Poisoned Bears and Weeping Fish: Rubbish, Floods and Thailand’s Disaster Mismanagement on Stage

• In Event: Commemoration, Catharsis, Critique – Asian Theater and Film Responding to Disaster

Abstract

Theatre in Southeast Asia has been slow to address the region’s many environmental problems. The 2011/2012 flood in Thailand that devastated a large area north of Bangkok is said to have created nearly as much economic damage as the Fukushima disaster. However, because Thailand has been in political turmoil, the theatre has been staging political issues, and paying little attention to the causes, results and aftermath of the flood. Thammasat University, one of the country’s premiere institutions, lies in the flood zone. It first served as a refuge to people in flooded communities, but then it too became inundated and suffered severe flood damage.
Therefore it is not surprising that the university’s community theatre department was one of the few groups to make performances regarding the flood. The first was Gan-la-Krung-Neung Mua-Mai-Nan-Ma-Nee (Once Upon a Time…Not Too Long Ago, 2012), written by Parichat Jungwiwattanaporn that focused on the country’s garbage and sewage that contributed to the scope of the damage done by the flood. The second, Pla Boo Thong (The Golden Fish in Flood Time, 2013) was adapted from a famous folk story to address the flood—its causes and aftermath. Both plays were performed for schools and the communities that had been flooded and emphasized individual action and responsibility.

Author

• Catherine Diamond, Soochow University Taipeh