Boxing pretty1 min read
Reading Time: < 1 minuteBorn in Thailand but based in Singapore, movie and theatre director Ekachai Uekrongtham has a knack for presenting Thai culture with a different slant, no matter whether he’s doing it on screen or on stage.
After focusing on the famed Siamese twins Chang and Eng Bunker in the 1997 stage production “Chang & Eng the Musical”, in 2003, he turned to Thai boxing for his first feature film, 2003’s “Beautiful Boxer”. Now Ekachai is once again highlighting muay thai in his first non-verbal theatre show, “Boxing Boys”.
A combination of physical theatre, the sturdy muay thai and the “krumping” street moves of breakdancing b-boys, the 90-minute show aims to offer something beyond musicals at the Ratchadalai Theatre.
The story is simple enough: boy (champion b-boy dancer Nithiwat Thonglue) meets girl (Siripitchaya Wisitwaithakul) only to realise that she has a boyfriend who is a boxer (Asian Games equestrian gold medalist-turned-actor Pongsiri “Poo Khai” Banluewong). So boy learns kickboxing to get girl even though he looks down on the martial art.
