Tag Archives: Liesl Batucan

kultura

slow and disjointed: on August Osage County

I have come to the conclusion that accents are good. It is what I expect of most every Repertory Philippines play, given the texts that they choose to stage, and the truth that it is crucial to the insistence on staging plays set in places far away, if not within a historical period that is alien to a local audience.

It is Rep that has taught me that. And with August: Osage County I felt like I was being taught to un-learn it. I was forced to contend with the distance between audience and stage. No one took my hand and brought me into this world strange and different, but also absolutely familiar.

(more…)

kultura

some waiting required: on “Wait Until Dark”

the thing with expectation is that it can be your undoing. for watching theater, i refuse to listen to the soundtrack of a musicale, or to read the script (when available) of a play, lest i start singing (or saying those lines) out loud while sitting as audience. sometimes though, the poster, the press release, is all one needs to build excitement.

that is true for Repertory Philippines’ Wait After Dark. sold as a suspense thriller, one could also only be excited by a cast that was thrilling in itself: Joel Trinidad, Jamie Wilson, Liesl Batucan … how could anyone go wrong? but as the curtains closed on Act 1, i wondered: where does the fear lie? (more…)

kultura

Desire and disappearance in “Stageshow”*

It is rare that a stage production brings me to tears, and I remember two that have: Repertory Philippines’ “Next Fall” and Atlantis Productions’ “Next To Normal.”

An empty stage, a small group of actors, a filled heart for “Stageshow.”

Yet, it seems to be an injustice to “Stageshow” that I would compare it at all to these. Because here is a Mario O’Hara text, brought to life by Tanghalang Pilipino, making it an all-original Filipino production. And did I mention it’s a musicale, too? That it’s funny, at times risqué, absolutely what you don’t expect? This is reason enough to think this in a league different from those foreign productions staged locally; then you find yourself in tears at the end of it and you know this is something rare and wonderful.

Days since, this “Stageshow” hangover is beyond me. (more…)