Before joining international performers like Guri Guri Girls and Kazuki Yano, Babymime’s Ratchai “Nging” Rujiwipatna shares some insight on his silent art.

How did your fascination with mime start?
I took a mime class after I graduated. It seemed fun so I invited Ta, another member of the group, to join. During the class we met Glur [Babymime’s third member]. I had studied other types of performing arts and even music but there was always this gap between us and the audience. With mime, we have to suggest the message to them and they have to use their imagination to get it. I think this interaction makes mime charming to me.

What inspires your shows?
For our yearly Babymime show, we create a new story every time. Our first show was a parody of the 007 franchise, so every year we come up with a movie and pick a theme we would like to focus on. But for the Pantomime show, we’re on stage with international acts and everything is on a bigger scale. We don’t want our show to pale in comparison with the other professionals. After a lot of discussion we decided to do a show we’d done before.

Who is your favorite mime group worldwide?
We have different favorites, actually. Mine are Gamarjobat, Glur likes Shinishu Shiyoshi and Ta likes Kanikama who will also join us in this upcoming show.

All of them are from Japan. What about other groups like Germany’s Metroccolis?
Well, this is unintentional. For Metroccolis, we’ve seen them perform in street shows and they did very well, but this will be the first time that we will see them on stage so we’re kind of curious to know how they are going to design their show.

How do you feel playing with your favorite groups?
It’s our first time on stage with an international artist. I’m excited and a bit nervous. It’s an opportunity to share experiences and show what we’ve got. It’s an amazing opportunity.

What is the difference between Thai audience and other Asian countries?
It’s like when Thai people watch foreign comedy, they don’t get it because of cultural differences. When we play in Thailand we know how to make them laugh but foreigners might not react the same way. What is good is that performing abroad is a chance to improve ourselves. We look at foreign audiences’ reactions to make our show universal.

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