MANILA, Philippines – Okay, let’s hear it once more for the women.
Hip, hip—Let us now praise women who may depend on the kindness of
strangers (with apologies to Tennessee Williams) but struggle to
maintain their sanity, who defy tyrannical fathers and who courageously
raise their families in times of war.
This is our way of heralding the 23rd season (2000-2010) of
Tanghalang Pilipino, the resident drama company of the Cultural Center
of the Philippines. The season opens on Aug. 7 at the CCP’s Tanghalang
Aurelio Tolentino (Little Theater) and pays tribute to “women of
substance.”
This was announced at a recent press conference presided over by
Fernando (Nanding) C. Josef, TP’s artistic director, at CCP’s Main
Theater lobby. To be presented from August to March are three
masterpieces from the West and one contemporary play from West Asia
(Israel) in Filipino translations and in English:
“Apples From the Desert/Mansanas ng Disyerto” is by Savyon
Liebrecht, a best-selling Israeli woman writer. The play deals with the
conflicts which arise when a woman finds love “beyond the confines of
her highly regimented life.”
A reading during the press con pitted Rody Vera, as the father,
against Roeder Camañag, as the daughter’s suitor. Tess Jamias directs,
with translation by Liza Magtoto (August 7-9, 13-14; September 4-6,
11-13).
“Madonna Brava ng Mindanao” is based on Bertolt Brech’s “Mother
Courage and Her Children.” Brecht’s anti-war treatise is transposed to
the Philippine south and we see Mother Courage (Madonna Brava) driving
her multicab—a minibazaar—through the chaos of war. She is accompanied
by her young ones: a Moro, a Christian and a lumad (native).
Director Nestor Horfilla said: “We want to show how people survive
during the war. Besides the war, it is a story of people, of victims.”
It is translated by Don Pagusara (September 18-20, 25-27; October
2-4, 9-11 at CCP’s Tanghalang Huseng Batute or Studio Theater).
“A Streetcar Named Desire/Flores para los Muertos,” Tennessee
Williams’ most famous play, was memorably interpreted by Marlon Brando
and Vivien Leigh in the film version.
During the reading, Eula Valdes as Blanche DuBois squared off with
talented hunk Neil Ryan Sese. The reading only served to whet the
audience’s appetite for the coming confrontation at CCP’s Tanghalang
Aurelio Tolentino (Little Theater) on October 2-4, 9-11, 16-18 and
23-25. Floy Quintos directs, with translation by Orlando Nadres.
The season ends with “Tatlong Maria,” an adaptation by Rody Vera of
Russian playwright Anton Chekhov’s masterwork, “Three Sisters,” about a
family living lives of “quiet desperation.”
The play, as adapted by Vera, is interestingly set in a remote
Philippine town during the first decade of martial law. The play will
be shown at Tanghalang Aurelio Tolentino on February 19-21, 26-28;
March 13-15, 20-22, 2010. Loy Arcenas directs.
At the start of the press con, Josef, quoting some personage, noted
that the main difference between men and women was that women had “a
uterus” while men, of course, had “testicles.” This prompted Vera, as
he began the reading with Camañag, to announce that “wala po kaming [we
have no] uterus.”
source : http://apecdoc.org/admin.php?op=blogSelect&blogId=12
