Somtown Sucharitkul brings his ballet-opera “Suriyothai” back to the Thailand Cultural Centre next week to mark this year’s 84th birthday of Her Majesty the Queen.
Composed and directed by the Silapathorn Award laureate Somtow, the production won critical and popular acclaim when it was staged in 2013, with all five performances completely sold out and four more performances scheduled a few months later.
Set during a period of Siamese history in which Ayutthaya was a major international metropolis, a meeting place for world cultures, the opera begins when Prince Thian leaves the monkhood to become King Maha Chakkraphat and Suriyothai becomes the queen.
King Tabinshwehti of the Pegu Kingdom leads his army to attack Ayutthaya and Queen Suriyothai joins her husband on the battlefield by dressing like a man. The Siamese army soon meets the advance column commanded by the Viceroy of Prome and the two forces engage in single-elephant-combat but King Maha Chakkraphat’s elephant panics and takes flight, charging away from the enemy with the viceroy giving chase. Fearing for the life of her husband, Suriyothai charges ahead to put her elephant between the viceroy and the king. The viceroy then engages the queen in single combat, fatally cleaving her from shoulder to heart with his spear, and also wounding her daughter on the back of the same elephant.
The production tells the entire story in dance with opera in some scenes.
Fabrics for the production were created specially by design leader Pasaya. Opera star Stacey Tappan returns to sing the heroic queen’s words and Trisdee na Patalung conducts the Siam Philharmonic Orchestra.
Somtow asked choreographer Phuwarate Wongatichart, who has worked with on the operas “Mae Naak”, “Otello” and “The Silent Prince” and on “Reya – The Musical”, to create a hybrid style of dance that contains elements of modern dance and Thai classical dance.
The designer of the show, Dean Shibuya, is the former artistic director of the San Francisco Lyric Opera and worked in set design for the Bangkok Opera’s “Madame Butterfly” in 1996.
GET YOUR TICKETS
- “Suriyothai” will be performed from May 27 to 29 at the Thailand Cultural Centre. Shows are at 8 nightly with 2pm matinees on Saturday and Sunday.
- Tickets are Bt600 to Bt3,000, with discounts for seniors and students and groups. For details, check www.ThaiTicketMajor.com.
- Groups of 15 or more can also get discounts. For more information, call the Bangkok Opera Foundation at (02) 231 5273 or (089) 136 9981.
- And there are free tickets for students from the Department of Cultural Promotion. Call (02) 247-0028.
This source first appeared on The Nation Life.