Acclaimed scenic designer Riw Rakkulchon makes Boston debut with Commonwealth Shakespeare’s ‘Macbeth’
[This article appears in the July/August 2023 issue of Boston Spirit magazine. Subscribe for free today.]
If you’ve attended a theater production in New England over the past two years, chances are you’ve seen a set designed by Riw Rakkulchon.
From his dazzlingly kitschy “Purple Pit” for “The Nutty Professor” at Ogunquit Playhouse to a sumptuous drawing room for Agatha Christie’s “The Mousetrap” at Hartford Stage and many in between, Rakkulchon’s designs are functional visual feasts.
The Bangkok, Thailand native, who lives in New York City by way of Ithaca College and Yale School of Drama, makes his Boston debut in July as sole scenic designer for Commonwealth Shakespeare Company’s production of “Macbeth.” Directed by CSC’s founding Artistic Director Steven Maler, Macbeth runs July 19 through August 6 at the Parkman Bandstand on the Boston Common with all performances free to the public. (Showtimes and more: commshakes.org)
For Shakespeare’s classic tragedy, Rakkulchon conceived a “bombed-out venue” that underscores the role of war in the play and its relevance to a contemporary audience. “It speaks to our daily lives, the humanity of it all, and how we need to navigate in this era,” he says.
Besides a stellar crew, “Macbeth” features a cast of CSC veterans including Faran Tahir in the title role alongside Joanne Kelly as Lady Macbeth; Maurice Emmanuel Parent as Banquo; Marianna Bassham as Malcom; and Fred Sullivan, Jr. as the Sergeant/Porter/Doctor.
Maler originally tapped Rakkulchon, who is also an accomplished costume designer, to serve in that capacity on a different show. But scenic design has become Rakkulchon’s primary focus.
“With costumes, you are dealing with the actors, which is a whole different beast,” he says. “You become, somehow, the therapist in the room, which sometimes takes too much away from me. A set doesn’t talk back.”
Not that he doesn’t respect actors. Rakkulchon was a performer for much of his youth in Thailand, which saved him from a “dark place” as “the only out queer person” at his school. Even though he was raised by a single mother who was supportive, Rakkulchon says, “It was a tough time, being the only one.”
“As a child, no one had the words to acknowledge the non-heteronormative … I got into the drama club and it gave me a life. I was an actor throughout high school. It was an international school, and the drama teacher was from England and didn’t speak Thai, so he couldn’t communicate with the carpenters. So in my sophomore year, I translated, and was then asked to design masks and costumes for a Greek play. I realized I enjoyed that kind of creativity more than acting. By senior year, I played Sky Masterson while also designing the sets and costumes for ‘Guys and Dolls.’
“It breaks my heart to see arts funding getting cut because it really does save a lot of kids from getting stuck in a dark place,” he says.
Besides his theatrical flair, Rakkulchon is a chef and self-described “stress baker” whose mouthwatering creations are documented on his website (www.riwrdesign.com). He traces this skill to growing up in Bangkok with regular, food-filled gatherings of family. “There were 20 people every week. I would shuttle between my house and my aunt’s house. We’d cook at my house then I’d climb over a wall to bring the food to my aunt’s,” he says.
While at Yale, Rakkulchon cooked brunch at the Offices of LGBTQ Resources once a month because its associate director, Andrew E. Dowe, “wanted to create a community for everyone,” he says. (Dowe, then also Yale’s director of undergraduate Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies, died unexpectedly in 2021 at age 34.)
“Macbeth” may be Rakkulchon’s first solo stage design in Boston but while at Ithaca College he honed his stagecraft for several summers as a design intern at the Williamstown Theatre Festival. He counts among his mentors Wilson Chin who recently won an Elliot Norton Award for his scenic design for Lynn Nottage’s “Clyde’s” at the Huntington Theatre Company.
After “Macbeth,” Rakkulchon is booked well into next year, including designing the sets for Hartford Stage’s production of Arthur Miller’s “All My Sons” in April 2024.
He tries to choose a variety of drama and comedy projects, but musical theater remains his first love. He traces this to a childhood spent in awe of the annual Christmas pageants at school and watching classic Hollywood musicals on pirated VHS tapes. “Julie Andrews in ‘The Sound of Music’ and Audrey in ‘My Fair Lady’ was my first exposure. As a musical theater comedy queen, it brings me so much joy,” he says.
“Like actors get typecast, I’ve been siloed to what I call ‘depresso espresso’ plays which are necessary conversations to be had. But my heart is with musical theater so when I get the chance to do something bright and bubbly, I take it. If a show has been done before, I give it my own spin; a theatricality that goes beyond daily life.” [x]
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