FIFTEEN THEATER PRODUCTIONS THAT HAVE STAYED WITH ME, Part 3
Here is the final installment of theater
productions I have watched that have stayed with me through the years, inspired
by Guelan Luarca’s own list of productions that stuck with him. Excluded are those
where I was a member of the cast or the production staff, or later became involved
in subsequent stagings (which, definitely, will be material for another list).
11. Fili by Floy Quintos (Dulaang U.P., Wilfrido Ma. Guerrero Theater, directed by Tony Mabesa,
1992) Floy Quintos reimagines Jose Rizal’s second novel as it is being told
by Pepe to his friend Tunying, and the actor who plays this then goes on to play
Simoun. That’s just the beginning. Add students on roller skates, the Governor
General and his mistress as sado-masochist lovers, and other eye-popping theatrical
devices (e.g. tarot-card inspired
periaktoi panels) that only serve to remind audiences that the novel might as
well be about us in the present day. Oh,
and I have not touched on the cast headed by Mario O’Hara as Tunying and Teroy
Guzman as Pepe. Brilliant play, inspired
staging, and excellent performances.
12.
Teodora
by Rene Villanueva and Honorio Magbalic (Tanghalang
Pilipino, Tanghalang Huseng Batute, directed by Nonon Padilla, 1993) Irma
Adlawan plays Teodora Alonzo in a one-hour monologue that provides many wonderful
moments of theater, thanks too to Nonon Padilla’s creative staging. I’d rather borrow the
words of National Artist Leonor Orosa Goquingco in describing the production: “And
thusly through the long, emotionally-draining monologue, actress Irma Adlwan
turns magically from the aged mother to the young Dona Teodora --- back and
forth, forth and back... all these transformations realized within the blink of
an eye, or better still, within the clutching
-- or unclutching – of a cane.
And with what ease, what passion, what range what verisimilitude and
transparency, does Adlawan accomplish her histrionic feat, her splendid tour de
force!”
13. Makbet by William Shakespeare (Tanghalang Pilipino, Tanghalang Huseng
Batute, directed and adapted by Chris Millado, 2000) Imagine Macbeth as a
Japanese Noh. Imagine it further with dancers Nonoy Froilan and Edna Vida as
Macbeth and his Lady. Imagine the whole thing
in a Salvador Bernal set whose centerpiece is a sandbox. Then you can imagine
how this production was literally jaw-dropping, a Kurosawa-like dance drama
that happens inches in front of your face.
14. R’Meo luvs Dewliett (Dulaang
Sipat Lawin, Tanghalang Huseng Batute, directed by Herbie Go, 2003) This was the seminal work staged by the theater majors of the Philippine High School
for the Arts, with translation by the cast under Herbie Go’s guidance and
direction. Not only was the translation
inspired, incorporating colloquial and contemporary idioms; the bravura that
the teeners attacked their roles was infectious. Upon seeing the first performance, I
recommended that the production deserved a mainstream run, and a couple of
years later, Tanghalang Pilipino staged its own version based on a reworked
script with inputs from playwright Joi Barrios Le Blanc. But it is production that has remained with
me.
15. Ellas Inocentes by Layeta Bucoy (Virgin Labfest, Tanghalang Huseng Batute,
directed by Tuxqs Rutaquio, 2007) Probably
the most spine-tingling production of memory, made so by ta combination of
Layeta Bucoy’s intelligent script, Tuxqs Rutaquio’s restrained direction, and
the innocent yet knowing performances of Lovely Balili and Ness Roque playing pre-teen girls reflecting the world as they
know it. I can still remember how much
the hairs on my skin stood up when I realized what it was all about, and how influential
parents and adults are to children, often to horrific results. One of the first Bucoy-Rutaquio collaborations
that firmly established both as nascent voices of Philippine theater.
What about you? Share your own list! Comments are also welcome.
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