Staging Mahajanaka
Published: ASIA
Written by King Bhumibol Adulyadej, the story of Mahajanaka is a Thai literary masterpiece portraying the virtues of perseverance, moderation and individual sacrifice for the sake of the common good. Its central message that perseverance is integral to achieving Buddhahood is one of the most sacred texts in the Buddhist religion. It has been told in many different ways over the centuries, but for a spectacular recent live production in Thailand, the country’s long-serving monarch, HM King Bhumibol Adulyadej, called for an interpretation that would be easily intelligible to contemporary audiences. As such, a spectacular production was staged in Bangkok in December 2014.
Originally scheduled to take place either side of the King’s 87th birthday from December 1st to 9th last year, the performance was ultimately extended until December 20th owing to overwhelming demand following the approval of the sponsors. The production and performance area was set on the lake at Benjakiti Park in front of the Queen Sirikit National Convention Centre. Thailand’s finest technicians were called upon to oversee the highly challenging outdoor productions staged before the 10,000 capacity audiences on all 20 nights. Just as the fable features battles and challenges, so did this army of experienced hands.
The fable focuses on heir-to-the-throne Mahajanaka, who has been exiled from his homeland of Mathila since birth following a war there. Upon turning 16 years of age, he harbours a burning desire to return having made a success of his life. The action set on the lake is largely centred upon a 6m high, 30m long replica ship in which he is being carried, but which then capsizes during a storm. He is then depicted swimming at sea for seven days and nights before being rescued by a flying celestial nymph called Manimekhala. She delivers him to Mathila, where he is discovered under a mango tree, and after a series of tests is made king. But rather than living happily ever after, the King renounced royal life to become a recluse, having witnessed the destruction caused by the people to a mango tree. The appointment of Mr Team Productions and Fuzion Far East Limited ensured that this production will long be remembered as a multimedia spectacular.
From the outset, time was against the entire cast, crew and creative personnel working on the production. For example, the entire original musical score composed, arranged and rehearsed by Pongprom Snitnong Na Ayuthaya had to be delivered in just 40 days. As the lead characters would be swimming, flying through the air and playing athletic roles, the option not to sing live was taken at an early stage. Therefore, all the main vocals of the 90-minute extravaganza were added from an audio multi-track playback to the 96-channels of live microphone inputs taken from the 60-strong orchestra and 25 choir members before being mixed on DiGiCo SD8 and SD9 consoles. To achieve this, a Mac Pro loaded with Logic was fed into the DiGiGrid MGB networking hub and Waves SoundGrid platform that also ensured recording, monitoring and mixing could be conducted in real time. A total of 70 JTS CX500 microphones were supplied to the musicians and singers.
With the spotlights continually trained on the main actors and actresses, miming to playback from the PA system was a major concern to Mr Team Productions owner Pok Sutat Kohkiat. ‘Their miming needed to be perfectly executed in time, and could only be achieved with an accurate monitoring system that was time coding provided for the show.’ To execute this, a distributed audio system comprising of 24 Nexo PS15 loudspeakers located on different pontoons was set-up. Special waterproof installation power cabling had to bed fed under the water connecting the loudspeakers with the Camco Vortex 6 amplifiers underneath the main stage. ‘It’s a live show, but live singing was out of the question given the amount of exposure the lead characters would have in the water and such like.’
Not only did the lead characters need to be fed with an accurate audio feed, but so did the Mr Team engineers. ‘The audio speaker system was directed away from FOH otherwise we wouldn’t have been able to monitor the performances,’ further explains Mr Kohkiat, who used Genelec speakers for his own personal monitoring. ‘During rehearsals, the FOH position was being moved around to fit in with the production performance until I said enough,’ exclaimed Mr Sutat. ‘They didn’t understand the importance of the FOH position and how we needed to be accurately in tune with the musicians, choir and actors ensuring that they can all hear the audio.’
The main audience seating area was ingeniously established on a 400m wide floating platform located just 80m away across the lake from the main stage. The staging and set building was conducted by Right Man over six months, whilst the lighting design was delegated to Way Light. The vast audience area required a fairly complex PA system to deliver accurate SPLs. The main FOH system comprised of L-R eight per-side Nexo Geo D line array speakers, whilst a combination of 44 Nexo Alpha B1 and M3 cabinets comprised the distributed audio system and side-fills. A total of 16 Nexo S2 subwoofers provided low frequency extension, while 32 Camco Vortex 6 amplifiers powered the entire loudspeaker system.
Mr Team Productions’ adopted a Symetrix SymNet Radius 12x8 open architecture DSP unit with a SymNet xOut 12 expander for the show’s loudspeaker management needs. ‘We’ve been using Symetrix products consistently since 2001,’ confided Mr Kohkiat. ‘We had no doubts that one of our favourite models from the range – the SymNet Radius DSP – would again prove the match for the demands of this high-profile production. The key features of SymNet Radius 12x8 that have particularly impressed me are its reliability, scalability, networking capability, vast choice of modules and its excellent sound quality.’ Located 260m behind the set, a 35m wide building was illuminated with the addition of four mapped Christie Digital 10,000 and 20,000 ANSI lumens projectors using Green Hippo and a hidden Hippotizer Grasshopper media server. The orchestra was placed in front of this but concealed by a screen.
‘Steady as she goes’ seemed to Mr Kohkiat’s preferred method of driving the system for those momentous 20 nights. ‘During the four days of rehearsals, the pre-recorded playback levels were lowered before we felt confident enough to raise them during the live performances,’ he explains. Initially cited for 10 performances, the sponsors agreed to continue the show given the huge demand placed on free tickets. ‘All 20 nights were a pleasure to perform,’ continues Mr Kohkiat. ‘You don’t get a chance to work on such a grand production as this very often, so it was very much an honour. The weather varied every day and as a result of variable wind speeds, no two performances were the same. You simply have to follow the wind and do the best you can. During the one night of light rainfall, I simply mixed on the SD8 and SD9 boards under a transparent rain cover.’