New Year's Eve in Thailand
Top Set Designer, Ritirong Jiwakanon, Back at Dusit Resort, Hua Hin
New Year's Eve in Thailand is the highlight of the year, the Dusit Resort in Hua Hin is the top place to be and Ritirong Jiwakanon is once again the man of the moment.
Thailand's Top Theatre Set Designer
Few people would argue with the statement that Ritirong Jiwakanon is Thailand’s top set designer.
Although the opportunities to work in his particular field are not over plentiful in Thailand, Khun Ritirong, has nonetheless made a name for himself in theatrical circles. You can bet that if any major show is up for consideration, the name of Ritirong Jiwakanon will be the one talked of for set designer. Not only is he a much sought after designer, but he is a lecturer in Theatre Design at the Department of Dramatic Arts, Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok, Thailand and the recipient of The Critics Award for Best Costume Design for a production of Turandot in Victoria, Canada.
Master's Degree in Dramatic Arts
He gained Thailand’s first Master’s Degree in Dramatic Arts, but before this he went to study in the USA, receiving his M.F.A. in theatre design from Yale School of Drama, After this he spent several years designing for New York theatres, since when his design credits have covered a vast range from Shakespeare to Opera via musical theatre, among which are Peer Gynt, The Winter’s Tale, Twelfth Night, Lucia de Lammermoor, and Hazy Crazy Lazy Play, and he was the cultural consultant for the 1996 Broadway production of The King and I.
Later when he moved back to his home country, Thailand, he started working as a designer in the Southeast Asia performing arts and was also an academic scholar in this subject.
Theatre in Bangkok
In Bangkok his design credits include Rashamon, Waiting for Godot, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Way of the World, Lost in Yonkers, Black Comedy: in Singapore he designed Mixed Signals for the production at the Victoria Theatre and in Tokyo, Japan he designed the costumes for Prism. His travels even took him to Scotland in 2005 where he worked at the Edinburgh Festival season.
He is working on modern interpretations of old themes, partly funded by the National Research Fund to bring traditional stories to a new audience, and in between times he designs sets for the University, the National Theatre and the Cultural Centre productions.
New Year's Eve in Hua Hin, Thailand
For the past few years he has designed the sets for Thailand’s most popular New Year’s Eve show, that at the Dusit Resort Hotel in “ royal” Hua Hin, where the King and Queen have their winter home. Credited with having the most returned guests for New Year of any hotel in Thailand, the Dusit’s spectaculars headed by the top names in Thai show biz. is an event that is a perfect showcase for the work of Khun Ritirong.
James Bond Story at Dusit Resort Hotel, Hua Hin
Rumour has it that this year’s event will have as it’s theme The James Bond Story. Last year was The King and Thai, a magical evening of song and dance, which left one critic declaring that “the only place to be in Thailand on December 31st, was the Dusit Resort Hotel”. A lot of that was thanks to Ritirong Jiwakanon. What will he do this year? That is the question on everyone’s lips.
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