europe.
|
This play marked the second Japanese production that chelfitsch Theater Company and Toshiki Okada had brought directly from Japan for Thai audiences. The first production premiered in Thailand was “Five Days in March” at Patravadhi Theatre in 2010. Also, in November 2016, Toshiki had visited Bangkok once again to commemorate his first novel publication in Thai; “Watashi tachi ni yurusareta tokubetsu na jikan no owari” (The End of the Special Time We Were Allowed), translated by Matana Jaturasangpairoj, published by Gamme Magie Editions. Upon that visit, he also had a public special talk on literature and theatre with the Thai S.E.A. Write award winning novelist; Uthis Haemamool.
About “Super Premium Soft Double Vanilla Rich”
Convenience store X Bach X Soft Cream!?!
After 2011, when playwright Toshiki Okada made a shift of creative course in the direction of exploring fiction, chelfitsch appeared in a succession of weighty works, as “Current Location” in 2012 and “Ground and Floor” in 2013. For his latest opus, in contrast, Okada is aspiring to a dance-oriented production that manages to be at once thoroughly light-hearted and humorous as well as biting and merciless.
The setting is a convenience store, a place symbolizing contemporary Japanese society. The performance featuring seven distinctive characters; including part-time staffs, the store head, customers, a supervisor from the head office, and some of the thousands of products on the shelves, unfolds to the accompaniment of all 48 preludes and fugues that make up J.S. Bach’s “The Well-Tempered Clavier,” transmuted into cheap background music piped into the store. A chelfitsch “Apocalypse” unfolding in a convenience store, the “sanctuary” of contemporary Japanese life?!
Lovers of contemporary theater were able to see what the radical hybrid of narrative and corporeality brought to light about Japan’s “today”!
Playwright & Director profile
Toshiki Okada
Playwright, Theatre director, Author
Born in 1973 in Yokohama
Currently lives and works in Kumamoto, Japan
Okada’s work has attracted attention for how it overturns the conventions of theatre. “Five Days in March” won the 49th Kishida Kunio Drama Award, and had its Bangkok premier in 2010 at Patravadi Theatre. His debut novel, “The End of the Special Time We Were Allowed”, won the 2nd Oe Kenzaburo Award. His other plays and publications include “Current Location”; a play which he wrote after the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami, and a collection of theatre theory. In 2015, he wrote and directed his first theatre production for children at Kanagawa Arts Theatre (KAAT). From 2016 he will direct the repertory at a major public theatre in Germany for three seasons.
About chelfitsch Theater Company
This theatre company was founded in 1997 by Toshiki Okada, who writes and directs all its productions. Its unique use of language and physicality has won much praised, establishing the group as one of the leaders of contemporary theatre in Japan. “Five Days in March” (2005) won the 49th Kishida Kunio Drama Award in 2007 and has been performed in 70 cities around the world. The company has recently received regular commissions from overseas festivals and continues to expand its activities.
Event summary
Date & Time
Friday 10 March 2017; 7.30 PM
Saturday 11 March 2017; 2 PM and 7.30 PM
Sunday 12 March 2017; 7.30 PM
Venue
Sodsai Pantoomkomol Centre for Dramatic Arts, Faculty of Arts, Chulalongkorn University
Promotional trailer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hBk60HDfUso
In media
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RmgF3ZN_l3I
Previews/ reviews about the performance
https://adaymagazine.com/theatre-13/
Toshiki Okada in Nana Nippon
Co-organized by:
Supported by:
Special thanks to:
Photos of the performance in Bangkok
Photos of the performance in Bangkok
Photos of the performance in Bangkok
Photos of the performance in Bangkok
Photos of the performance in Bangkok
Photos of the performance in Bangkok
Actors taking their bows after the performance.
Post-show discussion with (from left) Asst. Prof. Asadayuth Chusri of Japanese Language Department, Faculty of Arts, Chulalongkorn University, Toshiki Okada, Asst. Prof. Parichat Jungwiwattanaporn; Dean of Faculty of Fine and Applied Arts, Thammasat University, and Asst. Prof. Pawit Mahasarinand; Head of Dramatic Arts Department, Faculty of Arts, Chulalongkorn University.