No replies to this topic

[Hedda]

There's an interesting article in the Bangkok Post today regarding the Thai Ministry of Culture and its recent intervention into the production of an Opera in Bangkok.

The article begins by observing that the opera, Ayodhya, that premiered this month, was required to remove a scene in which Rama, the hero, kills Thotsakan, the villain, by stabbing his heart on stage.

Citing a old Thai taboo against performing murder onstage in Thailand's traditional theatre, the Thai ministry first told the opera's director that "he would be held personally responsible 'if anyone in power fell ill' as a result of his breaking the taboo. When that didn't impress him, they then pressured him to remove the scene entirely, and he finally agreed to stage the heart-stabbing scene off stage and out of sight, keeping his libretto and script as is.

The most interesting thing about the article is its contention that the Ministry of Culture, which was created by Thaksin four years ago, actually has no legal authority to censor anything. It was designed to promote and preserve the Arts, not inhibit them. Yet, it has assumed a role of censor on its own, apparently unchallenged thus far.

The Opera director is quoted as calling the Ministry's bureaucrats "the detritus of the Thaksin government." He sounds like one very pissed Opera director.

http://www.bangkokpost.net/breaking_news/b...s.php?id=114486