By Barry Daniel
As a quiet, bookish sort I’ve only taken LSD a couple of dozen times, however my latest Saturday evening on the Underwood Art Factory Junkyard Theatre Show was far better than another journey I’ve experienced!
Half method along Phuket’s By-Pass Road in the midst of the island, lies the Underwood Art Factory’s psychedelic parallel universe which has clearly been downloaded from interstellar area by creative mastermind John Underwood and his family, plus sundry native singers, dancers, actors, acrobats, magicians, gymnasts and wizards of theatrical technicality.
Enter ye into this gorgeous world of thriller and magic, solely those who are ready to have your minds most resoundingly blown!
As you walk into the ramshackle Arts Factory area and its welcoming Grind Café, your senses are instantly regaled and overwhelmed by a kaleidoscope of insanely creative artworks, icons, photographs and elements of pure, un-nameable mania.
The array of artistic, and admittedly insane, objects that surround you in chaotic abandonment appear to fuse junk with found-objects and discarded bric-a-brac into wondrous, Monty Python-esque machines, distinctive artworks, and objects so strange that it’s a problem to one’s senses to even comprehend what they might presumably be.
Presiding over all this explosive creativity is larger-than-life Aussie John Underwood and his son Zac, who will probably greet you by the funky bar as you arrive into this parallel universe, then guide you into the inner sanctum of the Junkyard Theatre itself inside the bowels of their Art Factory.
The theatre itself is a cavern of mystery and creativeness for positive, however stays well ventilated and socially distanced as has turn into a necessity in our chastened instances. It’s here that the Junkyard ensemble work their creative magic while you are served with a deliciously decadent three-course Thai-fusion supper, to not mention playfully-crafted drinks, which you bravely attempt to devour between the uncontrollable gasps and the gales of helpless laughter which the present tends to unleash… no imply feat!
The show runs the artistic gauntlet from a beautifully-sung ballad about love and life in Phuket from the prow of the Good Ship Thaitanic because the gorgeous chanteuse is groped by a retinue of ardent potential lovers of varying sexual proclivities.
Then onward to unimaginable athletic and gymnastic feats by Phuket’s very personal Muay Thai Fighting B-Boys, street entertainers who are every bit as manic and breath-taking of their routines as something you’ll ever see in the globally well-known Circle du Soleil.
Then there’s a visit to a bondage dungeon replete with leather-clad Dominatrix with whips; there’s classic Siamese shadow puppetry of a Thai therapeutic massage which goes hilariously wrong and becomes erotically uncontrolled; there’s a full strip tease at an airport safety scanner which traps the gawking safety guard in an erotic hypnosis, while drug dealers and gunmen stroll through his checkpoint un-noticed; there’s even a phalanx of madly-dancing Corona viruses and naughty nurses to enthral you!
It’s all a loopy psychedelic trip of out-of-control imaginative inventiveness without the need of medicine any stronger than a cool glass of Sauvignon Blanc with your scrumptious supper!
The show is essentially a dynamic and ever-changing collaboration from a tremendous array of local talents aimed at showcasing and satirising the local Thai, touristic and ex-pat experiences of life on this loopy island called Phuket.
Sensational costumes, fabulous lighting, visual gags, dynamic athleticism, attractive choreography and particular results and even an viewers dance celebration that explodes spontaneously on the finish of the show…. really this is an experience like no different and may most undoubtedly not be missed.
โซล่าเซลล์คุณภาพดี approach to really savour this uniquely creative weekly occasion is to go alongside to the Underwood Art Factory on a Saturday night and experience it for yourself. Certainly, mere words can by no means do justice to the wondrous experience that awaits you, so I shall abandon my try to take action proper now.
The Junkyard Show: Every Saturday Night. Click HERE for bookings..