RECOLLECTIONS OF BEHN CERVANTES (1938-2013)

Behn Cervantes had been part of our family conversations even while I was a schoolboy about to graduate from secondary school in Lipa City.  He had directed a film called “Sakada” that was banned and confiscated by the Marcos regime; it had not been reported widely but somehow my parents had heard about it.  When I was about to enrol in U.P., one of themore specific instructions they had given me was not to be involved in any anti-government activity or organization, lest I become like Behn Cervantes.

It was not long after enrolment that I got to watch U.P.Repertory Company’s production of Bonifacio Ilagan’s “Pagsambang Bayan”, directed by Behn, with film actor Orestes Ojeda as the priest.  It was an eye-opener, so different it was from all other plays that I had been in or seen up to that point (which was not that many).  The “fourth wall” was non-existent; the cast literally and figuratively gets the audience to stand up and join in the action at the end of the play.

I would get to watch Behn as an actor in the next production of Dulaang U.P. that season, Anton Juan’s “Pag-ibig, Pag-ibig, at Pag-ibig PaRin”, an adaptation of Arthur Schnitzler’s “La Ronde”.  Behn was in the cast playing the Madame.  My first real encounter with him would happen the next summer, when I became a part of the U.P. Summer Theater Arts Workshop as a scholar, courtesy of Tony Mabesa. In exchange, I had to work for the productions being staged for the workshop by Tony, Anton, and Behn. I was lighting assistant for “Senyor ng La Mancha”, lighting designerfor “Ubu Roi” and part of the chorus for “Paglipas ng Dilim”, directed by Behn.

I don’t recall any outrageous displays of temper from Behn during that summer, which was enough incentive for me to audition for the nextplay he would be directing for U.P. Repertory Company, “Sigaw ng Bayan”, a differentversion of Bonifacio Ilagan’s “Katipunan: Mga Anak ng Bayan.”  I was taken in to be one of the students in ascene with Emilio Jacinto played by Raul Pangalangan.   The U.P. Theater Program had by then officially started, and while I was a Broadcast Communication major then, Behn allowed me to sit in his Introduction to Theater class alongside new theater majors Ces Mangay (Quesada), Betty Mae Piccio, Benjamin Ramos, Chris Millado, Nicolas Deocampo and Ogie Juliano. He was a consummate teacher, always animated, even though there would betimes he would pull down his pants in the middle of a lecture, to the shock of the more prudent members of the class.

It was in film that I would find myself working with Behn, when Joey Gosiengfiao cast him as (guess what?) a theater professor in “Blue Jeans.”  Returning back to school, I auditioned and was cast in U.P. Repertory Company’s production of Larawan (Alfred Yuson and Rafael Guerrero’s translation/abridged version of Nick Joaquin’s “Portrait of the Artist as Filipino” ) alternating with Tonton Santos as Bitoy Camacho.  It was a wonderful experience, even though it was also the time I got to experience the Behn Cervantes “treatment” which often meant objects such as shoes and scripts flying in one's direction, which was his way of coaxing better performances from the relatively inexperienced student cast members who were sharing the stage with such veterans as Barbara Perez, Susan Valdez, Juan Rodrigo, Orestes Ojeda, Cris Michelena, Tony Mabesa, Sonia Valenciano, Lindo O’Bach, Bibeth Orteza, LeticiaTison, and Edru Abraham.  (“Larawan” had a very successful run and a prolonged shelf life.  The production moved over to the Philamlife Auditorium and a summer tour to Tuguegarao, Iloilo and Bacolod.)

Behn would become my professor in Directing 1 and Playwriting.  In the latter, he urged the students to finish plays that would be submitted to a playwriting contest being held in celebration of U.P.’s diamond jubilee year.  (My play and that of my classmate AveAsuncion (Uy) would end up receiving prizes and had the benefit of being staged at the Abelardo Hall.) In his classes, he loved to question the status quo, and would often throw nuggets of ideas for the students to chew on. At one point, he mentioned wanting to see Noli Me Tangere from the perspective of Elias, which years later would become what I acknowledged to be the germ for my ballet libretto of “Elias” for Agnes Locsin and Ballet Philippines.
 
Behn was a friend to his students. He would gladly go out with them and join in student activities. In one Christmas party of our student organization (U.P. Speech and Theatre Association, or SPECTRE), he and Anton Juan came dressed in matching floral outfits and even did an impromptu musical number, to everyone’s amusement.   I know I have pictures of that somewhere, andI hope to find and share them sometime.
Behn would also become a colleague, as we would work together in productions in and out of U.P., such as “Peer Gynt”, “Waiting for Godot”, Repertory Philippines’ “Agnes of God” and Metropolitan Theater’s “The Mikado” where I, as the Stage Manager, would sometimes stand in (and sing the part of The Mikado) for him.


After U.P., our paths continued to cross.  When he put up a production of Amelia Bonifacio’s “Walking Canes and Fans” in New York, I had the chance to catch up with him and with Susan Valdez (Le Goff) who was in the cast. He became a member of the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board at the same time that I was on secondment as  Executive Director.  Along with several other Board members, we were respondents to a suit filed before the Ombudsman because of the showing of the film "Sutla." By the time he was appointed to the Board of Trustees of the Cultural Center of the Philippines, I had returned from my secondment.   A few years back, Manolito Sulit asked both of us to be part of his film “Barako”, and Behn and I shared a few minutes of screen time together, the only chance I had to act with him.

Only recently, we saw each other again at the necrological services for the late National Artist for Theater Daisy Hontiveros Avellana.  Over lunch, we sat across each other in the Boardroom, and he would barrage me with questions and comments about whatever topic suddenly came to mind. He was evidently weaker then than the last time I saw him, but it was still amusing to see the irascible and acerbic Behn beneath the frail body.

It was to be last time I would see him alive.

I had long wanted to interview Behn about his views on directing, and regret that I had not done so. His contributions go beyond his work in the theater, but for many, he will be (borrowing Ces Mangay Quesada’s words) a “teacher, mentor, colleague, tormentor and friend.”

Farewell, Behn.