Although the Festival’s director or managers will probably deny that they bring back the previous year’s “best productions” as part of the annual “Revsited” set, the three plays making up this group are definitely noteworthy. Thank goodness these were shown again as I missed them in the last Labfest.
Live-Anime
Njel de Mesa’s Mga Obra Ni Maestra began the set. As said by previous reviewers, this production is anime come to life. Anime movements, expressions, and exaggerations were taken and translated well onstage. From the opening sequence with the funky theme song until the final credits, the play sustained its attempt to bring the Japanese animation style to life. Despite the faulty projector at the start, the play eventually went without a hitch. The conversations with projected characters and scenes being set in animation made this foray into “digital theater” more interesting.
The concerns of this children’s play reach out to all ages. In Mga Obra, three children superheroes have a simple dilemma: whether to continue fighting as superheroes or follow their parent’s advice against it. Watching the play may recall some choices we have made between family and friends, fulfilling our deepest desires and practicality, familial duty and personal dreams. Njel de Mesa even dedicates the piece to all artists who were ever dissuaded from pursuing their craft “dahil walang pera riyan.”
The three children playing the superheroes, Cashlyn Cuarez, Abby Gonzales, Nympha Gonzales, engage the audience with vibrancy and a true passion for their craft.
The end of innocence
Next up was Layeta P. Bucoy’s Ellas Innocentes. Dubbed by most as the best entry in the previous festival, this play grips its audience with its tricky topics and effective acting.
Disturbing premises are slowly uncovered by a seemingly light conversation between two sisters. Locked in separate rooms, but able to converse with each other, the sisters play around and recall their experiences with their nanay and their different “Titos.” What starts as conversations about toys and dresses unwittingly becomes a testimonial to abuse by the children. “Paglalaro” at the start of the play takes on a different meaning in the end as the girls writhe about on the floor recreating how their nanay and tito play around in the bedroom.
What adds to the disturbing factor of the play is that the two actresses are so believable as the troubled girls. If not for the programme picture of the actresses or their college friends in the audience, one may even feel scandalized with what the director has made these girls do. It is in the balance of maintaining innocence amidst the very adult scenes they mimic that make Ness Roque and Lovely Balili wonderful actresses in the production.
Indeed, the Bucoy-Rutaquio tandem is a powerhouse for these plays dealing with dysfunctional family dynamics. Really excited for any future collaborations between them. (Maybe there’s a third play about another set of siblings with serious issues to confront.)
Somber elegance
Yoji Sakate’s A Noh Play provided an elegant close for the night. In full contrast to Mga Obra’s youthful energy, this play was more somber, but still posed a poignant picture of art transcending suffering and even death.
Satake’s material and Jose Estrella’s direction are rich and dramatic. As interactions with spirits are central in most Noh productions, such is the case with this play as well. A group of world-weary soldiers (Bong Cabrera, Joel Garcia, and Lowell Ca Ales) encounter three sisters (Mailes Kanapi, Marj Lorico, and Cheryl Ramos,) rehearsing a play in a run-down theater. As the story unfolds, we are led to a conclusion some have said is reminiscent of the film The Others. True to the feel of a Noh play, movements are calculated but meaningful and images are simple yet graceful. The use of the entire studio theater as the run-down venue of the sisters, the dust falling off the soldiers’ clothes, the raining of cherry blossom petals in the end: all add up to a rich theatrical experience.
Bring them back
After seeing all the Labfest entries this year, I do hope that a good number of Filipino theater companies offer to restage them. There really are quite a number of gems ready for a full-scale staging in there and I would grab at the opportunity to watch them a second time around. Some of the most memorable ones for me (and for quite a number of viewers as well):
1. Ang Kalungkutan ng mga Reyna (written and directed by Floy Quintos) [won 1st prize for one act play in Filipino in the 2008 Palanca awards as of this posting]
2. Ang Bayot, ang Meranao, at ang Habal-Habal sa isang Nakakabagot na Paghihintay sa Kanto ng Lanao del Norte (written by Rogelio Braga, directed by Nick Olanka)
3. Las Mentiras de Gloria (written by Layeta Bucoy, directed by Tuxqs Rutaquio)
4. Masaganang Ekonomiya (written by Allan Lopez, directed by J. Victor Villareal)
5. Bruhahahahaha-Bruhihihihihi (adapted by Argel Tuason, direction by Mayen Estañero)
Images are from Prof. Joey Ting's site. Watch out for the 5th Virgin Labfest next year!
No comments:
Post a Comment