Bards.txt --- Bards of Bangkok - Crawling After Strawberries venue :: C SoCo see links :: http://www.bardsofbangkok.co.uk category :: Theatre Review :: by Ed Stack 3 gold bats 'Being loud gives you moments in life and life is about moments', says Tony, a bard of Bangkok. Bards of Bangkok was an extended moment devoted to being perhaps too loud about a subject which, had it remained quieter, would have detracted less from the play's strong points. If creativity were described as a river that flows towards truth, the question Bards of Bangkok poses is: 'Is it creative to explore life’s truths in the eddies of the river?' If so, then that is affirming for writer Paul Lewis, because choosing a subject such as a group of perverted expatriate layabouts and one of their number's crippling sexual lack of confidence certainly qualifies as one such exploration. It is true that ex-patriot circles anywhere and especially in Thailand may afford a greater level of man's base honesty, through a lack of the accountability required by their native communities and their womenfolk. Add to that the prevailing scene being an all male 'poetry reading' club in an on-street bar in Bangkok, and we now supposedly have licence for gilded exegesis of man's deepest carnal thoughts about women, or more accurately their sexual anatomy. The poetry society idea in itself is somewhat forced, given the characters that inhabit it (Arnold a scientist and pervert, Ronnie an inarticulate pervert, Tony an articulate pervert and main 'sensitive' character Philip.) Though it is redeeming that not all the characters take the poetry guise seriously, the fact that the woman, Amina, when she eventually comes on the scene, buys into and indeed uses poetry as a means for the men to compete to win her seems a tad unrealistic. Her patience and inquisitive- ness in this seem out of place both for the 'fiery' kind of woman she is otherwise made out to be, and because one of their number, Tony, is an ex- lover who she was not expecting to meet there having been invited by Philip. Tony is in the process of being hounded out of the country by her father having sold a naked picture of her on the streets of Bangkok. Hmm, a posh white Englishman sitting among the street stalls selling home-sketched pornography, another likely story. But hey its the fringe - I watch on patiently. To be fair there was some characterisation, during which I liked how the amenable Amina (Natasha White) was used to symbolise each character's reminiscences about past loves or crushes. There was also some good if formulaic structuring e.g. bringing back the first line of the play to the end; a line about an Asian woman, spoken by fool Arnold as he gazes at a card sporting some Thai porn. But again, what was the point? Was this to emphasize the repetition and negative reflective tendencies of self-induced boredom and lack of fulfilment fuelled by the bad habits of non-proactive men living in a cultural eddy? In what way could this be relevant to the audience and I? The writer might have connected the main character's dilemma with a broader societalexamination of why the very people who feel they deserve women most are the ones mostled to sexual quandaries. This rather than simply making the statement that a certain kind of thinking man self-sabotages himself, thereby allowing less intelligent or morally upright theorists to continue humanity's line by virtue of the their ability to 'pull', and then feeling existential angst as a result. The statement itself is further muddied by the awkward and unrealistic reversal at the end. E.g., Phil the coward-in-us-all getting the girl by virtue(a) of being just slightly less cowardly and (b) the fact that the main competition has to bolt for external reasons - in order to escape presumed death at her father's mercenaries' hands...! Tony was the highlight of the production, arguably the best written of the characters (in fairness to the actors), whose exuberance in poetry and dictum 'just keep moving,' energised the show on its 23rd night. Bards of Bangkok wasn't boring, but interesting often for reasons that didn't seem intentional. If I am wrong and these finer points were there, then it would have taken better direction to make them more explicit, if I am right, well, the Bards needs a classier and less self-absorbed humour to charm us and to deserve the attentions of the beautiful lead. Quite frankly it beggars belief that she could be wooed by Philip, acted with a suitable balance of timidity and angst by David John Watton. Having to be a femme fatale character who turns at the end, as well as the personification of all the men's fantasies and reminiscences, not to mention withstand some of the chauvinism in the script, was quite a task. The leading lady fulfilled this difficult role with a required style, versatility, she was also taller than most of the characters, which seemed to be poetically appropriate to their moral stature. When I heard this was the understudy for the evening, there was some guy called Tony on my shoulder telling me to come back and see the first choice in role. But that would have been perverse too, and I learned something tonight. By Ed Stack