Characters burning with lust bring heat to a new play about global warming

Bangkok has a new playhouse, and it's not specifically built for Broadway-style musicals. That's good news, as critics have pointed out that plays are more significant for the Thai theatre scene.

For its inaugural production, Naked Masks Playhouse has invited Theatre Aa to stage its latest play, "Green Concerto". The troupe is headed by Japan-born, Thai-bred actor-director-playwright Shoko Tanikawa, whose past works include "A Christmas Story" and "Pattaya".

The 90-minute play is set in a university's "Stop Global Warming Club" in the year 2012, when global warming has reached a peak. A professor is trying to convince a senior student named Big - along with his four "gigs" - to join his club. Later, they're joined by three more characters: the club's student president, a down-to-earth good-looking girl who catches Big's attention; a noodle stall owner who's having trouble with his wife; and another professor who reads FHM and is hoping to cheat on his girlfriend while she's away.

Making choices

The well-honed script, filled with original jokes, prevents the play from becoming just another environmentalist propaganda piece. Instead, it's more personal - about the choices we make in life, for ourselves and our loved ones, for today and tomorrow.

The well-paced 90 minutes features strong performances by four young actors as well as laughs from the surprise appearances of two veteran thespians - this critic was sworn to secrecy as to their identities.

Taking its inspiration from Al Gore's Academy Award-winning "An Inconvenient Truth", this delightful and engaging stage work is definitely Tanikawa's best play to date.

Call up your friends and make a date to see it before hitting the bars in search of a hot time. It might change your plans - it changed mine.