Patravadi Theatre

On Saturday I randomly came across a write-up for a local theatre in the the paper called Patravadi. The article was about an international dance performance that was on that evening so I logged onto their website to check out the details. I was really excited when I saw that it was an entire arts complex with performing arts school, restaurant with evening performances, and a number of different performance spaces. The website was also in English. This is a good thing. It means the locals want us there ;)

I was so intrigued that I convinced Sean that we should head over there for dinner. I made a reservation for dinner during the evening show and we hopped in a cab to find the place.

We weren't that surprised when the cab driver turned down a very small Soi (side street) and made his way around several corners before we saw lights and people. By the time we found the restaurant and were seated at our table I knew this was the kind of place I'd like! The restaurant had really great modern, minimalist decor and a relaxed atmosphere. When we walked in there was a cellist playing in the center of the room, in the center of all the diners. We were seated at a table practically on top of the Chao Praya river (the window spaces on the back wall were all open-air and the building was built out over the river). The whole place had kind of an LSPU Hall vibe...very much a community theatre group.

The rest of the night was fantastic. We were entertained by Thai drummers, dancers, singers and even an acrobat! All were students of the school. The food was fantastic and half-way through we found out that the proceeds from the meals go towards student scholarships (that's when I ordered my second glass of wine...it was for a good cause!). We also discovered that they have a student who is currently in Canada training with Cirque Du Soleil! He or she will be back next month and will be performing a new show at the theatre. Clearly we'll be back again.

Of all the great things we've seen in Bangkok this was really one of my favorites. It was the kind of local place where tourists are accepted but not harassed and where you get a glimpse of the fact that this gigantic, cosmopolitan, metropolis is actually just a community of regular ol' people! Truly fantastic evening! And just to make it a little bit better, as we were leaving later in the night Sean observed that this little, tiny Soi was perhaps the quietest place we've ever been in Bangkok! We relished those few minutes of near-silence before we emerged on the main road and were jerked back to reality.

Here's the website if you'd like to check it out: http://www.patravaditheatre.com/ Stay tuned for my report of the upcoming Cirque-trained acrobat! And now for a few pics since we haven't posted any in a while :)