Surachai Petsangrot is another hyperactive theatre artist. Seven months into the year and we’ve already three of his works, each of them very different in style and content. They range from “Lone Man and the Flowers” in which his artist friends from many disciplines responded to his visual art works in five different rooms of Thong Lor Art Space (TLAS) to the more intimate work “Home” in which he gave time and space for his actors to share their stories at B-Floor Room.

He’s now back on the first floor studio of TLAS with a new work he has both designed and directed. Based on the character created by L Frank Baum in “The Marvellous Land of Oz” and “Ozma of Oz”, Surachai wrote “The Adventure of Tik-Tok, Man of Oz” in Thai and Bangkok-based English actor James Laver, who also portrays the title character, translated it into English.

For the first 10 minutes or so, the script takes the audience back to the story most of us know, that of “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz”, and then tells how Dorothy travelled back to the nearby Ev, where she met Tik-Tok. A major flaw here is there is so much narration that it sounds and feels as if we’re listening to someone telling the story, some parts of which are acted out, instead of watching a play filled with dramatic actions. And in terms of stage adaptation, there’s another question: how this story is relevant to us here and now, rather than just being a lesser known story that’s stage-worthy.

The play is being performed in English, with English and Thai surtitles, and herein lies another problem. It reminded me of news clip where someone is speaking English with an accent and English subtitles are put on as if he’s not speaking English. With Laver being the only actor with English as his mother tongue, the play suffers in the same way as the English version of “Stick Figures” staged here two months ago. In fact, the problem is more crucial here as any children’s play requires exceptional diction from all the actors. In this production, however, most of the five Thai performers are not really comfortable with their English. Given that Surachai’s creations of Tik-Tok’s costume and mechanism are such a delight, I wonder whether the play would deliver its messages, especially to the children, were the play performed in Thai.

Laver – in such a fantastical outfit and only one of the two characters apart from Dorothy in full costume – would then speak Thai with an accent.

Surachai’s set design deftly draws the audience into this fantastical world by using the arena stage setting with many different levels for the audience to sit. The floor is nicely adorned with a yellow brick road and house models made from cardboard boxes are overhead among the lights. Sound effects are created live by many instruments and add further enjoyment to this 70-minute play.

The greatest risk of all is not taking one and although this risk might not pay off successfully, the audience have enough reason to applaud the artists for their experimental spirit.

The press preview of “Tik-Tok” took place two days after New Theatre Society’s “The Place of Hidden Painting” ended its run at TLAS. Bravo to the space for offering us so much diversity.