B-Floor Theatre has turned its office and rehearsal studio into “B-Floor’s Room” with a debut work beguilingly and ironically titled “Displacement” (“Phid Thi Phid Thang”), a collaboration between Jarunun Phantachat and Dujdao Vadhanapakorn.

At the premiere on Tuesday night, the intrigue didn’t stop at the title and the concept, but continued in how the performers moved – with each other and with props of various sizes – through five colour-and-concept-coded scenes in 50 minutes.

The scenes can be rearranged at the outset according to the audience’s preference. Exploring many definitions of the term “Displacement”, the creators showed limitless possibilities in how humans, objects, nature, written text, sound and lights co-exist, trade places and functions, and affect one another.

“Displacement” is the last performance of B-Floor’s “Next Fresh Thing” series, part of its 10th-anniversary celebration.

Add this to “Begin Again”, one of the year’s most memorable stage works, and looking back to many works through the past 10 years of this small yet dedicated ensemble – “Midah”, “The Edge”, “Crying Century”, “Venus’ Party”, “GODaGardener” – we look forward to the coming decades.

Another significant characteristic of B-Floor is that the specific details in style and content of its pieces, such as each performer’s technical brilliance and each director’s degree of social and political awareness, vary from one work to another.

Its members take turns creating, directing, performing, composing music and producing, unlike many other troupes with clearly defined roles, which sometimes result in predictability.

Next year B-Floor Theatre will collaborate with Japan’s Faifai in a new work on ordinary life, to be staged in Tokyo.

Be at ‘the B’

See “Displacement” tonight at 7.30 or Tuesday through Friday at B-Floor’s Room for Bt300. Book a seat at (089) 667 9539. Find out more at www.BFloorTheatre.com.

By Pawit Mahasarinand
Special to The Nation
Published on December 18, 2009