See Cinderella like you've never seen her

Say the words Lakhon Nok and plenty of us picture a stiff, ceremonial Thai performance lifted straight from a primary-school textbook. The reality is far cheekier. This centuries-old folk dance-drama, born in the Ayutthaya era, runs on playfulness and freedom above all else, handing performers a stage to pull stories from their surroundings and spin them out as parody, satire and gleefully colourful digs at the rules, the red tape and the people in charge. Call it an art form that has never much fancied staying inside the lines.

Now the Chomphoonuch Theatre Troupe reunites to prove the point, taking the world's most famous fairy tale, Cinderella, and reworking it as contemporary Lakhon Nok. The show comes stitched with the genre's trademark song, sharp comic timing and loose improvisation, and it asks you to set aside everything you assume about the glass-slipper princess and meet her again through the lens of Thai theatre.

This is the first time the troupe draws on foreign literature and builds a full production around it. And while the plot hails from the West, its bones sit closer to home than you might guess. Separation, disguise, a sudden shift in status, the overlooked soul who finally gets noticed. All of it runs through countless Thai and Asian legends. Strip away the ballgown and the pumpkin, and she could almost pass for one of our own.

Need a quick example? Think of Sang Thong, the Prince of the Golden Conch Shell, who buries his handsome face beneath the hide of a wild ogre, or Kaew Na Ma, the Horse-Faced Lady, forever judged on her appearance. Each one follows someone biding their time, waiting for the world to clock who they truly are, much like our heroine holding out for the day everything changes.

So if you fancy finding out what happens when Cinderella leaps from the storybook and meets the rebellious heart of Lakhon Nok, clear your afternoon or your evening and mark the date.

You catch it at GalileOasis Art Space, GalileOasis on August 29, with the opening show running 1-2pm and a second at 7-8pm. Tickets cost B800 and you can book here now.