GOOD TIMES always pass by too quickly and last Sunday it was time for the 11-day second edition of the biannual Bangkok International Children’s Theatre Festival (BICTfest) to bring the curtain down for another two years.

On any given Sunday, it’s not unusual to see a family spending quality time at the Bangkok Art and Culture Centre (BACC). The same cannot be said for nearby Chulalongkorn University, one of BICTfest’s supporters, which is currently on summer break. But thanks to BICTfest, which was part of the BACC’s 7th Performative Art Festival, the university saw plenty of perhaps future students clutching their parents’ hands.

Photo/Maiyasit Pianmanakij

Presented also as part of the French Embassy’s “French Highlights”, Compagnie Defracto’s “Flaque”, at BACC’s 4th floor studio, showed that in nouveau cirque, the performers not only show off their special talents to wow the audience but also reveal that mistakes, or even accidents, are common. This made their performance even more mesmerising as they worked to perfect each and every trick. The show was filled with humour and surprises, the biggest one being that the music composer wasn’t just seated stage right to appear as if he were controlling the music cues, but was actively involved in many scenes, and even attempted some juggling, as well.

Photo/Khemngnern Tonsakulrungruang

At Chulalongkorn University’s Sodsai Pantoomkomol Centre for Dramatic Arts, cellist Noemi Boutin and juggler Jorg Muller collaborated in “Sarabande”, set to Bach’s “Cello Suites”. This was the artists’ first collaboration and the balance between classical music and modern circus was a major problem. Many younger members of the audience were waiting eagerly for the juggling parts but weren’t quite so attentive just listening to Bach. Some older audience members questioned whether this show was really for children, especially in a country where we don’t listen to western classical music on a regular basis.

Nearby at the multi-purpose courtyard of the Faculty of Fine and Applied Arts, Germany-based Italian artists Alfredo Zinola and Felipe Gonzalez invited us to sit down around a portable pool before they themselves entered it.

Photo/Naphatrapee Suntorntirnan

Supported by the Goethe Institut, this most highly anticipated show of the festival, “Primo”, didn’t let the audience down for a single minute. The two performers didn’t try to do much but achieved plenty as they let us exercise our imagination freely. It was also a good introduction for the children, as well as many of the adults, to contemporary dance and its limitless range, here in Thailand where this genre of performing arts is still intimidating for many people.

Some parents voiced complaints about the ticket prices for adults and how much they had to spend so that the whole family could watch a show together. For example, a family with one child paid a total of Bt1,550 – Bt650 for each adult and Bt250 for a child. This underlined once again that more financial support is needed from the government to help reduce the ticket price and to make sure that the next edition of BICTfest can be enjoyed by a wider audience.

But in the end, the image of a child clinging to “Primo’s” pool window with her mother and father looking on from behind will stay fresh in my memory for years to come.

SEE YOU IN TWO YEARS

“Bangkok International Children’s Theatre Festival” will return in 2020 at BACC and other venues.

For updates, visit http://www.BICTfest.com and Facebook.com/BICTfest.

To learn more about the artists of these three works, check out http://www.Defracto.com, http://www.NoemiBoutin.com, http://www.MullerJ.org and http://www.AlfredoZinola.com.