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Theater review: Sex, love and macho dancers on stage at Virgin Labfest
At the ongoing Virgin Labfest, there are five sets of plays showcased, with each set featuring three one-act plays. Tickets for Set B sold out quickly.
There was a big marketing buzz for “Macho Dancer: A Musical,” written by Nicolas Pichay and directed by Ralph Peña. Benefiting from this push are the two other works in the set, Herlyn Gail Alegre’s “Huling Huli,” directed by Lawrence Fajardo and Genevieve Asenjo; and Em Mendez’s “Ang Nanay Kong Ex-NPA,” directed by Rodolfo Vera.
“Macho Dancer” holds so much promise, with many Virgin Labfest followers expecting it to be the jewel of this year’s festival.
Both the playwright and the director are award-winning, and the cast members are mainly established professional actors, with a sprinkling of professional ballet dancers. “Macho Dancer” has one of the best production designs among the 12 new participating plays.
However, lost in the rays of stage lighting and the din of gay bar music are several penetrating and important messages.
Pichay dissects the following issues: what is the difference between "low" art (represented by macho dancing) and "high" art (ballet)? Who are the arbiters defining low art and high art? It also points out the pathetic low pay received by both macho dancers and ballet dancers—and artists in general, at least in the Philippines.
The overflowing production numbers, with one number featuring an expensive representation of an elephant (it reportedly has a tag price of P15,000), and the artillery of lines in this character-driven play unfortunately buried its magnificence and sparkle.
A major rework is necessary to flesh out the rich and thought-provoking ideas waiting to be uncovered in Pichay’s script.
In contrast, “Huling Huli” and “Ang Nanay Kong Ex-NPA” are quiet plays, with powerful dialogue and minimalist production design.
“Huling Huli” features Mailes Kanapi, Peewee O’Hara, Orlando Sol, Martha Comia, and Edwin Nombre.
This is a story of bereavement for a dying community and an elegy for an unrequited love.
A mysterious disease is slowly consuming members of a small fishing community, so poor that its women engage in sex with the tired and bored fishermen in exchange for the fresh catch. In the middle of this, a fisherman falls in love with a prostitute.
Fajardo and Asenjo show an elegant and understated approach to Alegre's script, with one fishing boat positioned on the right side of the stage and several fishing nets slowly enveloping the seashore community as the play progresses.
The fishing nets totally imprison them in the end, with the community members as the symbolic last catch (huling huli).
In one stilled scene, with no actor on the stage but with the strong stage lights focused on the desolate fishing boat, the directors indict those in power for perpetuating class violence caused by the poverty in this unnamed fishing community.
Then suddenly the moans of a man and a woman on the verge of sexual ecstasy fill the stage—with the women having no choice but to engage in prostitution to feed their families, this is another form of class violence.
The entire cast convincingly essayed their parts and delivered admirably. Sol in particular must be praised for his understated acting. In several scenes, without saying a line, he manages to command the audience's attention, notably in the last two minutes of the play.
“Ang Nanay Kong Ex-NPA” tells the story of Sadyah (Kat Castillo), a poet, who meets her mother Teresa (Marichu Bellarmino) again after several decades. Teresa, once an officer in the New People’s Army, had intentionally refused to reconnect with the daughter who searched for her for years.
“Ang Nanay Kong Ex-NPA” is arduous material for actors. The script demands nuance and good timing from them to show their shifting emotions: from estrangement to wariness, from anger to confusion, from understanding to forgiveness and reconciliation.
In several scenes, though, Castillos's voice was inaudible, giving the impression that she is being overpowered by Bellarmino. Is it because of the poor sound system at the Tanghalang Huseng Batute? Bellarmino, meanwhile, interprets her role with the vivid grief of an absentee mother finally reunited with her daughter.
The actor in Vera eloquently guides the performers in their delivery of this emotional material. — BM, GMA News
The Virgin Labfest runs until July 12 at the Cultural Center of the Philippines. For inquiries, call the CCP Production Management Services Division at 832-1125 locals 1606 to 1607, or visit www.culturalcenter.gov.ph. Tickets are priced at P300, with festival passes at P1,200.
